Re: Windstar interior lights will not go out -- General

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Subject: Re: Windstar interior lights will not go out

Author:
Jason

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Date Posted: 19:10:06 07/16/07 Mon
In reply to: Dawn 's message, "Re: Windstar interior lights will not go out" on 15:05:15 11/30/06 Thu

Well as one of the other people on the forum mentioned....the suspect is the GEM module ( I like to call it the General Electronic Mess) and while you can remove certain light bulbs from the interior to alleviate some of the problem, you may actually be opening a bigger bag of worms. The circuit on which the interior lights are wired into runs at a predetermined voltage, and each bulb in it's own right serves as a resistor.... by removing some of these you may actually increase the voltage throughout the entrie system including the GEM unit itself, in turn creating problems with the power windows, locks, wipers, etc. as the GEM unit is wired inot all of these systems.... the cycle is usually the same. Moisture gets into the switches in the doors which actuate the interior lamps, after a period of time these switches may fail causing the lights to stay on or delay in going out. Then people remove bulbs just to get by, soon they have problems with windows, wipers and so on....at that point it's time for a new GEM unit and also the initial failed switch will have to be replaced to avoid ruining another GEM unit. It's not a perfect science and after working on these systems it's amazing how they ever made it past the initial planning phase of the vehicle but it did and now we pay the price for it.

>>I was having the same problem with my 98 ford
>Windstar, the lights wouldn't go off. My husband took
>out all the bulbs and all of a suddeen the windows
>won't work and neither will my automatic door locks.
>Any suggestions other than pushing it over a bank??
>
>
>I have the same problem with the interior lights in
>>our 1998 windstar gl.. Also the rear wiper goes out
>>intermittently. It the van sits off for 20 minutes or
>>over night the problem seems to disappear on odd
>>days.. (Seriously the problem seems to dissappear
>>every couple of days.. then comes back) Having 18
>>years in electronics experience I can't for the life
>>of me figure it out. I've come across some info though
>>with similar problems on the older explorers.. the GEM
>>module was the cause.. Ford did a recall.. the only
>>way they will do a recall with the windstar is if
>>enough people go file a claim at the national highway
>>safety website.. Once they get a few thousand
>>complaints they will investigate and probably make
>>ford do a recall.. Please goto the website and file a
>>claim!! Also don't spray wd40 or other stuff into the
>>switches on the door, you could short something out,
>>there is 12volts running through one of the door
>>switch lines.. (Which is why I think maybe it's the
>>General electric module) anyways, have the dealer
>>check it out and run the diagnostic on it to see what
>>codes it comes up with.. hopefully this helps..
>>>I have a '95 Ford Windstar and mine has been nothing
>>>but trouble. So far the problems have been.
>>>Transmission went out and had to be replaced. Brakes
>>>have been replaced several times. Fan Belt has been
>>>replaced four times. My air conditioning has gone
>out
>>>and will have to be fixed before summer. The
>interior
>>>lights would not go off properly. We timed it one
>>>night and it took 2 and a half hours for it to go
>out.
>>> After several times of needing to go somewhere and
>my
>>>battery being dead becuase of the lights not going
>>>off. I took out all of the bulbs. I left only the
>>>ones that I could manually turn off and on. That
>>>solved the problem. My ABS light, brake light and
>>>door ajar lights stay on all the time but I can live
>>>with that.

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