95 escort dashlights/horn

Alright.... My girlfriend had just bought a 1995 Ford Escort LX 2dr 5spd. We never test drove the car during night so never noticed the 1 dash light burnt out. on the far left side (gas gauge light) seems to be burnt out, speedo/tach and all the other lights work. NOW... What would be the easiest way to change the light??? I have been searching for the past week and have not found anything. I haven't really had time to really look at the dash on how it comes apart, but i figure a lil help if someone could would be better then me out ripping the car apart!

Also, problem number 2........
The steering wheel seems to have been swapped with a different steering wheel... a steering wheel with no airbag??? I have no idea why someone would do such a thing, but anyways the Horn does not work. I briefly looked through the fuse panel and CAN NOT find the Horn fuse for the life of me, would it happen to be linked to something else? When pressing the button I can not hear the usual ticking noise that comes from the relay.... would someone be able to provide me with some pointers as to where exactly the horn relay would be???

Anyways, if someone would be able to help me with these problems that would be great...... I will be one step closer to having this car in half @$$ working/running shape.

Thanks for your time
Jay

Problem #1: There is no easy way. Save yourself a big headache and put up with the burned out bulb.

Problem #2: I would guess that your vehicle has been in an accident and the airbag deployed. Rather than buying a new airbag the previous owner probably just swapped steering wheels.

thanks for the quick reply....


Problem #1
alright no easy way.... would you happen to know the steps? where to start?

Problem #2
ok, i guessed that the wheel was swapped, any idea where the HORN Relay is? or how about a fuse???

Removing the instrument cluster involves lowering the steering column (if it does lower) or removing the steering wheel. You also have to disconnect all the wires, speedo cable etc. from the back of it. The screws that hold it in are pretty easy to see.
I am probably forgetting something... but the part I hate is removing the steering wheel. In your case, maybe you will be doing that anyway?


As for the horn... since you have a new steering wheel on there I wonder if the horn button is even connected. Do you even know if the horn works? From under the hood you can use a jumper wire to ground the horn and see if it honks.

I am not certain where the relay might be... but you will want to look in one of 3 places. Either the area of the fuse panel under the driver dash, the fuse panel under the hood, or under the dash behind the center console. Seems everything is located in those 3 places.

Ok I was curious so I looked it up...

Looks like the horn is connected to the STOP fuse on the panel.

An easy way to find the hor relay might be to lcate your brake switch at the pedal.... there should be a dark green/white wire connected to it. This is a ground wire... follow it back and it will divert 3 other ways... to the fuse panel, and two connections to the horn relay.
Actual location of the relay... I have no clue without going and looking myself :P

I would assume it is right there next to the fuse panel.

hey mightymoose....
i have a new problem. The escort is overheating like crazy. It over heated 2 times yesterday. Here is what i figured out, the fan is not running. It apears that it has been wired to a switch under the steering wheel, wireing from the switch goes out to the relay I believe. I am thinking the person did a 5$ fix by over riding the relay then replacing the relay. I figure if i am goig to get a new relay i should do it right! So, I am wondering where might the Cooling Fan Switch be located? I bought a new switch and am getting a new relay tomorrow or as soon as i can.

so if you could help me on that now.... that would be great!!!

Thanks a Bunch

Do a search of this forum for "overheating" and you will find a wealth of info.

The fan:
You can connect the fan direct to the battry to see if the motor does in fact work.
The high and low speed relays are located underneath the aircleaner in the driver fender area.
The sensor that operates the fan is the one closest to the thermostat in the hose coming from the heater core. The sensor send the signal through the PCM which is responsible for activating the fan when necessary... I doubt anything is wrong with the sensor or the PCM.

There is also a relay in the engine fuse box.

Well... if someone has toggled your fan, then who knows how your circuit is set up... I'd get it off the toggle though.

If you have specific questions about the wiring I can try to help you with that... but may be best to get your hands on a schematic in a Mitchell book or Haynes manual.

Now that I have typed all this I don't recall exactly what your question was...

the switch... there is no actual switch. You need to see that the fan is connected to the relays. Most likely the toggle was set up by splicing into the wiring right at the relay... so just undo it and put it back the way it was... if you can figure it out. Then you can trouble shoot from there.

thanks for all the help!
I went to the local Canadian Tire today looking for a fan relay and they don't have them, any other name they might be? or is there kind of a standard type relay?

The toggle switch that is under the steering where is connected to the relay that is in the fuse box under the dash. So the relay is under the air box hey??? that is not good as i followed a couple of wires going down under the air box that have melted and fused together. So chances are they wired the relay to relay to toggle switch and there for blew the relay, drawing to much power???????

Damn that makes me mad, what happened to the good ol' days where a mechanic was $25.00/hour and did stuff right? now you have hack jobs like this!

Alright i guess i am doing some re-wiring tomorrow.

Thanks again!

Obviously I haven't looked at your car... but I still doubt the problem is with the high or low speed relay.
First item of business is to get the toggle switch removed and wire the fan as it is supposed to be... then you can troubleshoot it.
I can't say that I have heard of anyone that ever found the relay to be the actual problem... though we always talk about where it is and how to test it.
Once it is wired correctly you can easily test the system with a code reader or by using a jumper wire to run the EEC test.

The toggle switch should not be connected to the fuse box under the dash... I suppose it could be somehow, depending on how it got rigged up... but it shouldn't be. Well.. there shouldn't be a toggle to begin with. Start at the fan and follow the wires... they should lead under the air cleaner in to the wheel well.

NOw that I actually read your post all the way through, maybe you actually do have a problem with the relays. If you can't locate them at the parts stores, you can always try the junk yards.

If I had a scanner I'd send you a copy of they Haynes manual diagram. Pick yourself up one if you can... it would help... but I'm happy to help out if I can.

Alright I did some work on it today.

I discovered that the cooling fan motor is fried.... all the wires leading up to the fuse box under the hood are fried.

Heres it what it was..... toggle switch un the steering wheel with wire running out to the fuse box under the hood, which was connected to the relay. then from there, there were wires coming from the relay heading up towards the eec test box with another relay rigged to it. now, from the fuse box under the hood wires ran down under the air box and to the fan. Crazy I know!!!

So now my question would be, for a temporary fix till i can get it in to my mechanic, would i be able to run the fan to the ignition for now? reason for that, then the fan will run when the car is turned on.... better then not at all right... I know it isn't right but i will be done that way for only about week.

Of coarse the line will be fused to prevent this again!!!

let me know what you think of that for a temp fix!

ttyl

Hmm.. the wiring is fried, but the fan motor is ok? You should be able to direct connect to the battery to test it.

If I am understanding correctly, it sounds that the wiring you are describing is mostly correct... I am just not sure about the EEC area you mentioned.

Anyway... a temporary fix... just get yourself some new wires and run a hot line straight to the fan and connect it to the existing toggle switch under the dash. Skip the relays. This will have your fan on high speed at all times though. You can toggle on and off as you wish... maybe while at highway speeds you could switch it off.

ok,
here is where the cort (escort) stands....

cooling fan motor.... FRIED!!!!
wires from the fan to the fuse box under the hood... FRIED!!!!
toggle switch going to fuse box (wires).... FINE!!!!
wires going from fuse box to second relay???.... FRIED!!!!

so here is my gam plan of what i am going to do...
wire the fan up to something in the fuse box inside the car that runs when the car starts (ignition,radio) something along that nature, then eventually get a mechanic to re-wire the whole fan, DONE RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now a question for you, what amp fuse should we wire to (10,20) with out burning up anymore wiring????

Thanks for everything, you have been a great help!!!

ttyl

Hmm... not too sure about that one. It is wired through a 40amp fuse in the engine box, but that is part of the ignition too...
I am not sure if there is info on the fan motor that will help you choose which amp... that goes beyond me. I would assume more than 10... so maybe start with a 20 and if it blows gow ith 30 or 40? The fan draws a lot of power... it has to be something higher I would think...

Consider this forum closed............................................ ..................

We have now came to an agreement that we are returning the car and getting our money back! thanks for all your help!!!

take care for about a week till we buy a new car!!!!

thanks