New to forum and looking for help!

[enyplaya007]

Hello everyone, as notated on the title I am new to the forum and I do have a problem that I would appreciate assistance with. Let me start by giving some history on the vehicle itself. It is a black Ford Explorer 1998 Eddie Bauer edition with the Automatic air ride system. It belonged to my father who passed away a little over a year ago. 6 months after his passing the vehicle became mine after my brother no longer had a use for it. I love the vehicle but it need much maintenance to get it up to safe driving conditions. Now that things are running properly I had my tail lights go out. The headlights work, left and right blinkers are working(except passenger rear which could be a blown bulb but it has been raining), brake lights work, hazard lights work and license plate lights work. I checked all fuses that pertain to lighting via the manual and google and it all checks out. I want to check for a bad ground but unsure where to look for that. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I do have one other issue thats minor to me but hopefully simple to fix. Sometimes(more off than on) when I open the driver door the dome lights do not light up. it used to work just fine and now I have noticed this issue on the passenger door and one rear passenger door as I have been lately using the vehicle to transport my family around and get a feel for the vehicle. Any suggestions on this would be great. Dome lights turn on all the time when rear hatch or driver rear is open but its intermittent with the other doors to not at all. Thank you before hand for taking the time to assist me.

 

[enyplaya007]

I have taken a look behind the lower command module on the center console and i have not seen a lamp out module. I am kinda stumped on where to search next. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[enyplaya007]

I have looked at the rear passenger right turn indicator and the bulb is not blown but i am getting a fast click out of the relay under dash unlike the driver left turn indicator is steady and flashes accordingly.

 

[LONO100]

Hi, I've had a similar issue twice before, one time it was the brake switch which needed to be replaced. Its a little block that's located on the shaft of the brake pedal. Then the other time the actual wiring going to the taillights were severed during a trail run. I would look into these first, checking for continuity in the wiring and testing the switch. You can do this with a multimeter. I have an 03 sport trac but it is pretty much a second Gen like the one you have. Hope this helps, good luck!

 

[enyplaya007]

thank you for the assistance, do u know of any way to test it for verification before buying part? what points should I test and for how much voltage? If not how much would the brake switch cost if available?

 

[enyplaya007]

The brake switch did not restore tail light/parking lamp outage. Any other suggestions?

 

[enyplaya007]

I also found the relay under dash and swapped but that yielded the same result, no parking lights in rear except license plate left and right lamps. Front parking lamps have been working fine. Anyone have any suggestions for tracking down power failure if its even that? Could it be a ground failure? Is it possible that power goes into the alarm unit in rear and does not come out? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[LONO100]

The switch shouldnt cost more than 20 bucks, you can test it and the wire with a miltimeter. Switch the meter to its continuity setting, it looks lile a strobe pattern. It will beep if you test the ends of the lights that wont work if the wiring is not broken. If it is cut somewhere along its path it wont beep.for the brake switch, when you pull it off, check to see if its blown or corroded. If it looks good check it too with the miltimeter. test for dc 12v. Good luck.

 

[enyplaya007]

The switch shouldnt cost more than 20 bucks, you can test it and the wire with a miltimeter. Switch the meter to its continuity setting, it looks lile a strobe pattern. It will beep if you test the ends of the lights that wont work if the wiring is not broken. If it is cut somewhere along its path it wont beep.for the brake switch, when you pull it off, check to see if its blown or corroded. If it looks good check it too with the miltimeter. test for dc 12v. Good luck.

I did get the switch and put it into play with the rest of the system but no change. i still have brake lights just as before but tail lights/running lights still wont come on. If u have any other suggestions I'm ready and waiting. I plan on pulling the collar from the steering wheel and checking for loose connections on the multifunction switch/turn indicator handle. Maybe I can get lucky and find a loose connection. I did swap out the relay under the dash and that did nothing in regards to the tail light outage.

 

[enyplaya007]

Is it safe to say since the front running lights/head lamps/turn indicators/high beam&low beams that the wire sending the power to the module is hot?

 

[LONO100]

Not neccesarily, there is a group of wires running to the rear along the left side that sends power to the rear. They are wrapped in a plastic hose and could have been severed. I remember having brake lights, and my signals worked, but my tail lights wouldn't light up when I switched on my headlights. I ended up finding a part of the plastic hose along the left side of the frame that housed the wiring and there was a good crack in it. When I opened the hose I found that the signals, and brake wires were still intact, but the wire for my tail lights (I think it was the brown one) was severed. Once I reconnected, it was all good. Check for continuity with the lights that aren't working for you. And if the brake switch didn't solve the problem for you, just return it. You shouldn't have a problem getting your money back.

 

[enyplaya007]

Not neccesarily, there is a group of wires running to the rear along the left side that sends power to the rear. They are wrapped in a plastic hose and could have been severed. I remember having brake lights, and my signals worked, but my tail lights wouldn't light up when I switched on my headlights. I ended up finding a part of the plastic hose along the left side of the frame that housed the wiring and there was a good crack in it. When I opened the hose I found that the signals, and brake wires were still intact, but the wire for my tail lights (I think it was the brown one) was severed. Once I reconnected, it was all good. Check for continuity with the lights that aren't working for you. And if the brake switch didn't solve the problem for you, just return it. You shouldn't have a problem getting your money back.

thank you, I will try to trace and track that wire. my voltage meter crapped out and is not reading anything now so that just makes it a little harder. I will return the part as soon as I figure out the problem just in case I need to get something else.

 

[LONO100]

When you return the switch, just ask the guys there if you can borrow your multimeter. Then just pull one of the tail lights off and start testing. Good luck!

 

[enyplaya007]

When you return the switch, just ask the guys there if you can borrow your multimeter. Then just pull one of the tail lights off and start testing. Good luck!

I figured out the meter issue, blown fuse inside. Now I just have to replace that and the battery while I'm in it and it and back to trouble shooting tomorrow. I did pull the harness out from the left kick panel on drivers side all the way to the rear seats and nothing looked broken but without a working voltage detector its useless. I will get a better look at it tomorrow after I get that fuse put in. Just looking at wiring diagrams and stuff. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it. Will update tomorrow.

 

[enyplaya007]

well I have figured out through much wire chasing across the whole dashboard that the brown wire comes down and hits another junction harness in the passenger side kick panel with maybe 4 other junctions and a blue box labeled ford that kind of looks like a hard drive. one of the junctions came loose and is most likely because I ripped out the dash prior to winter setting in to resolve the blend door issue. I pulled the whole heater box and used a template to cut out the old door and install a new door. I really appreciate the help. Chasing those wires was a real pain but now I know. I also fixed the rear blinker issue which was in that open junction and the radio issue. Crazy stuff!!!!