Should I see an electrical specialist or ??

[NWwoman]

Hi --

My Explorer was just put back into use this week, after being in the garage all winter.

The tach stays at 0; the temp gauge is staying below the C mark, and the ABS light is on.

I'm in the country/rural area and had a farmer/mechanic friend of a friend come over and he had some sort of tester. Said that the thermostat did not need to be replaced; the engine was running fine; car heated properly; fluids fine. No noises.

Sooo, should I take it to an electrical expert to see if there's an electrical problem somewhere? Would that be the first next step?

Anyone have suggestions?

 

[deweyville65]

Hi --

My Explorer was just put back into use this week, after being in the garage all winter.

The tach stays at 0; the temp gauge is staying below the C mark, and the ABS light is on.

I'm in the country/rural area and had a farmer/mechanic friend of a friend come over and he had some sort of tester. Said that the thermostat did not need to be replaced; the engine was running fine; car heated properly; fluids fine. No noises.

Sooo, should I take it to an electrical expert to see if there's an electrical problem somewhere? Would that be the first next step?

Anyone have suggestions?

Check for a bad ground first, then go to someone that knows electrical. But, most electrical problems can be traced to bad grounds.

 

[NWwoman]

Ok....but my car-handy husband died four months ago and I do not know how to check for a bad ground. Don't even know what that means! Suggestions?

 

[deweyville65]

Sorry for your loss Mam. Maybe you have a neighbor that can look at it? Aside from that, any wire that physically attaches to the body or frame is a ground wire. IE, the black battery cable. Checking the instrument panel ground may require removing the instrument panel. That may be a bigger job than you want to tackle. In your case going to a shop may be the best action, but, beware. A neighbor is probably the best.

 

[Turdle]

Hopefully it is a blown fuse.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180814&highlight=power+distribution+box

Maybe this will help

 

[NWwoman]

Yahoo -- it's fixed! The farmer/mechanic was wrong, despite the diag tool he hooked up to it. And even a neighbor, O'Reilly's and a local shop were wrong. Electrical shop changed the thermostat and yep, that really was the problem. The ABS was the sender and when both were fixed, oddly enough, the tach began working. Why these things went bad over the winter storage, I have no idea. Thanks for all of the help and for teaching me what a ground is. )