Plain
New Member
- Joined
- December 6, 2008
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- SE Texas
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 99 XLT
Guys: (and Goils)
I couldn`t find just an electrical forum so I`m sticking this here. It could save you some hard-earned cash...
About a month ago I got in my Ranger (2005 Edge) to go to work and just after starting the engine and while the seatbelt chime was still going off, I turned on the headlights. They came on alright but so did the windshield washer/wiper sequence, and the horn! At 3 A.M. you can imagine I shut it down pretty quick! Anyway, I unhooked the horn and went on to work, windshield washers squirting and wipers wiping. I noticed the washer/wiper sequence lasted no longer than usual though and it shut off in a matter of a minute or so. I drove around like this for about a week and came to Serious Explorations' to find a cure. There are a few articles on GEM but no cure except to buy new. The problem went away and came back a couple of times over a couple of weeks.
Anyway, the threads help me understand the GEM is kinda like a little computer so I figured why not hard-boot it. I put the key in the pickup, turned the switch to on and with the hood already up, I turned on the lights and ran around and unhooked the ground from the battery. Turned the switches back to off, and rehooked the battery. So far for a month now I have not had any more problems with the GEM. May be just lucky but you can try it before you buy one to see whether it will help. I think the little computer may get confused and the best time to unhook the cable is perhaps right when you turn the ignition switch on and maybe interrupt any mysterious witchcraft that might be happening in the GEM at that time. Hope this helps at least one fellow Ford nut save money for something more important like new speakers or whatever.
Later, Plain
I couldn`t find just an electrical forum so I`m sticking this here. It could save you some hard-earned cash...
About a month ago I got in my Ranger (2005 Edge) to go to work and just after starting the engine and while the seatbelt chime was still going off, I turned on the headlights. They came on alright but so did the windshield washer/wiper sequence, and the horn! At 3 A.M. you can imagine I shut it down pretty quick! Anyway, I unhooked the horn and went on to work, windshield washers squirting and wipers wiping. I noticed the washer/wiper sequence lasted no longer than usual though and it shut off in a matter of a minute or so. I drove around like this for about a week and came to Serious Explorations' to find a cure. There are a few articles on GEM but no cure except to buy new. The problem went away and came back a couple of times over a couple of weeks.
Anyway, the threads help me understand the GEM is kinda like a little computer so I figured why not hard-boot it. I put the key in the pickup, turned the switch to on and with the hood already up, I turned on the lights and ran around and unhooked the ground from the battery. Turned the switches back to off, and rehooked the battery. So far for a month now I have not had any more problems with the GEM. May be just lucky but you can try it before you buy one to see whether it will help. I think the little computer may get confused and the best time to unhook the cable is perhaps right when you turn the ignition switch on and maybe interrupt any mysterious witchcraft that might be happening in the GEM at that time. Hope this helps at least one fellow Ford nut save money for something more important like new speakers or whatever.
Later, Plain
