Confused electrical gremlin

[sirhk100]

Sat morning, I pulled the headliner out of my '91 that looked as if a lion had been let loose inside by the previous owner and I installed another one that's in great shape I kept from a donor Expo that I stripped down. Relatively easy job right... Well when putting the screws in the drivers side a-pillar I was resting my arm on top of the steering column lightly and the stereo turned on all of a sudden which was strange. The keys were in the house, not the ignition. I wiggled the column a tiny bit and it turned back off. Huh, odd...

I finished up the headliner install, put the tools away and called it a morning. Later in the afternoon I had to go pickup a friend from the airport. Hopped in the expo to go get her and the stereo isn't working. Strange... On the way I stop for gas and while filling I check the fuse. I find a 15a fuse blown so I pull one from another circuit and put it in just to check. Sure enough, stereo is on now... Sweet... No clue what the other circuit was for as I didn't have a fuse layout guide but I didn't notice anything I had to have during that drive that wasn't working so I figured I'd pop a fresh 15a back in to replace the stolen one when I get home.

Get home a few hours later, still light out, and pop that 15a back in. All is right in the world... I think at least...

The next day I head out to meet a friend for a dinner just a bit before dark. On the way there I didn't have the lights on and everything is seeming great. We eat and head out to leave. I jump in the expo not paying much attention, fire it up and go to back out but notice my dash lights are on as if I'd pulled the headlights on. Random!!! I check, nope, headlight switch is pushed in but the lights are on... I pull the headlights on and off a few times and the dash lights stay on no matter what. It's getting dim so I drive home with the headlights on anyways.

Pull into my driveway, turn off the lights and notice what's actually going on is that my running lights and interior lights even when turned off are actually on until I shut off the ignition. To go a step further, now when the keys aren't in the ignition I can pull the headlights on and they work like normal but now the stereo comes on with them as well even if the keys aren't in.



Not the end of the world by anymeans and something I'll look into soon as I have time but any ideas/leads? Obviously I'll tear into the steering column as it seems like something odd may be happening in there wiring wise but any actual sure leads to search for?

 

[Maniak]

At first I was leaning towards the headlight switch itself but that really shouldn't be able to affect the radio.

The only thing I can think of that would affect most of the aux things like that would be the ignition switch.

The key itself doesn't have any wires behind it unlike some Honda ignition switches I've seen before. With those old ones you could pull the lock cylinder out, put a screw driver where it was and turn the "switch".

On the 1st gen explorer the key pushes a rod. That rod goes down the top of the steering column to the ignition switch. My first guess is that the ignition switch (on the top of the column) is going bad and is crossing circuits. For example, when you have it in the off position on the switch it is still sending power to some of the run/aux circuits.

Other than that, the only thing I can think of is bad stuff happening in the fuse panel but I don't think I've ever seen a fuse panel get that bad without help. I've seen some that people have added/tapped wires to the back of the panel and managed to short them with other wires but I'd loose elseware first. Well, maybe not first since you do you have to pull the bottom panel from the dash (and metal protector plate) off to get to the ignition switch. While your there look at the back of the fuse box and move things around to see if there is a short behind the fuse box.

~Mark

 

[sirhk100]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm going to pull the trim around the column off first since I had that time where the stereo came on just gently resting my arm on it. I figure that's a clue of some sort so I'll start there. I have a spare headlight switch assembly I stripped off that donor rig before I scrapped it but like you said, I'm not really leaning towards that. The fuse panel isn't heavily molested by previous owners. It looks like it's all 100% stock except for one circuit. If I get that far, I'll definitely check the backside to see if there's anything crispy going on back there.

Kind of an odd issue and really, it's not the end of the world as long as the lights do go on and off with the ignition and don't migrate on to staying on all the time and giving me dead batteries... LOL Goofy older vehicles! I'll figure it out, possibly this sunday... That's really about the soonest I'll have a chance to do anything with it.

 

[arco777]

Check for an old alarm system... often they get spliced in and over the life of the car at some point end up with the remote missing or get halfway deactivated. What's left may not cause problems for years but eventually stuff gets weird when moisture gets in and the old low quality alarm circuitry starts acting up.

When I bought my most recent Explorer, it looked all stock save for an LED near the 4x4 buttons. The power locks didn't work. Traced the lock wires and found they were cut and spliced bypassing the factory lock relays. Followed the wires to a VERY well-hidden control box for an old alarm system. Samurai CS9206SE by Crimestopper if you're curious, probably as old as the truck! The alarm used its own relays for the locks, which of course burned out since they were miniaturized chinese junk. The system was "halfway" deactivated by being non-powered, but still caused problems eventually.

 

[Blue91Ex]

Check for an old alarm system... often they get spliced in and over the life of the car at some point end up with the remote missing or get halfway deactivated. What's left may not cause problems for years but eventually stuff gets weird when moisture gets in and the old low quality alarm circuitry starts acting up.

This is similar to what happened with mine before i got it, previous owner had to remove radio because the owner before him wired in a security system and it fried itself and the radio head unit... gotta love people that dont really know what they are doing trying to wire up things they shouldnt, and cheapo chinese electronics..

 

[smegun]

anymore spred about the ignition cross talking mine wont go into auxiliary at least connection wise there is no auxillary but the physical key will go to the position also every once an awhile the fuel pump wont engage most recently battery drain while driving

 

[Bobmbx]

You should call an exorcist.

 

[mrboyle]

anymore spred about the ignition cross talking mine wont go into auxiliary at least connection wise there is no auxillary but the physical key will go to the position also every once an awhile the fuel pump wont engage most recently battery drain while driving

Ford had an issue with their ignition switches seporating during this era. The switch is a pot metal/plastic combo with copper contacts inside that are spring loaded. The way the switch is designed, over time the springs force the switch to slowly seporate and randomly loose contact. Ford infact had a recall on these switches at one point due to them causing fires. Take a look at your ignition switch and make sure the plastic part where the wire harness plugs in is not seporating from the metal part. If it is I'd replace it or carefuly use some zip ties to hold the assembly together.