[shorod]

Any chance there is another 2000 in your fleet that you could pull the front control unit from to see if that is the cause? If not, you could pull the front control unit and check for voltages on the various pins of the connectors to see if you have the correct voltages at the correct times. I would need to study the diagram for 2000 (of which I do not have a service manual for) to see if the ACP (or is it wakeup) line is supposed to go to 5 volts or other to turn the deck on, along with the ACC supply line. If those are functioning as expected, that would pretty much pinpoint the front control unit as the culprit.

You might also want to take you WDS or similar scan tool and check the GEM unit to make sure the door pin switches are functioning properly. Did your Taurus have an exit delay for the radio, similar to the one for the power windows and sunroof?

I was all ready to suggest TRS, but then I read you already tried disconnecting that.

-Rod