Electrical Problem Driving me CRAZY

[holesaler99]

ok..here's the situation. None of my rear lights work and my passenger door locks dont work. My gas guauge is also reading incorrect. Now..sometime whiles driving they all start to work. Somehow all these are connected together. I ripped apart the whole car looking for a broken ground and cannot find any. When the lights work..everything else works. What Else Can I DO?

[BroncoJoe19]

You're probably on the right track looking for a bad ground. Personally I asked this list for a list of ground locations and there were no responses. What you could do, would be to run new grounds and see if that works. OR you could see if someone has the EVTM for your year truck and get the actual ground location that is pertenant to those common problems.
Good Luck,
IF you do get a list of grounds please share them with us.
THanks
joe

[drzoidberg]

Haynes Manuals have electrical diagrams in the back. If you get one of those at an Auto Parts store, you may be able to locate a "weak link," that is electrically upstream from all the intermittent items. Look for potential items such as relays/fuses that are common to all problems.

Since it is an intermittent fault, it may indicate that something like a relay is loose. Getting an electrical diagram will help you to make better educated guesses as to what it might be.

[vindctar]

Here's a link to chassis wiring diagrams for Windstar model years 1996-98: AutoZone.com | Vehicle Selection - Year

Originally Posted by BroncoJoe19

You're probably on the right track looking for a bad ground. Personally I asked this list for a list of ground locations and there were no responses. What you could do, would be to run new grounds and see if that works. OR you could see if someone has the EVTM for your year truck and get the actual ground location that is pertenant to those common problems.
Good Luck,
IF you do get a list of grounds please share them with us.
THanks
joe

[BroncoJoe19]

Thanks Vindcar. I had seen that, but what that diagram does NOT do is list exactly where the ground is located, such as top left radiator support, front left engine block.
My haynes manual lists those things for the 92-96 bronco, but not the earlier models, my Haynes manual doesn't list it for ANY of the windstar models '95- 2003.

Now... If I could only located my Ford Tech CD!

[foyjac]

I have a 99 windstar that is doing about the same thing. lost gauges intermintetly, no blinkers, parking lights and tag lights stay on with the key off. after doing alot of looking around I found that there is a chassis computer behind the jack storage compartment. There is 6 main ground connections that I
in the vehicle one under the rear computer, one on the right pillar at the rear lift gate, two on the the driver side under the cover by the hood latch, and two on the the front under the hood around the battery. you can check those and cean them but I found that my chassis computer (rear electronic module) was bad. the computer controls all the switching to the lights it controls door locks the fuel ascending unit. be very carefull how you test you lighting if you put voltage to any ground it can cause allot more problems. The rear electronic module can run around 250-350 dollars but you can find the at junk yards for about 50
make sure you check the number on your computer to make sure you get the right one it should start with a XF2T- and go into some other letters and numbers depending on how many options your van has. If you need the wiring diagram i may be able to email it to you. hope this helps