Lights / electrical problem

I have a 99 windstar, 3.8 engine, 146,000 miles. The light came on the dash indicating a bad exterior bulb. When using the left turn signal, the lights flash very fast. Th left front parking and cornering lamps also are not working. Also, the right front headlight does not work either on low or high beam. I replaced the left front cornering and turn signal/parking bulbs and also the left rear parking turn signal / parking bulbs but they still do not work. I replaced the right front headlight bulb and it also still does not work either in low or high beam. Both of these problems occured at or about the same time. I removed and inspected every fuse in the box inside and in the engine compartment. I also removed the battery and battery tray looking for damaged wires, all look good. I removed the fuse box from the mount in the engine compartment and inspected the wires going inside the underside and all look good also. Cleaned and tightened terminals on battery and also engine fuse box. Battery voltage is at 14.23 volts when idling. Neither the left front turn signal, parking, or cornering lamps work along with the right front headlight. Replaced all bulbs with new and still nothing. What am I missing?

I notice from the '99 power distribution diagrams that all of those faulty lamps are fed with 12 volts via 'Switched System Power Relay 2', so a faulty relay could cause the problem - a quick and easy check would be to swap relays SSP1 and SSP2, assuming them to be identical.

According to the owner's manual they're in the engine compartment fuse box, with Relay #301 being SSP2, and relay #302 being SSP1. The layout should look like this: '99 Engine compartment fuse box layout (http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x64/Selectron/Windstar/99-windstar-engine-fusebox-layout.gif).

Fingers crossed that it's just a faulty relay, because if it isn't then it will mean delving into the wiring, which I'm sure you'd rather avoid. These are the power distribution diagrams by the way, and you can see what I mean on diagram #4:

'99 Windstar power distribution diagrams: 1 (http://selectron.webs.com/1999-windstar-power-distribution-01.pdf) - 2 (http://selectron.webs.com/1999-windstar-power-distribution-02.pdf) - 3 (http://selectron.webs.com/1999-windstar-power-distribution-03.pdf) - 4 (http://selectron.webs.com/1999-windstar-power-distribution-04.pdf)

Selectron, thank you for the reply. I switched the relays as suggested but it did not help. Tomorrow I will check for voltage and look at grounds. Do you know where the right headlight and left front turn signal would be grounded at? I was not able to open the 4 wiring diagrams that you attached. Where can I find the wiring diagrams? Thanks again for your help.

You'll find a fairly good set of wiring diagrams at the Autozone (http://www.autozone.com) website, in the Repair Info section. This link (http://www.autozone.com/autozone/repairinfo/repairguide/repairGuideContent.jsp?pageId=0996b43f8036e6b9) might take you straight to the Windstar page - scroll down the menu on the left to access the '99 exterior lighting wiring diagrams.

The way the lighting works is, the lamps are fed with a constant 12V by those SSP relays, and then when you operate a light switch on the dashboard or steering column, the Front Electronic Module (FEM) and/or Rear Electronic Module (REM) complete the ground path for the requested lamp(s).

Before you start digging into that though, I'd take a very close look at the wiring harness at the front of the vehicle - we've seen several fault reports similar to yours but usually they involve the front passenger side turn signals, and frayed wiring is most often the cause. In particular there is a section of harness adjacent to the battery which is known to be a weak spot, and another by the radiator - I'll go and find the posts which describe the locations.

Found them - post #10 in this thread (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=949708) describes damaged wiring adjacent to the battery, and post #5 in this thread (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=956839) describes damaged wiring adjacent to the radiator.

I think those SSP relays receive 12V any time the ignition is switched on, so I'd unplug relay SSP2, switch the ignition on, and then check for voltage by probing into the now-empty socket - the socket terminals corresponding to relay terminals 86 and 30 should both have 12V present. If you find that the socket does indeed have 12V on two terminals then the problem is highly likely to be on the ground side of the circuit, and I'd suspect the harness first before I'd suspect either the FEM or REM.

Selectron, Thanks for some valuable tips, but the right headlight and left front turn signal, parking, and cornering lamps still do not work. I inspected as much wiring as possible from the headlight, along the plastic channel along the radiator and all around the battery. I removed the battery and battery tray also. I looked for nicks, tears in insulation, and carefully removed the black tape to get a better look at suspected spots, all look good. I got 2 front electronic modules from other 99s in a junk yard and tried both, but problem remained the same. With headlight switch on and off, I got 0 voltage at all socket terminals on right side (non working) and 12 volts only on yellow/red wire socket on left (working bulb). I have 12 volts at fuse 16 (left light) and 0 volts at fuse 15 (right light). For the turn signals, I got 0 volts with switch on and off at all socket terminals on left side (non working side) and with lights off I got .53 volts at white/red, .30 at dark blue/orange, and 0 at black/pink. With lights on, I got 12 volts at white/red, and 0 volts at dark blue/orange and black/pink wires. If you can think of anything else for me to try, I would greatly appreciate the info. Thanks again.

The biggest clue is that you don't have voltage on fuse 15 but you do have voltage on fuse 16. This is the diagram which you were unable to open - I've saved it as a gif image so you should be able to see it now: 99 Windstar power distribution - page 4 (http://selectron.webs.com/images-over-1024x768/1999-windstar-power-distribution-04.gif) - it's easier to follow than the Autozone diagrams.

The fault is somewhere prior to fuse 15 in the top right-hand corner of the diagram. I'd check for 12 volts on both legs of fuse 23, and I expect you'll find that also has no voltage. If so then check for voltage on both legs of fuse 108. With a bit of luck you'll find that fuse 108 has blown and with a bit more luck a replacement will bring everything back to life (voltage on both legs means a fuse is ok, but voltage on only one leg means the fuse is blown).

However, if you find that you do have 12 volts on fuse 108 but not on fuses 15 and 23, then unplug relay SSP2 (Relay 301). With the ignition switched on, probe into the empty relay sockets - if the probe doesn't fit in there then use a piece of stiff wire or a paper clip to extend the probe - two of the socket terminals should be at 12 volts (relay SSP1 - that's Relay 302 - is wired in an identical way, and that relay is working, so you might want to compare the voltages at the two relay sockets).

If you find that you don't have 12 volts on two terminals then that would suggest a fault between fuse 108 and SSP2 relay socket.

If you find that you do indeed have 12 volts on two terminals then that would suggest that the REM is failing to ground SSP2's relay coil. The coil is the squiggly line between terminals 85 and 86 - if you follow the wire down to the bottom left of the diagram you'll see that it connects to the REM. The good news is that if you follow the two splice points on that wire, the REM also grounds the coils of the other three SSP relays so we know that the REM is working, and in that case it would be nothing more serious than a fault in the final section of wiring leading to relay SSP2's coil.

I don't know how well-practised you are at reading wiring diagrams, so just to explain that portion of the circuit: when you switch the ignition on, the REM grounds the coils of all four of the SSP relays. At that instant, each relay's switched contacts will close, and in the case of relay SSP2, that causes current to flow from fuse 108, via the switched contacts, to fuses 23 and 15 - something is disrupting that sequence, hence no voltage at fuse 15.

Selectron, It was a broken wire near the battery and a blown # 108 fuse. Everything now works, thank you very much for your help.

Thanks so much for those who provided information (espcially the wiring diagrams!) on this post.

Here's my situation & solution:

There was a nearly 3 amp draw with the system off and key out (over 5 minutes). I determined the current draw was through SSP 3 Relay (Switched System Power). Using the wiring diagram number 4 (posted above), I started removing interior fuses that are fed by SSP #3 and determined that fuse #1 was the culprit (primarily interior lighthing). I've removed fuse #1 (10A) and will test it overnight to see if the battery is drained. Right now, I'm showing a .806 amp drain. I think she might be fixed! :smile:

-dougl