2000 Windstar electrical problem?

A friend recently ran into the infamous brake-fluid-in-the-ABS-switch problem with his 2000 Windstar, causing fuses 9, 10 and 16 to blow regularly. He's since had the switch replaced and the fuses aren't blowing anymore, but now he has an even more bizarre problem: his dash lights are on ALL the time, even when the van is off, and are unaffected by the dimmer control.

This has led to him needing to disconnect the battery every time he parks to prevent it being drained within a few hours. We found that pulling fuse 16 turns the dash lights off as well, but within a few seconds the headlights and blower come on, almost like the van thinks the key is in the IGN position.

He's picked up a Haynes manual which apparently has limited wiring diagrams; I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. Best guess we can come up with so far is that the Rear Electronic Module is faulty. He's also checked for the know issue with the jack pinching the REM wiring, but says there's no visible damage there.

I've found a couple of other hits on the 'net for people with the same problem, but so far nobody's posted a solution... most hits are for problems with the interior lights staying on, which seems to be an issue with the door pins; that is not the case here, as the interior lights are fine, and only the dash lights are affected.

Any help would be appreciated!

Reply to
Matt Ion
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On Jul 9, 11:44=A0am, Matt Ion wrote: his dash

I've only heard about one similar case of what you described. The polarity became reversed on the dash lights and the only way to correct it was to cross the polarity at the battery itself by changing positive cable to negative post and vice versa. If this doesn't correct it, then get in the car and fire the ignition while the cables are switched. Hopefully that will fix it.

Reply to
Gene Long

Holy crap, are you kidding!?! I did that accidentally years (decades) ago and ended up replacing my dash gauges, fuel gauge sending unit, radio, and a bunch of other stuff. The cure sounds worse than the disease.

SC Tom

Reply to
SC Tom

Holy crap is right! Why not just dump gasoline on it and throw a match!

Al

Reply to
Big Al

You forgot the part about telling him to put the car into drive when he goes to back out of the garage since the starter will turn backwards and start the engine going backwards. Also he has to find an air filter for the exhaust pipe since it will be sucking air in, a wad of toilet paper works well.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

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