Hello…I have a 2002 taurus I bought from a guy cheap…well he failed to tell me the driver side door was hit and has been replaced. Well…after about 3 weeks problems starting accuring
1. They open door light never goes off…so the doors won’t lock
I have replaced them)
2. when you turn the head lights on, the dash board lights do not turn on, but the blicker arrows come on solid and stay on.
3. When I open the door, the inside dome lights don’t always turn on
if anyone knows if there is a ground wire loose or how to fix the problem please let me know. Thanks
jt
You need to check the driver side door switch and make sure it isn’t shorted to ground and causing the door light to stay on. Normally a ground connection is made when the door is open. The switch may be in the latch of the door. The GEM module may have a problem also, causing the trouble.
For the dash light trouble I assume you have checked the dimmer control and if that is turned all the way up then check for voltage getting to it. The trouble may be before it.
The dome light and doors are controlled by the GEM module but I would first verify that the door switches are making the proper ground when they are open before moving to the module.
If you are going to work on these things yourself I highly recommend you get a service manual for the car. It will save you time and money. A factory manual is the best one to get. Check out Ebay for some good deals on manuals. You should also have at least a test light probe to check for voltage and do the testing with. If you do just one repair using these things they will more than pay for themselves over getting a shop repair bill for the job.
thanks for your reply…as for the dash…it worked at one time, then all of a sudden the lights stopped coming on and the turn arrows came on. We have checked the dimmer and it dims the radio and the heat/ac switches, so we know that works.
thank you
Since it was hit in the driver’s side door, I’d suspect the wiring harness where it goes from the unibody into the door frame. I agree that you probably have a short to ground, but I think wiring harness damage should be high on the list of a possible cause. You’ll need a multimeter and a schematic to check this. You may need to break open the harness and use a pin probe on the individula wires.
Don’t forget…the wires there are always “hot”, even when the key is out of the ignition. Either look for voltages or disconnect the battery and look for continuity.
I had a friend with a Taurus who had dash connectivity problems. Sometimes it would work, sometimes not. She never let me tear it off to see what I could find.
Since the dimmer works for part of the lights then it appears that the trouble is with the dash light wiring to the dash area. Perhaps in the connector to it. You might try just disconnecting and reconnecting the connections to the dash and see if that helps.
thank you very much for your time and reply. I wll be digging into this weekend.
thank you for your reply. It always helps when somebody knows a thing or two