headlights and radio go out intermitently

[ivansgreat]

For the past couple of months my radio has been acting a little weird. It will turn off randomly and all I have to do is turn the knob to off and then back to on and it'll work. Also it will sometimes just not turn on when I turn the knob to on. It takes several turns of the knob from off to on for it to actually turn on.
The same thing is happening with my lights. I'll be driving and then they'll go off for 3 seconds then come back on and then off again a couple of more times. It seems like it will start happening when I hit a bump in the road or something. When I'm going pretty smooth down the road they are fine.

I'm guessing that the problem with the radio and the headlights is connected but I don't know what it is. I would appreciate some help from some of you guys that are more electrically inclined than me.

thanks,
Ivansgreat

[ToughOldFord]

Sounds like a bad ground. Make sure you have the ground strap from the engine to the cab and it's clean and tight.

[19674x4]

check your ground strap as well as the fuse box for a loose fuse, rusty wire connection on the back, mine used to do that and i had to unscrew the box from the firewall and kick it so stuff would come back on.

[michael69]

had to do samething.

[ivansgreat]

Thanks a lot guys. I'll try this out and see if it works.