Electrical Nightmare

5.0stang94 · Feb 27, 2011

Ive been having some troublesome issues with my 94gt and was hoping maybe someone on here could help me guesstimate where to start looking for the problem. At the moment, I have two current issues. These are separate issues that arose at two different times, and I do not believe they are related. The first one is my drivers side window motor. It stopped working, so immediately i assumed it was the motor, but its not. I took the motor out and hooked it straight up to a battery and it worked fine. Nor is it the switches them self, because the passenger side works fine, and i swapped them out and the drivers side switch worked fine in the passenger side recepticals, so im assuming its somewhere in the wiring, but I have no idea where to begin looking. The second issue is I keep blowing the fuse for the gauge illumination. This problem arose initially when I unplugged a radar detector that was plugged into my cigarette lighter, that's when the fuse initially blew, and now it just keeps blowing every time I put a new one in. Again I have no idea where to start to look for where the issue is that may be causing this problem. I was hoping possibly someone on here could give me some advice on where to begin looking. Thanks in advance.

ttocs · Feb 27, 2011

first the switches.. The wiring in the windows is called a 5-wire system, they use them for the locks as well. It is a funny system that leads to all kinds of electrical gremlins when a wire or contact does not make contact. It operates wih the drivers side switch being a master switch and the passenger is a slave switch. Swapping them will not show you much as both switches have to be working and hooked up for the system to work correctly. It sounds as though you drivers side switch is bad and I would recomend cleaning it or replacing it.

When fuses blow, something is shorted. If istarted when you were working with the lighter I would work there. Look inside it to make sure that there isn't anything shorting it out, if not them remove it and check the wiring going to it. DO NOT PUT A BIGGER FUSE IN AND CALL IT A DAY!

Modidy · Feb 27, 2011

Electrical problems can be a nightmare, but if you know how to read a wiring diagram, it can be simplified. You should be able to google it for those circuits. Then you will need a multimeter to check for grounded wire's, or open circuit in your wiring.

For the window motor, you need to find out if you are getting power to the switch. If yes, then you need to check for power from the switch to the motor. If yes, then check your ground from motor. I imagine you have power to the switch if the passenger side is working from the driver side door. If not, check the wire's that go from the door to the body in the hinge area. Often time's wires break in that area, or are chaffed and grounding out.

As for your illumination, you need to see what else is on that circuit. So once again, you will need a wire diagram. Unplug the other items on that circuit one at a time until the fuse doen't blow. It could be your headlight switch, or the wiring behind the radio or possibly the radio. Most commonly I have found issue's with illumination to be caused by a bad headlight switch, and in some cases the illumination wire behind the radio hooked up incorrectly to the replacement radio, or left open and grounding out to the radio, or dash mounting. Good luck, hope this was somewhat helpful advice.

Rice_slayer · Feb 27, 2011

For the cig. lighter issue, take the shifter bezel off and look to see if the ground on the 12v aux. is loose. I have my speedo run off a speedcal so whenever the fuse goes, it takes out my speedometer, so I make sure I have extra fuses in the dash, but it's usually that ground that attaches to the 12v aux. that causes me issues sometimes.

Mrstangerbanger · Feb 27, 2011

When you take your door panel off you will see a relay box that is mounted on the door panel or on the door ...(Its a little black box)

Get a new on and plug it in and your window will work...

ttocs · Feb 27, 2011

I had not considered the one touch relay.

modo · Feb 28, 2011

inside the lighter is a ceramic piece that separates the positive post from the ground (sides of the lighter). over time they tend to crack and / or shift. sometimes the little nut that is on the underside which holds it all together becomes loose and allows it to ground itself out. sounds like you just need to snug it up if the ceramic piece is not cracked. if it is cracked you just need a new lighter which you can get at any of the mustang websites.

anytime i had a issue with windows in my car it was the switch. easy fix

5.0stang94 · Mar 2, 2011

Thanks for the help guys, I got the gauge illumination working. Turns out it was a bad wire behind the radio that was causing the fuse to short out. Now for the window problem. I could not find any flawed wires anywhere. Mrstangbanger, off the top of my head i cant think of where this relay box is, but then again I do not have the car in front of me at the moment to look for it. But you advise me to get a new one to fix the problem. Could you possibly point me in the direction of where i might be able to purchase one?

Thank you,

Mrstangerbanger · Mar 2, 2011

Go to a pick and pull our junk yard.

they are in all kinds of ford cars

just google one touch relay

ttocs · Mar 3, 2011

when you pull off the drivers side door panel, it is attached to the inside of the panel. When you go to remove it, it is the only piece of wiring that is attached on the inside so it is easy to find. It is just a small black box at the back of the panel but I would test the back of teh switch and see if there is power there first. They can develope corrosion inside and then cause the same problem you have here.

5.0stang94 · Mar 3, 2011

Thanks so much for the advice. It turns out it was the touch relay. I took mine off, cleaned it up, and put it back on. Now everything works great. Again guys thanks for the help. You saved me alot of time and headaches!