electrical gremlin, good one here

[konastang5.0]

Ok, i spent the whole night with no luck at all trying to find a new electrical gremlin. First here are the symptoms.

1. instrument cluster illumination no longer works.
2. turn signal arrows now solid on when headlights are on (though turn signals are not activated)
3. high beam indicator is on (but high beam not on).
4. windshield wipers go super slow, turn on headlights when wipers are moving they stop.
5. try washer pump, tach freaks out and 2 and 3 happen
6. use the dimmer switch with headlight on and key out, once it gets to full illumination the fuel pump primes (yeah WTF is with that?) also doing the dimmer doesnt dim shit. Plus 2 and 3 progressively get brighter.

This all started this morning on my way to work. I think it all began when there was a light sprinkle and i used the wipers with the pump. It was early and i wasnt fully paying attention but it all happened after that. Car runs and drives normal and everything else in the car is working fine. I cant make heads or tails of this and in a crunch to figure it out by tomorrow so i can goto the shootout.

Ive eliminated just about every interior switch in the instrument panel, disconnecting one by one and still the same result with all switches. The only thing i haven't ruled out would be the washer pump by unplugging it.

[Turbohwagon]

Check your grounds.

[Notch]

Check your grounds.

He'd be a fool to find his pants on them.

[Turbohwagon]

He'd be a fool to find his pants on them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHjlM5A1jME

[Turbohwagon]

We're talking about your fox right?

[octanehuffer]

Short to ground. Bring it to a pro if testing circuits aint your thing.

[konastang5.0]

We're talking about your fox right?

yes, and ive checked all the grounds that know of. All engine grounds are good. But where are the main grounds for the interior instruments? i dont see how all of the sudden it can all go to shit with no previous symptoms.

[konastang5.0]

Short to ground. Bring it to a pro if testing circuits aint your thing.

this is one thing im definately not good at. But i dont have alot of time to bring it to a pro if i want to goto the shootout. Fuck

[Turbohwagon]

You can also try unplugging some of the malfunctioning items or various harness connectors to try and narrow it down to one branch of the interior circuit.

[octanehuffer]

^^ This. does the car have a multifunction switch?

[Turbohwagon]

I checked out the wiring diagrams for a 91 fox, half of the diagrams are still the OE ford style, which do not label where the grounds are. . That's on Ondemand5, maybe someone else has some better diagrams.

[konastang5.0]

^^ This. does the car have a multifunction switch?

it does, this is the wiper switch and headlight switch. Ive already tried unplugging it one harness at a time and still nothing. The only thing that ive been able to determine is that unplugging the harness at the driver side rear fender there are two connectors, one black and one gray that communicate with the EEC. Obviously unplugging these stops the pump from priming when i hit the head light. So the issue is in the interior of the car, but not sure where. Even with that harness unplugged, #2 and #3 still happen, just now the eec is isolated from the issue. So just an observation that the engine bay isnt the issue.

What im going to do tomorrow is buy a tester and follow this online thing i saw on youtube where you take the test and unplug the negative and use the tester for a light. If the light stays lit when you use it as the ground, then there is a short. So take out each fuse till the light goes out to narrow down the circut. Seems simple enough.

[konastang5.0]

i still dont understand how the dimmer could have any way of making the fuel pump prime.

[Neltech]

i can check alldata on friday but i've seen the ones they have and they are terrible. but yes what is happening is a situation where you have low voltage. what does your dash voltage needle do?

[konastang5.0]

i can check alldata on friday but i've seen the ones they have and they are terrible. but yes what is happening is a situation where you have low voltage. what does your dash voltage needle do?

voltage needle is burred at one tick from the red when headlights on, but headlights are not dimmed at all. When the turn signal is active, needle dips in rhythm.