Ford Taurus Forum : “Panel lights sporatically come on and off”
Panel lights sporatically come on and off
Usually during the winter months, the panel lights on my car go off and the flasher lights stay on constantly. Sometimes they flicker back on and stay on during the duration of the drive but once I stop and turn off the ignition, the flasher lights are the only thing that shows up after turning the ignition back on. Engine lights show up or low fuel. Individual lamps work except for the main panel light. Sometimes it is like clockwork when I go over a certain bump in the road, they come back on. Almost sounds like a loose connection, but it mostly happens (80% of the time) in the winter or colder periods. It's been fine the past few months. Any suggestions? Is my car posessed or a loose wire or fuse?
Alesha:
I have to agree with Robb, sounds like you have a loose or corroded connection someplace. Rather than just throwing parts at the car in hopes of a fix, you may want to have your mechanic test the GEM module, as well as the car's ECU/ECM (I forget what Ford calls it, it's been a few years since I worked form Ford.). It could also be something as simple as the panel dimmer control switch, or the ignition switch itself (not where the key goes in, but the actual switch in the steering column). Neither of the last 2 are terribly expensive to repair.
Bill
My dash was not lighting until it got very warm inside. It turned out to be a bad connection between the Mylar electrical connector and the push in dash panel. I fixed it by carefully pulling the mylar ribbon out of the socket and placing two layers of tape under the location where the connector goes and re-inserting the connector ribbon. When the dash was pushed back in the lights came on. Problem solved.