no turnsignal,hazards, safety switch for shifter all out.

[lordextant]

ok so the multi function switch went out, as i was replacing it, it worked fine then i heard a loud electrical sizzle now the turn signals, hazards and the switch to allow me to shift the car out of park are all out, trying to narrow down what all to look at doesn't seem like a wiring harness short. hadto disconnect the safety cable from the shifter to get it in neutral to push it into my garage. what all should i been checking, everything else on the multi function works, just wondering ifit might be a blown relay somewhere

 

[cobrajeff96]

Check the fuses under the dash first. And do the brake lights work?

 

[lordextant]

yes all the lights themselves work gonna spend this weekend trying to hunt down the cause

 

[lordextant]

ok so i checked this morning, fuses are fine, no brake lights, no turn signals, no hazards, and the saftey switch to shift outta park.

 

[ttocs]

I have only messed with manuals myself. Not sure what would cause this.

When you say you checked fuses, did you check the one or two that you think the manual pointed you to or did you literally inspect every fuse? It only takes 2 mins to check them all and it is amazing how when electrical contacts and grounds start to go bad as it seeks ground/voltage through other circuits can cause fuses that seem to have nothing to do with the situation blown.

 

[lordextant]

yeah checked em all, i don't have a manual but looks to me like a relay somewhere blew im gonna have to do a good old volt meter test try to track it down

 

[cobrajeff96]

Also check for a thin bundle of wires that run right up against the top of the pedal box. Looks for chafed or exposed wire strands. Usually only happens to manual transmission cars with a clutch pedal but you never know.

 

[lordextant]

from what ive seen this poor car has never had anyone care about maintnence which angers me cause they apparently don't understand how sweet a sn95 gen 1 can be if you actually take care of it.

 

[b1pig]

If your brake lights won't work, the car will not shift out of park.... IF the car has an electronic solenoid that acts as the park safety. Older cars will have a physical cable that runs from the brake pedal to the shifter. On Crown Vics, you'll hear the solenoid click in the steering column when you mash the brake pedal down. The solenoid is triggered when you press the brakes while in park. Once out of park, the solenoid will not trigger... again, if I remember correctly....

Where did you hear that sizzle sound?
Inside the column and below the dash? If so, it is highly likely that a wire has shorted to ground under there and given you this problem. I've seen two CVPI's do this, but the wire that burned was low in the harness where it went INTO the firewall from the engine bay.

I'd inspect the harness up to the multi-function switch (turn signal/wiper/hazard) and the wires to the brake light switch. I'm not 100% on this so someone feel free to add whether or not the car will have one or two switches on the brake pedal. Some cars have two... on controls the normal brake light indication in the tail lights, a second switch controls the third brake light.

 

[lordextant]

hard to tell exactly where it came from but exactly but it was def an arcing sound then a pop my dad was an electrician so i know a fair bit about how those sounds correlate sounded like a wire sparked somewhere and it blew something my guess in a relay somewhere

 

[cobrajeff96]

Or a capacitor.

 

[ttocs]

caps can make a good pop and leave a good amount of smoke when they go depending on how big they are. I remember in tech school when we covered them one group decided to blow one up just to see it. There is a metal disc on top of some of the larger caps and that piece actually got stuck in the ceiling tile when it blew.

 

[b1pig]

Yea, a capacitor would be all I could think of that would have enough electrical power to make a pop.

I could be clouding the waters a little with this thought... but if the brake switch came apart, the spring launching particles under the dash could have made a popping sound as well.

 

[cobrajeff96]

Easy to find out if so.

 

[ttocs]

yea a when a cap pops you will be able to see which one and where when you do find it. They let out a lot of smoke from my experience though

 

[lordextant]

yeah no smoke took her out today runs fine and the backup lights work i'm wondering if it might be a blown bpps