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Topic: Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!! (Read 22986 times) previous topic - next topic

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

O.K., I swapped the heater core Saturday, and before that, all was great in the world. Today, for the fist time, I drove the Sport to take my son to school. About two blocks from the house, the car just died. Nothing, no power at all anywhere. I stopped, checked under the hood, all looked fine. Got in, and then it started right up. NOW, my outer two tail light bulbs on the passenger side won't come on for signals or flashers, but will come on for head lights.

 I looked at the filaments, they look fine. I turned on the signals, and looked at the "non-working" bulbs, and they have the tiniest little illumination to them. The driver side is fine, the front lights are fine, and they come on fine with the headlights. Only the outer two bulbs on the rear passenger side..

ALSO, the tiny light bulb that plugs into the headlight switch surround comes on when I turn on the emergency flashers.....is it supposed to do that?

I installed my spare (new) ignition switch, no change. I installed a spare signal light switch, no change. I'm looking around the wires under the column and fuse panel, and can't find anything that looks wrong. My tester light is MIA, so, I'm trouble shooting the best I can right now. I also replaced the bulbs with no changes. It's like there's little to nothing go to those two bulbs for flashers and signals.

I hope the module for the sequentials isn't going bad, but it was fine Friday. That may be it though.

ANY IDEAS ???
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #1
Maybe check all the grounds? I'm not sure, just a thought.

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #2
Quote from: stangman_1987;370930
Maybe check all the grounds? I'm not sure, just a thought.

That was my thought also.
1988 T-Bird Sport Coupe--5.0 HO, MAF swap, 1-5/8" shorties, BBK/Flowmaster exhaust, Explorer intake, 70mm Edelbrock TB, T5, B&M short throw, Centerforce clutch and PP, disc brake TC rear w/ 3.55's, TC front brakes, '98 Cobra springs, DIY SFC's, other misc .  14.05 @ 98mph with launching too low and shifting too high.

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #3
All the grounds look good. Can't seem to pin point it. The driver side signals are perfect. The inner most passenger side is great. The other two....nope.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #4
could be the sequential module.. but that'd be the least of my worries if the car just randomly died, lost all power and poof, started right back up lol i would check the wires from the module to see what kind of voltage you're getting, you could just have super py bulb sockets.. i've replaced those stupid things more times than i've done tune-ups
ShadowMSC.com < < Still Under Construction

R.I.P. 'Zump' 8/29/86 - 11/11/11
3- 87 TC's / 1 really mean 83 Capri RS / 94 Sonoma SAS Project on 37x12.50 TSL Radials / 88 S10 that's LITERALLY cut to pieces / 84 F150 SAS, 351M, 39.5 TSL's / 85 Toyota regular cab, 22R 5spd, 3/4" drop, my little junkyard save/daily driver

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #5
Adding this. The turn signals work when I turn them on (except for the two outer bulbs on the rear passenger side)......

......BUT, when I turn on the headlights, the right hand little green signal dash light (green arrow) comes on, and All of the rear lights come on, but the passenger side signal lights don't work at all. When I turn the hazard lights on, with the headlights on, all lights are on, the driver side flash as they should, but only the inner most passenger side tail light.

What the  is going on?
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #6
I think the starting (or I should say "dying") issue was a wire under the column itself that came loose. I fixed that I believe. The lights were fine Friday, and now, not. Two sockets at once sounds crazy. Also, as I stated, the bulbs on the passenger side that aren't flashing have the extreme slightest flash to them, but so weak you can barely see it.

I thought maybe since I pulled the dash back to do the heater core Saturday, maybe a wire was pulled or something. I looked from the fuse panel and can't find any bad wires.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #7
You've probably got a bad ground to the passenger tail light. The turn signals are seeking a ground through the park light circuit, but when you turn on the park lights that ground path disappears and the turn signal isn't working. The park lights are in turn seeking their ground through the turn signals (which is why the green light comes on in the dash)
2015 Mustang GT Premium - 5.0, 6-speed, Guard Green - too much awesome for one car

1988 5.0 Thunderbird :birdsmily: SOLD SEPT 11 2010: TC front clip/hood ♣ Body & paint completed Oct 2007 ♣ 3.55 TC rear end and front brakes ♣ TC interior ♣ CHE rear control arms (adjustable lowers) ♣ 2001 Bullitt springs ♣ Energy suspension poly busings ♣ Kenne Brown subframe connectors ♣ CWE engine mounts ♣ Thundercat sequential turn signals ♣ Explorer overhead console (temp/compass display) ♣ 2.25" off-road dual exhaust ♣ T-5 transmission swap completed Jan 2009 ♣

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #8
Where are those grounds?
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #9
I HATE electrical stuff.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #10
x2 on the grounds, had one bad in my old truck, hit breaks would blink or do other random things, hit blinker and more different random things. Trying to ground back through circuit making odd things happen.
88 Turbocoupe: Coast High Performance 331 kit 28oz balance, Comp XE264HR14 cam, 58cc 185 afr heads, 1.7 roller rockers, Mass-Flo EFI (was POS to setup and their techline is a joke at best)
Full 1 5/8 primary equal length headers, 2 1/2 exhaust, Full manual reverse VB c4 and baked off clear coat "BECAUSE RACECAR"

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #11
factory wiring is much more complicated than it needs to be.. they made it harder to deal with, so that when you had issues, you would take your car to a dealership
ShadowMSC.com < < Still Under Construction

R.I.P. 'Zump' 8/29/86 - 11/11/11
3- 87 TC's / 1 really mean 83 Capri RS / 94 Sonoma SAS Project on 37x12.50 TSL Radials / 88 S10 that's LITERALLY cut to pieces / 84 F150 SAS, 351M, 39.5 TSL's / 85 Toyota regular cab, 22R 5spd, 3/4" drop, my little junkyard save/daily driver

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #12
All of the wires in the trunk look good. Connections are solid. No loose wires anywhere.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #13
I think it may be the sequencer. I'm going back out to look again............
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

Need help FAST !!!!! FIXED !!!!

Reply #14
......O.K., I just noticed, that with the headlights off, and the passenger side signal on, the little green dash indicator blinks (as it should), and the speedo light is blinking. What the ? Is there a ground behind the gauges? Maybe something got "moved" or whatever when I pulled the dash for the heater core. Where do I start? I looked at the wires above the fuse block and couldn't see anything wrong...in the 34 bazillion wires...... I'll pull the gauge cluster and all tomorrow to see what I can see.

If any of you have ANY ideas where to start or what I'm looking for, let me know. For example, locations, wire colors, etc.  I hate electrical .
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..