1998 Taurus Electrical - Help!!!!

I have been having electrical problems with my 98 Taurus which are causing certain malfunctions.

The latest one is that my directionals will not work. I play with the lock/unlock button on the driver's door, depress the 4 way flashers several times, and Maybe......if I'm lucky, the directionals start working.

At one time, my radio display also failed to work. All of a sudden, while I was driving, the door lock/unlock button went off, and the display came back.

I have had problems in the past with the "door ajar" light. It would stay lit, and then while I was driving, the door lock/unlock button would go off, and the "door ajar" light would go off.

I had to disconnect the underdash light, because it wouldn't go off.

Can anyone help????

I have been having electrical problems with my 98 Taurus which are causing certain malfunctions.

The latest one is that my directionals will not work. I play with the lock/unlock button on the driver's door, depress the 4 way flashers several times, and Maybe......if I'm lucky, the directionals start working.

At one time, my radio display also failed to work. All of a sudden, while I was driving, the door lock/unlock button went off, and the display came back.

I have had problems in the past with the "door ajar" light. It would stay lit, and then while I was driving, the door lock/unlock button would go off, and the "door ajar" light would go off.

I had to disconnect the underdash light, because it wouldn't go off.

Can anyone help????

I had a similar problem with the radio in my '98 Taurus SHO. The illumination for the buttons would only work when it wanted to. I removed the control unit and reflowed the solder on any of the connections that looked less than perfect. That problem hasn't come back for a year now.

The door ajar light issue is very common. You can do a search on that in this forum and probably get hundreds of replies, therefore I'm not going to go into detail on that (again). Basically, one of you door pin switches in one of your door latch mechanisms is dirty. Clean it with some electrical contact cleaner and you'll be good for awhile. I do not recommend WD-40, it is not an electrical contact cleaner.

-Rod

I used to have the "door ajar" light and dome light problem. Short of replacing the latch sensors like once before, I used the WD-40 trick. It not only cleaned & lubed the latchs, but I have not had a problem since with the door ajar light/dome lights. All work as they should. Save me a lot of time and money. Just spray upinside the latch with the WD-40 and it should take care of the problem.

> I have been having electrical problems with my 98 Taurus which are causing certain malfunctions.

My 98 Taurus also has a few electrical problems - including two that you mentioned.

> The latest one is that my directionals will not work. I play with the lock/unlock button on the driver's door, depress the 4 way flashers several times, and Maybe......if I'm lucky, the directionals start working.

When my directionals started coming and going, I too tried many things with mixed results.... Eventually I hit on the obvious: replaced the little flasher/clicker gadget under left side of dash ( look for plastic cube about 3/4 in on each side ). After that, directionals were back to 100% and the 4-way flashers also went from never working to 100%. (only symptom left: wipers on + left turn = wipers speed changes)

> I have had problems in the past with the "door ajar" light.

Yup, me too. Had it fixed for a while via spray lubricants. But recently it's back - kinda. I no longer get the door ajar light on dash but the underdash lights stay on constantly. Just joined this fine forum - plan to search for more info on this one....

Hope this helps

A good spray lubricant in the door latch mechanisms should cure most of your problems.

My local dealer reccommended WD 40. Iused a silicone spray lube as, to my knowledge WD 40 is not a lubricant. It is a highly combustable solvent. You can use it effectively as a starting fluid.