Headlights go up. sometimes won't go down ?

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then after driving for a while, something happens and they go down.

When you turn off the headlight switch and the headlights stay up, do the headlights go off ? If so, check the down limit switch (it's the aft one). Try tapping on it. If that doesn't work, momentarily jumper the switch. You may need to have the ignition switch on.

A multimeter only uses a very small amount of current for the continuity test. It will not tell you if the switch will fail when passing a high current.

The headlight relay is Pantera specific only with regard to the way that it mounts, AND it has one of the coil wires connected to one of the contact pins (early cars). If your relay has this jumper, it is visible through the relay's plastic cover. You can use a DPDT (on-on) relay with a 12VDC coil. A mounting bracket can be fabricated from a short piece of aluminum angle, and fastened to the relay housing. The relay contacts should have a minimum rating of 15 amps at 12VDC. The relay is in the foot well, and it has a clear plastic cover.

I haven't tried to source the limit switches (other than the Pantera vendors), but you could adapt something that is readily available to you.

John

ok will do, Thanks very much
oh and yes the headlights turn off.
Aft ?? I have heard of 'fore and aft' ?
aft ? is the the further front one ? ( front of the car ) ? or aft ? ( further back ? )
Sorry I am a dumb aussie !

Of the two limit switches, it is the one that is towards the rear of the car. It should have the brown and green wires.

John

The headlight erection motor is identical to those in your doors for the window lifts, EXCEPT for a small bakelight wire isolater/holder attached to the one of the screws holding the motor assembly together. In the headlights, the motor functions ungrounded and all that little bakelite thingy does is keep the motor wire from vibrating. Except when it cracks, soaks up water or otherwise fails. When that happens, all kinds of electrical oddness occurs randomly in the up/down circuit. On any Pantera I get to work on, I arbitrarily remove the bakelite wire-holder and its spade-lug, plug the motor wire and front loom together directly, insulate the connection and tie-wrap the loose wire around the motor body. IMHO just another Italian design feature we really don't need....

As all you experts said it was the switch
pulled it out dismantled it, cleaned it and refitted it and now it works fine.

Thank you everyone for your help
Now that Summer is approaching, it's time to get it back out and looking it's best !

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Now that Summer is approaching

Not for me

I had someone PM me, on how I fixed it and so on, and I thought I would share my experience with everyone, so hopefully this can help others as well.

If my wording / terminology is wrong, I apologise !!
At the front where the headlight motor is, there are 2 limit switches that trip when the headlight bar go up and down.
The rear most switch ( towards the back of the car ) is the culprit.
It is a bit hard to get to, because the front hatch opens the way it does, however you pull the wires off and test the continuity with the multimeter, mine appeared to be okay, but once the wires were on, the load was too much for the switch.
So I pulled the 2 screws that hold the switch on.
once it is in your hand you can see the plastic halves are pressed together. No gently with a flat blade or butter knife try and pry the halves apart. the switch lever will fall off, perhaps take a photo on your phone prior to see how it went back on.
once apart you can see the actual switch mechanism. you can press it and see it work.
I used a points file ( sand paper will also work) and rubbed the 2 contact points.
then I sprayed Brake cleaner ( same as contact cleaner ) in there and blew it all out ( make sure the parts don't fly out ) then gently put it back together and put the lever back on.
Refit to the car with the headlights down this switch should be pressed ( click )
If the problem is the switch this should fix it.

Hope that helps
Paul

Thanks for the update Paul