Unexplained electrical problem with son's 1999 Ford Taurus

Everyone!

The Taurus Car Club of America is a much more valuable forum to talk about your Tauruses on! They have licensed Ford mechanics that answer questions, as well as guys that work on their cars all day long.

cheryl wrote:

I have owned a 1998 Taurus for 7 years. I owned it for a couple of months before the interior lights started staying on. I took the fuses out of the lights and let the ones under the dash burn out. Same thing with the door locks. The light on the dash stays on most of the time. Every now and then when I take my foot off the brake, the light goes out and the door locks. Now the daylights are staying on and I don't know how to get them to shut off. My neighbors are going to go nuts on that one! Help!!

Taurus's are known for this problem. I had the same problem with my 97 Taurus and found the answer that solved my problems. Inside the door locks (in the door jams), there is a switch that controls the interior light timer somehow. If you spray some lubricating fluid (WD40, LPS, etc.) on the door lock mechanisms, the problem should go away. I have to do this about every six months, or if they get real dusty. Blew me away that it was so simple but it worked.

A friends' 1998 Taurus did the same thing with 45,000 miles on it. Hmmm. I have a Toyota with 128,000 miles and it's never had ANY problems.

C Spencer wrote:

HELP i have a 99 ford taurus that is having a problem with the headlights the car runs find but when you start the car the lights come on and flicker ? when i turn on headlights they work fine. Help

Theres a light button for the automatic lights next to the signal switch....Thats where you can dim the interior lights keep the lights on and play with that button lights shouldgo off....

Its the switch that controls the auto lights sometimes they go bad.....

my battery light recently came on too, i recently in the last week put in a new battery, 2 diffrent alternators and it still my car still dies while i'm driving it!

Sandy wrote:

I have a 99 Taurus wagon. The battery light came on today and I notice the past month or so the lights would dim if I turned the heat or a/c on. Last night the headlights were really dim. I put a new battery on the car back in the summer and a new starter. Could this be the alternator?

MAK wrote:

I am not sure if this still applies to this model (which I own), but I was had a car that was going dead even with a new battery. Thank goodness for an honest mechanic. It was not the alternator but an inexpensive voltage regulator.

I was just told that for my 1999 Taurus Wagon, the voltage regulator is ON the alternator and can't be replaced separately. Anyone else know the answer? Thanks.

Hey guys and girls, I work on cars for a living now,and have found that the mech's that say "if it weren't for FORD we would starve" were talking about the cars built since about 73'. Strangely enough this seems to be when they started hiring college boys to engineer the cars to fail at a certain point, along with making them virtually impossible for the average mech to FIX, so most of you are driving on duct tape and bailing wire,to REPAIR the plastic crap the factory put out there.

Tara Brown wrote:

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Have you had any responses - we are having the same problem with our Taurus.

I had a problem with my car's battery dying also. I heard a noise comming from the radio controls on the dash. I listened and heard a sound like the cass. deck wanting to work without a cass. in it. I took the unit out and disconnected the plugin wires (the larger plug on side of radio box) and I haven't had a problem since then. Now I have no radio and no lights within the radio unit. Everything else (air,heat,fan controls) works fine. Guess I need to find another Control pannel. Hope that helps.Something to look for anyway.

I have a 99 ford taurus SE. I have the problem where the door locks try to work, i can hear them click, but the locks never move. they just twitch. i also can't leave my car without starting it for more than 10 hours, or the battery will be dead. this is my 3rd new battery, and new alternator.

i was told this is a GEM problem. so i went to a junk yard and pulled a few GEM, but the serial numbers were not compatibale with my car. we put them on and weird things would happen.

i guess what i'm asking is if these problems are really caused by the GEM and if replacing it will fix the battery drain problem (Most important).

anyone with real advice can email me at alicia.mlt@gmail.com

thanks

Dave K Akron OH wrote:

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I had a problem with my car's battery dying also. I heard a noise comming from the radio controls on the dash. I listened and heard a sound like the cass. deck wanting to work without a cass. in it. I took the unit out and disconnected the plugin wires (the larger plug on side of radio box) and I haven't had a problem since then. Now I have no radio and no lights within the radio unit. Everything else (air,heat,fan controls) works fine. Guess I need to find another Control pannel. Hope that helps.Something to look for anyway.

did pulling the radio fix your dead battery problem? i have the EXACT problem with my radio and battery. Please reply to me at alicia.mlt@gmail.com

crystal wrote:

i have put a new battery in my car and i sat for 3 days and i have had to have a jump 5 times in the same day and i took it to the shop and i was told that it was the theft system and then the dealer told me that that is not the problem and i pulled out a fuze from under the dash and it runs fine with no problems is there any one out there had the same problem

my car started diong the same thing? so I asked my teachers, and they couldn't give an exact answer! what I do is, I hit my door locks first, so the lights will go out. then I start the car.

My 1998 ford taurus se battery is dying as soon as I turn the car off. I've charged it, jumped it, and replaced it! I've already checked the alternator. DOES ANYBODY HAVE A SOLUTION?

i also have a 1999 taurus the battery wasnt staying charged but checked out ok and alternator checked out ok also. After several tests to find out what was draining the battery we came to find that the radio air conditioning unit had a short. we had to replace the whole thing. about 250 for a used one. they no longer make this part i was told. i have heard this has been a problem with other taurus

1999 Ford Taurus - Battery and Starter have both been replaced within days of each other, but the battery light flickers on and off the dashboard. Had the alternator, battery and starter tested and everything was okay. Someone suggested it could be the serpentine belt, but we replaced that a few months ago. Help????!!!!!