1997 Ford Taurus PWR steering prob

[RayNL78]

My 97 taurus is giving me a hard time. after being parked for a few minutes I will start driving and all will work fine. after about 5 minutes the seatbelt light will flash sparraticly and the power steering, power windows, intermittant wipers, and the sound going from the radio to the speakers (the radio remains on) will go out. occasionally after being out for a while everything will start working again. It started out only doing it in reverse and now has progressed to doing it all of the time. I was wondering could this be a problem with the alternator. I understand that the rack and pinion has electronic sensors that might be affected by low current from the alternator. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[motoarts]

I have the same problem with my car. Here is a post I have listed in another forum:
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I believe it's a AXOD (it's not an AX4N, too dark out to check for sure). Vehicle is a '97 Sable wagon, 3.0 Vulcan (12 valve), 120K. Fluid is perfectly clean and filled. No previous slippage or concerns whatsoever.

Symptoms are:
Seat belt indicator light illuminates, along with rapid opening/closing of a relay under the dash. Wipers and power windows quit working, along with loss of power steering boost. Sometimes (not always), trans will refuse to go into OD, and/or the gear indicator is off by 1 detent (ie. first is first, drive also holds first, OD is 1-2-3 w/ no 4th upshift). Sometimes it gets "stuck" between 2-3 upshifts. Seems to do this only after driving 15 minutes or more (heat soaked electrical component??).

My Haynes manual does not show or speak of much detail regarding these symptoms. I suspect a faulty TR switch (where the shift cable attaches to the trans). I've inspected it's plug and wires and all is like new. Anyone else run across this situation before?
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As soon as I find an answer, i'll let you know...
Pete

[TomV]

I agree with motoarts that the Transmission Range switch should be the first component to replace with these seemingly non-related issues. Thare have been many posts on this and other message boards concerning problems with this component causing similar problems.

[myfivopony]

My problem with my 1996 Taurus sounds like yours. Mine started with the radio going out while driving in OD. When I got to my destination, put the car in park, radio came on. Thought this was odd, did some playing, radio worked in park or neutral only, not in any gear. Later, turning into gas stall, power steering goes out and seat belt light comes (my seatbelt is on btw). Later going down the road, window won't go up, slip it in neutral, window goes up. Took car home and parked it. Will drive 1990 mustang the rest of this week. No time for chaos. It seems very similar to the crazy stuff that happened when the Neutral Safety Switch went bad several years ago. It'll go in the shop next week, I'll post back.

[anjelwithaj]

I have the exact prob with my 97 taurus. Windows stop working, wipers only work on fast, power steering stops and no radio

[mschulte59]

Originally Posted by anjelwithaj

I have the exact prob with my 97 taurus. Windows stop working, wipers only work on fast, power steering stops and no radio

This is the neutral safety switch. If you search the web, you will see many references to it.