lost power steering and radio when parking lamp turn on

[guang]

I have a 96 Ford Taurus with some problems.
1. power steering and radio are lost when I turn on parking lamps or head lamps.
2. nothing in my steering wheel works. no horn, nor cruise.
I tried to unplug TRS but symptoms didn't go away. Thanks for any suggestions out there!!

Mary

[shorod]

The power steering is lost, as in it becomes hard to turn the steering wheel? The problems you describe seem electrical in nature. The power steering pump is mechanical, unless your car has the Variable Assist Power Steering (VAPS). I was thinking VAPS was only available in the SHO that year....

Fortunately, I never experienced a faulty TRS on my Taurus. However, I doubt that just unplugging it would fix anything since then you'd have multiple open circuits. I suspect you'll need to actually replace the sensor.

-Rod

[guang]

Thank you for responding to my question. Yes, I meant the steering wheel is hard to turn when I said power steer is lost. However, my power steering works fine when my headlight is off.

I'm not sure if my car has the variable-assist power steering. Do you know if there's anyway I might check it? I suspect this is a electrical problem as well. I think it might been problems with sensors that's related to the headlight. Would you know if there's anything I can do about that?

Thanks in advance for answering my questions.
Mary

[shorod]

You may want to review the following posts. It appears that your car may have VAPS....
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...highlight=VAPS
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...highlight=VAPS
(this post may not seem related, but the lesson here is to check the capacity of your battery -- a bad battery can appear to be goofy electical gremlins).

-Rod

[guang]

I will check all fuse and power feeds and charging system this weekend.
Thanks!
Mary

[shorod]

Originally Posted by guang

I will check all fuse and power feeds and charging system this weekend.
Thanks!
Mary

Check the battery too. Many chain auto parts stores can perform a load test on the battery and will do that at no charge. A high impedance multimeter may show good voltage, but due to the high impedance, it's reading a surface charge. You need to put a load on the battery and verify that it has the capacity to supply that load.

-Rod