96Windstar parking lights

[wldleak]

My parking lights will not work. I found this out pulling my motorcycle trailer. Brake and turn signals work on van and trailer, but no running lights.

I cannot find any bad fuses in the fuse box under dash. Any suggestions?

[rivguy]

not sure but I think the parking light fuse is in the pannel under the hood

[PumpItUp]

Do you have a simple 4 way wire harness? Yellow should be running lights/parking lights.. I believe. Just had a headache with mine and had to determine where the problem was! If your using a Hoppy brand of "Main" wiring harness you may want to check from there first. I believe...looking thru other forums.. and hear as well that it's behind the panel near the right rear tail lamp. Do a polarity check for different wires but specifially the brown line/yellow connection.. may be just a loose connection is all. Good luck!

[wldleak]

Originally Posted by PumpItUp

Do you have a simple 4 way wire harness? Yellow should be running lights/parking lights.. I believe. Just had a headache with mine and had to determine where the problem was! If your using a Hoppy brand of "Main" wiring harness you may want to check from there first. I believe...looking thru other forums.. and hear as well that it's behind the panel near the right rear tail lamp. Do a polarity check for different wires but specifially the brown line/yellow connection.. may be just a loose connection is all. Good luck!

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I do have a 4-way flat harness. U-haul installed the hitch and wiring. It appears that there is a factory trailer wiring harness with small, black, square plastic box behind the right tail light. I'll remove the tape from the harnes and check it out. My thought also is the light switch on the dash board. Haven't treid to remove switch from dash yet. Are there any tricks to it?

[PumpItUp]

Originally Posted by wldleak

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I do have a 4-way flat harness. U-haul installed the hitch and wiring. It appears that there is a factory trailer wiring harness with small, black, square plastic box behind the right tail light. I'll remove the tape from the harnes and check it out. My thought also is the light switch on the dash board. Haven't treid to remove switch from dash yet. Are there any tricks to it?

Yep , U Haul has the black box. So to speak and it's identified right on there where the wires are to go. To trailer/from vehicle and so on. It's about 3 1/2 " square and it won't be near the 4 way harness connector.. you'll have to take off the plastic moulding around that area to find it and route it from the 4 way and it will be most likely be adhesively stuck to a panel or part of the frame. Note not to pull on the white ground wire as that will mess up all the other connections that are still good!! The snap /wire connectors can get jarred or pulled and seperate slightly and become an instant problem. Simple fix check the wires yellow and /or,yellow/brown on the vehicle side and for that matter all 3 wires and test for current when running lights are on.. I trust that you'll find it but those darn connectors are finnicky (<spelling?) Just have someone watching it while you move the connector/wiring about. If it's in there you;ll find it.. I just had the same problem with a Toyota Camry and the black box was at fault. Had some sort of short internal and the plastic had bubbled up literally. Simple fix was to snip one wire for signals and circumvent the box but no brakes and the black box does the switch for your turn/brake light sooo.. New Black box and "poof" NP! Good luck! And the dash light.. not certain what light your inquiring about and had to take my dash apart from under the steering column and up a while back because my whole Signal/ww fluid and Intermittent and regular wipers /lights etc. started acting up and finally not working and the harness wires had been snipped in behind??? Went to the local wrecker and got a harness for $45 and installed myself, works great now and was too tight to resolder or repair. So that's as far as I got under the dash and Yes Torx screws and parts galor to take off !Try the other avenue first..

[wldleak]

Originally Posted by PumpItUp

Yep , U Haul has the black box. So to speak and it's identified right on there where the wires are to go. To trailer/from vehicle and so on. It's about 3 1/2 " square and it won't be near the 4 way harness connector.. you'll have to take off the plastic moulding around that area to find it and route it from the 4 way and it will be most likely be adhesively stuck to a panel or part of the frame. Note not to pull on the white ground wire as that will mess up all the other connections that are still good!! The snap /wire connectors can get jarred or pulled and seperate slightly and become an instant problem. Simple fix check the wires yellow and /or,yellow/brown on the vehicle side and for that matter all 3 wires and test for current when running lights are on.. I trust that you'll find it but those darn connectors are finnicky (<spelling?) Just have someone watching it while you move the connector/wiring about. If it's in there you;ll find it.. I just had the same problem with a Toyota Camry and the black box was at fault. Had some sort of short internal and the plastic had bubbled up literally. Simple fix was to snip one wire for signals and circumvent the box but no brakes and the black box does the switch for your turn/brake light sooo.. New Black box and "poof" NP! Good luck! And the dash light.. not certain what light your inquiring about and had to take my dash apart from under the steering column and up a while back because my whole Signal/ww fluid and Intermittent and regular wipers /lights etc. started acting up and finally not working and the harness wires had been snipped in behind??? Went to the local wrecker and got a harness for $45 and installed myself, works great now and was too tight to resolder or repair. So that's as far as I got under the dash and Yes Torx screws and parts galor to take off !Try the other avenue first..

Finally, I got the lights back on my van. While returning home from an out of town job, I went by a country horse trailer sales and service. The tech there determined that the black box was bad and fuse #9 was bad. By the way, my owners manual does not indicate fuse 9 to be in use? With the new fuse and black box everything works on van and trailer. The best part was I only paid $22 for the box and no labor. Now that's good old freindly country boys.