'94 Escort faulty electrics, big problem

Feb 18, 2004 2 Replies

Hi,



I have a 1994 L-reg Ford Escort 1.6 LX, up until a few months ago it was running fine. Now the electrics have gone a little funny in two distinct ways:



When I switch the headlights to the first position:



-The petrol gauge rises slightly



-When pulling the stalk back to flash headlights, the dash lights go out and the rear wiper starts until I release the stalk back to the resting position



When I switch the headlights to the second position:



-The petrol and temp gauges shoot up past max and stay there



-All dash lights go out, but the blue main beam indicator comes on



-The rear windscreen wiper starts up



-No windscreen washer functions on front or rear



-The right front headlight goes out, leaving only the left light functioning.



-No indicators at all



Another thing to point out - the middle "prong" connector on the boot lid is stuck in, I can pull it out with pliers but when I close the boot it sticks back in again. Also, of the three electrical connector pads on the body of the car that these three "prongs" conenct to, the left and middle pads don't have any springy "give" in them like the right one.. should they be stuck flat down or should they spring up & down as well?



Needless to say it's a little dangerous and I've already been stopped by the police the other night, although I pleaded ignorance and said I didn't realise the right headlight had blown.



The thing is, I work a 9-5 day job and also do a couple of nights at a local bar so I have to drive at night and I'm worried I'll get pulled again and get into trouble.. does anyone have a clue what's up? I don't want to take it to a garage and get charged a fortune!



Apologies for the mass of information but I wanted to give as much as possible to ensure the best chance of advice.



Kind regards, Marc


Firstly, pull the tailgate conacts apart and get them working properly, you have a bad earth here which isnt helping matter, but it sounds to me like you have the dreaded dead fuse box syndrome that affects most Escorts of this ilk.

Tim..

Unusual behaviour with electrics (one thing inadvertently operating another) is often caused by a bad earth, although this case seems particularly severe. Probably easy to fix if you can find the bad earth point, which is possibly serving the both the instrument cluster and the rear wiper.

Joe

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