back up lights and blown fuses

[BigDadys93x]

I have a 98' EB Explorer and the problem I am having is that the other day someone at work noticed I had no back up lights so I checked the fuse first and saw it was blown I replaced the fuse and I had back up lights again. I got home the same day and as I was backing into my driveway my wife noticed that I didnt have any back up light again I checked the fuse it was blown again. So this time instead of just replacing the fuse I started checking for shorts of any kind , broken wires ect. found nothing. Also probably unrelated ! My rear defrost quit working and also the over drive button on the end of the shifter doesnt work anymore (push it nothing happens). If any of you can help me I would really appricate it! Thanks in advance.

 

[budwich]

yep... same fuse (at least on my 96 drawings), fuse for rear defrost, transmission control switch (of course), plus a few other things 4X2, 4X4 solenoids, daytime running lights....hopefully 98 is similar. Best guess is the tranmission control switch. What you can try is with the fuse out, measure resistance from the "fuse out" to ground, move your transmission selector thru a couple of position and see what the resistance drops / changes are.... if any. You could also measure the switch itself afterwards if it presents a problem.

 

[BigDadys93x]

Thanks for the info. Where is the tranny control switch located?

 

[budwich]

According to drawings, "on the end of the selector level".... steering column? Another thing that you might try to help rule out some wiring areas... is with a good fuse in, take out your back light bulb(s).... and then with the truck running, run thru your selector and see if the fuse goes. With the bulbs out, you are basically checking for wiring problems in the bumper area (hopefully)... of course, its a little broader than that but you get the idea for trying to isolate things.

 

[My98xplorer]

I had to get a new rear hatch put on my Explorer and when i got it back from Carsmetics, i noticed some things wrong. My parking lights, dash lights, radio lights, and rear lights (exept brakelights) dont work. I noticed the fuse was blown so i replaced it and everything worked. Now, the only way to turn those things off, is to pull the fuse from under the hood. So everytime i drive at night, i have to push that fuse back in, and whenever i get where im going i have to pull the fuse back out. Carsmetics took it back to fix it and spent 2 days on it and said they couldnt figure it out??? I assumed it had to be a short in the hatch somewhere, but they said they redid all the wires and it cant be anything back there. I guess ill have to take it to Ford and suck it up.

 

[KC's Ford]

I had the same problem.I even pulled back up bulbs and fuse 27 still blew.I ended up taking my 99 Exp. to the dealer and they replaced the Transmission Range Sensor.$76.00 for the part,$200 for labor.

 

[410Fortune]

$200 for labor on a DTRS?

holy crap, man you would shoot somebody if you saw how the DTRS is replaced, 2 small bolts and the shifter arm bolt, takes about 10 minutes IF you drink a beer.
The DTRS also has a little arrow on it so you can align it perfectly on install.

I bet they charged you for 1.5 hours or something to get $200 = ouch!


Yikes.

 

[KC's Ford]

Ouch is right....they put R&R and diagnose as $200.But when I spoke with the Ford mechanic he said the TRS goes out often so after looking at this form it sounded like it was the problem.I guess next is to start looking into why the audio panel blanks out intermittently.I rember reading about a bad diode which can be fixed instead of R&R the whole panel and paying too much.