in a 1995 Lincoln Mark VIII are the main headlights supposed to turn off when the brights are engaged

http://web.wt.net/~houtex/marklights.htm

Suggest you really read that, not just skim. Good information

OK. My bad. Does not answer your question, if both bulbs should be on with brights. But I had a 1990 Lincoln TC that had those automatic bright/dim stuff. I disabled it . When I want brights, I will turn on brights. I put a piece of black electricians tape on the sensor on the mirror. But Mark, I do realize your question has not been answered.,All I could find. My car has four headlights, and high beam all four come on, low beam two, and DRL are reduced wattage low beam.

Thank you for your response. I do not know what DRL is but the reduced wattage to the low beam may be shutting them completely off. this symptom is not related to auto settings, as they are turned off. This is strickly manual. I must confess that I have not tested this with the auto-bright/dim feature activated as I have always found them anoying. This may be a feature of this particular year/make/model (1995 Mark VIII) or I have an issue. I will be making my first cross-country drive in my Chic-Magnet and I prefer driving at night so I want the best visabilty possible.

When you engage your high beam lights, ONLY the inner/high beam elements activate. This is a normal characteristic of most vehicles. It is not a defect. I have a 96 Mark viii and is that way. True, that these models definitely do not have the best lights, it's the way it is.

I happened to mention this problem to an AutoZone employee a while back. He eluded that there are 3rd party cross-overs that will keep your low beams on when engaging the high beams. Have you heard anything about these conversion kits? If a deer crosses the road at 3 am while I am doing 75 mph I want to know about it in advance.

In response to one of the answers, that year of the Lincoln Mark 8 did not have DRL or daylight running lamps. Yes there is a worrying kit that is vehicle specific that can be offered from am after market supplier that will allow all headlamps to be on with the high beam. Admit the deer....it's a 50 50 chance either way whether you can avoid the collision in my opinion. I hit a deer with my Lincoln...early one morning, the deer ran across the road into my lane...no way to avoid it. Good luck.

Thank you my friend for your input. As far as this thread is concerned, the subject is ended, my quiry has been answered. Bottom line is to install the best and brightest bulbs available without going to that purple crap. I HATE THAT!