New member '03 sport trac

[Sharon Voss]

Hello just purchased a '03 sport trac and map and dome lights not working at all..was trying to start with the fuse first but no diagram on my fuse door...looking for location for this fuse try that and move on to other steps if necessary... thanks for any help..
Sharon

 

[koda2000]

Fuses: Do you have an owner's manual? If not you can probably download one.

May be a dumb questions, but have you tried turning the dimmer wheel all the way up? Have you tried opening the other doors to see if it makes any difference? Does your cargo light work?

 

[Sharon Voss]

Outside cargo works interior not working with doors or wheel

 

[koda2000]

Outside cargo works interior not working with doors or wheel

I'd start with checking the bulbs in the center and/or rear interior lights. Leave the front map lights for last, the copper conductor foil used on the front bulbs is easily damaged. Some people remove the bulbs because they don't want any interior lights coming on when a door is opened. I can only guess what these people are really up to, but I've encountered this in the past.

 

[Sharon Voss]

Lol

I'd start with checking the bulbs in the center and/or rear interior lights. Leave the front map lights for last, the copper conductor foil used on the front bulbs is easily damaged. Some people remove the bulbs because they don't want any interior lights coming on when a door is opened. I can only guess what these people are really up to, but I've encountered this in the past.

Thank you much will try

 

[Lonnie-S]

Hi Sharon,

I see you have some good, high-level help (koda2000), which is more than I can offer. However, I too wondered about the dimmer wheel issue and went out last night to do an experiment. The dome light and both map lights work on my 2002 Sport Trac. When I turn off all interior lights using the dimmer wheel, my map lights still will work. So, clearly, the dome and map lights are on a different circuit.

One thing did occur to me while doing the experiment. Might some previous owner removed the fixture that holds both the dome and map lights and then not reconnected a wiring plug to them when it was re-installed? It's usually the simple things that go wrong first, so koda2000 is right about checking all those kinds of things first.

As to the wiring diagrams, I have two things for you. First, an online source for the wiring diagrams was identified recently in another thread here on the site. I did follow the link given, and they were there. The bad news is I don't remember which thread it was, so you'll have to do a search here.

However, in the good news department, I just received my Amazon-purchased copy of the official, Ford 2003 Explorer Sport Trac and Explorer Sport Wiring Diagrams Manual along with the 2003 Workshop Manual for same. Although I have a 2002 Sport Trac, I figured not that much changed in one model year, so I bought them. I'm just learning to use the wiring diagram manual, so not very expert with it. I did a cursory check last night and found a couple of items for the interior lights. But, it is obvious that you'll need more than one diagram to check all possible interconnections through fuses, switches, relays, etc.

The online wiring diagram source is going to be better for you since you can get at those multiple diagrams as you discover you need them. I'd need to find them, scan them and post or e-mail them to you and that would be much slower. However, I can help you out if you can't find the more direct, online source.

Regards,

Lonnie

 

[Sharon Voss]

Thank you figured it out over the weekend bad bulbs. Lol should gave started there but do really appreciate all of the help from the forum.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! Did you replace the incandescent bulbs with LEDs?

 

[koda2000]

Thank you figured it out over the weekend bad bulbs. Lol should gave started there but do really appreciate all of the help from the forum.

That's a whole lot of bad bulbs (5? or 6?)! At least you figured it out. Always start with the simple stuff first. If you don't own a Volt/OHM Meter (aka a VOM) it's a great tool to have to diagnosis electrical problems. You could have tested for power and even test the bulbs with one. They can be had for $6-$10 but a more expensive one will do more things and is more accurate. I'd recommend spending $40-$50 on one minimum. I think I paid around $80 for mine like 15 years ago. It does all kinds of tests and even test temperature, but even a $5 is more useful than a test light.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Harbor Freight has coupons occasionally for a free multimeter with any purchase. I have one of them. It's not top quality but it works. It only has a manual range, and is not autoranging like the more expensive models. As for test lights, a basic incandescent test light is useful for simple voltage tests to see if a bulb isn't working. Keep in mind that they aren't computer safe, so never use one when you're testing electronic modules. There are better quality computer safe tests lights with two color LEDs for this purpose.