Power window and 4WD issues.

[96 explorer man]

drove home lastnight and rolled up my windows and this morning they wont go down. my 4wd lights are also flashing which were not the night before. i checked my fuses and they are all good. any sugestions on how to fix this problem?

 

[corkey]

did you also check the fuses under the hood ?

 

[patrick112390]

do the interior lights work? if not, check fuse 26 in the dash fuse panel

 

[96 explorer man]

yes i checked the fuses under the hood and my interior lights as well as my door locks work.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your thread into the stock 95-01 section. It sounds like a GEM issue.

 

[budwich]

It sounds like a relay issue as in accessory delay.

 

[Mr.Terry]

Holy crap I have the exact same problem! Weirdest thing ever. Intermittent, not all the time, but out of the blue the 4WD indicators in the dash cluster will blink every 10 seconds or so, and ALL windows refuse to work. No method to the madness- its done it going down the road, and while sitting parked.

Only solution I have found was to just wait a few, and it returns to normal. I didn't find any bad fuses anywhere, and playing with the seats while this was going on leads me to believe there's something else to blame- the seats share the same circuit as the power windows and locks. (Locks work fine too, while this is going on.)

As a noob here, I have 2 questions: what is a GEM, and how do you define 'accessory delay' relating to relays? Those terms confuse me.

 

[BrooklynBay]

The GEM is a module for controlling various body functions of the vehicle.

 

[SoNic67]

In my Sable I had a problem with the Neutral Safety Switch (that is also the Transmission Range Sensor, Reverse Switch) - a bad one (with shorts inside), will create all kins of issues with the lights, radio, power windows... It messes with the GEM module.
Replacing that sensor/switch fixed all the problems.

I don't know if that's the case here too.

 

[Mr.Terry]

So where might this elusive gem be found, and how difficult is it to replace? This silliness happens more than frequently enough to warrant a fix.

 

[BrooklynBay]

It's inside the dashboard.

 

[Mr.Terry]

I was hoping for an answer that was a bit more... descriptive, shall we say? 3I did search these forums but a generic term like "gem" turned up in tons of posts, so it wasn't really easy to narrow anything down, and i didnt find a respective sticky that had anything appearing pertinent.

This problem really is quite the nuisance and I would appreciate any help or input you guys might have.

 

[budwich]

I believe if ye pull your radio, ye will find the light...

 

[DRoman]

the relay you are looking for is located under the dash panel over the gas pedal in a fuse box ( in my 95 Explorer ) it is a 1 inch x 1 inch relay it cost maybe 5 to 9 bucks or free if you go to junk yard you can pull from the fuse box under the hood by the brake fluid retainer

 

[DRoman]

power windows and 4wd light

look under the dash over the gas pedal for the fuse box and change the 1 x1 inch relay thats there

Holy crap I have the exact same problem! Weirdest thing ever. Intermittent, not all the time, but out of the blue the 4WD indicators in the dash cluster will blink every 10 seconds or so, and ALL windows refuse to work. No method to the madness- its done it going down the road, and while sitting parked.

Only solution I have found was to just wait a few, and it returns to normal. I didn't find any bad fuses anywhere, and playing with the seats while this was going on leads me to believe there's something else to blame- the seats share the same circuit as the power windows and locks. (Locks work fine too, while this is going on.)

As a noob here, I have 2 questions: what is a GEM, and how do you define 'accessory delay' relating to relays? Those terms confuse me.

 

[Lazzman]

Wow, what a coincidence I just posted that on here also, 4x4 high and low light blinking and power windows and Moonroof will not work on my '98 Sport.

I wonder if the GEM you speak of is in a different spot on a '98 Model year.

if not where would I find this thing?

Any help is highly appreciated

 

[joecrna]

The GEM moves slightly based on year. I believe in all of your cases, it is behind the radio. This is not a cheap part. To see a picture, I think the brown wire modification thread for second gen Explorers shows it. Of coarse that's not where I did my brown wire but it is the original way.

 

[Lazzman]

Thanks for the Info Joe, what do you mean by not cheap? How much are we talking here?

 

[joecrna]

I don't remember exactly but a few hundred seems familiar.

 

[Lazzman]

Got a used GEM off of ebay with the exact same part number as mine.

Replaced it and it was no help, still no power windows and 4x4 hi low flashing.

The 4x4 high light does not come on when I put the truck in 4x4 high?

What else could this be besides the GEM module? I checked all of the fuses and relays to no avail.

I suppose the one I bought from ebay could be bad but I doubt it since the symptoms are exactly the same.

Please help with any advice on where to go next??