carnifex
Member
- Joined
- December 26, 2008
- Messages
- 12
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Dayton, OH
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1996 Explorer XLT
1996 Explorer, owned it since 1999. Starting winter of 2007-2008 I began having off and on electrical problems with the vehicle. It didn't affect the starting or running of the vehicle in any way, but it made a lot of the electrical systems not work to the point where it became unsafe to drive. The problem was that it would not do it all the time, really cold or wet weather seemed to cause it initially and then it would hang around until it stayed clear for awhile.
Some of the systems I noticed not working were windshield wipers (front and rear), rear defroster, power windows. And there may have been other things, but those were the ones that I decided made it unwise to drive since I could be caught in the rain or a cold snap and not be able to see out of the windows. Or roll the window down and have it stuck there until the electrical problem allowed them to go up.
So this problem alleviated some when Spring came around, but it still happened on rainy days. And I couldn't determine the source of it until it was happening, which usually involved pouring rain...and I don't have a covered location to work on it. So I was left with working on it after the rain stopped, and there were many times I thought I resolved the problem but then it came back.
So when I ended up doing was searching week after week, getting an alldata subscription on the vehicle and trying to trace down sources that could cause this problem.
Now in the summer I did a lot of things to the vehicle, and the problem stopped but has resurfaced yet again with the latest batch of ice storm and rain.
Some of the things I did to the vehicle in the summer were:
Tracing grounds to make sure they had a good connection, removing to clean and reseat them if they looked at all dirty.
Cleaning battery connections just to make certain I had good contact, didn't think it would solve anything but couldn't hurt.
Opening the fuse box under the hood, removing and checking all fuses, wire brushing their ends to insure a good connection, dielectric greasing them before reseating them, and then spraying wire dry all over the tops of them in case any moisture remained. Closed the lid and wire dried it some more to make sure I got it coated.
Checked relays under the dash, which unfortunately I don't know the connection number off the top of my head, but I switch them with the same number relay in another location to check that the relay worked on the other items. Which they did.
Pulled my radio to get to the wire cluster behind it, which I believe was the "brain" unit of the whole vehicle...and again I don't know the number offhand. But I check that the wires didn't feel loose and that the wires didn't seem to be damaged.
After these things, the vehicle problem didn't reoccur until now..and there's been plenty of rain since then. So I am uncertain what may have temporarily fixed it and am hoping someone here has had a similar experience but found the culprit.
At this point I am not ruling out that's there a very very small leak somewhere getting into the electronics. Or that the electronics have a damaged shell that is drawing moisture from their initial heat in the cold weather. But like I said it comes and goes, but it's making it too dangerous to try to operate the vehicle.
Some side things that this vehicle has developed, which I don't feel are part of the problem but don't want to rule out are:
Stock CD player works intermittently, I attribute this to the player probably just getting worn out because it has problems recognizing CDs but it popped up probably 6 months before the windshield wiper problems did.
Had to charge the air conditioner over the summer........it could be leaking and whatever safety it has on it when it's low could be causing the problems. Doubt it, but mentioning it.
It has thrown a code for an oxygen sensor problem, and that's the only code it's thrown. The particular oxygen sensor, I never replaced it because the vehicle wasn't running poorly due to it..nor was the code staying lit constantly. It'd pop up randomly, go months with no codes then come on for an hour out of the day and never show up again for a few months.
The vehicle probably needs a tune up, but it's just not the right weather to do so right now and again I don't have an inside location to keep it and work on it.
And Im vaguely recalling that some of the interior lights didn't work in the vehicle when the problem showed up again. But that the headlights, blower motor, locks, remote door locks worked. The theft system may or may not have been engaging, I didn't want to try to test it and have it get stuck in alarm mode or something.
Some of the systems I noticed not working were windshield wipers (front and rear), rear defroster, power windows. And there may have been other things, but those were the ones that I decided made it unwise to drive since I could be caught in the rain or a cold snap and not be able to see out of the windows. Or roll the window down and have it stuck there until the electrical problem allowed them to go up.
So this problem alleviated some when Spring came around, but it still happened on rainy days. And I couldn't determine the source of it until it was happening, which usually involved pouring rain...and I don't have a covered location to work on it. So I was left with working on it after the rain stopped, and there were many times I thought I resolved the problem but then it came back.
So when I ended up doing was searching week after week, getting an alldata subscription on the vehicle and trying to trace down sources that could cause this problem.
Now in the summer I did a lot of things to the vehicle, and the problem stopped but has resurfaced yet again with the latest batch of ice storm and rain.
Some of the things I did to the vehicle in the summer were:
Tracing grounds to make sure they had a good connection, removing to clean and reseat them if they looked at all dirty.
Cleaning battery connections just to make certain I had good contact, didn't think it would solve anything but couldn't hurt.
Opening the fuse box under the hood, removing and checking all fuses, wire brushing their ends to insure a good connection, dielectric greasing them before reseating them, and then spraying wire dry all over the tops of them in case any moisture remained. Closed the lid and wire dried it some more to make sure I got it coated.
Checked relays under the dash, which unfortunately I don't know the connection number off the top of my head, but I switch them with the same number relay in another location to check that the relay worked on the other items. Which they did.
Pulled my radio to get to the wire cluster behind it, which I believe was the "brain" unit of the whole vehicle...and again I don't know the number offhand. But I check that the wires didn't feel loose and that the wires didn't seem to be damaged.
After these things, the vehicle problem didn't reoccur until now..and there's been plenty of rain since then. So I am uncertain what may have temporarily fixed it and am hoping someone here has had a similar experience but found the culprit.
At this point I am not ruling out that's there a very very small leak somewhere getting into the electronics. Or that the electronics have a damaged shell that is drawing moisture from their initial heat in the cold weather. But like I said it comes and goes, but it's making it too dangerous to try to operate the vehicle.
Some side things that this vehicle has developed, which I don't feel are part of the problem but don't want to rule out are:
Stock CD player works intermittently, I attribute this to the player probably just getting worn out because it has problems recognizing CDs but it popped up probably 6 months before the windshield wiper problems did.
Had to charge the air conditioner over the summer........it could be leaking and whatever safety it has on it when it's low could be causing the problems. Doubt it, but mentioning it.
It has thrown a code for an oxygen sensor problem, and that's the only code it's thrown. The particular oxygen sensor, I never replaced it because the vehicle wasn't running poorly due to it..nor was the code staying lit constantly. It'd pop up randomly, go months with no codes then come on for an hour out of the day and never show up again for a few months.
The vehicle probably needs a tune up, but it's just not the right weather to do so right now and again I don't have an inside location to keep it and work on it.
And Im vaguely recalling that some of the interior lights didn't work in the vehicle when the problem showed up again. But that the headlights, blower motor, locks, remote door locks worked. The theft system may or may not have been engaging, I didn't want to try to test it and have it get stuck in alarm mode or something.
