Headlights on - won't turn off

[Verse]

I was at the lake earlier in my 2000 Mountaineer and i went to try to put the "parking lights" on but when i flipped the switch (my lights were already on) they would not turn off. I tried turning the truck off and back on and they stayed on. The bulb behind the switch was not illuminating like the rest of the interior but i can't remember if it's always been like that.

When i got home i turned the truck off and the lights and it took about 3 minutes before they shut off by themselves. What should I do? Maybe a fuse?

 

[J_C]

I'm not 100% certain but isn't that normal behavior when the lights are on "Auto" to come on with darkness then go off with a timer interval set by the slider on the windshield mirror when the vehicle is off? If so you disable that auto/timer feature by just moving the slider all the way to the left.

If that doesn't immediately turn the lights off with the dash knob set to also do that, I'd assume the slider switch mechanism itself is failing since they do go off after 3 minutes. Keep in mind when I use the words slider and knob I'm referring to my '98 X, not knowing how similar the '00 Mountaineer controls are.

 

[Verse]

I'm not 100% certain but isn't that normal behavior when the lights are on "Auto" to come on with darkness then go off with a timer interval set by the slider on the windshield mirror when the vehicle is off? If so you disable that auto/timer feature by just moving the slider all the way to the left.

If that doesn't immediately turn the lights off with the dash knob set to also do that, I'd assume the slider switch mechanism itself is failing since they do go off after 3 minutes. Keep in mind when I use the words slider and knob I'm referring to my '98 X, not knowing how similar the '00 Mountaineer controls are.

That's the thing, either my auto lights dont work, or this truck doesn't have them because i always manually turn them on and off.

The 00 Mounty has a knob with three positions, Off-parkinglights-On.. when i parked the truck i went to turn the headlights off but when i switched it to off they didnt turn off

edit - wait, i accidentally hit something on the mirror earlier today when it was dark .. probably the slider you're talking about. Most likely i put it on auto lamp and thats why the lights wouldn't go off but i will check tomorrow.

it seems strange, tho, that you can't turn the lights off manually when in auto lamp mode?

 

[J_C]

If you could adjust some other control to keep the lights off then they'd no longer be "auto" back on again, which is the same thing as just sliding the auto interval slider all the way to the left, but in that case if you want the parking lights you have to change two controls instead of only one.

I could be wrong, as I just leave it on auto and don't recall ever using parking lights only. I suspect most people don't and that's why they opted to have it take more steps to get to a light combination that fewer people use rather than to get back to one more people use.

 

[Verse]

I switched the control on the mirror and it fixed the problem.

Wow. Thanks for the help man.

its been about 4/5 months and Im still loving the truck btw..