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mom has a 1997 ford aspire 2 door with no mods, no ac, no stereo, original and only owner.
car has been great until a few months ago where a chain of events started and escelated to its current condition. it happened in the below phases, not even on the same days. its never gone back to the way it was previous, just gets worse.
1. turn lights on and heater panel and guages would not light up. could tap on the heater unit and up until now you could get everything to light up.
2. same as above but also i could tell when the dash lights were out and the lights were on the side lights would be out as well as the back lights.
3. same as above but when the right blinker was on, the headlights would go off as well as the dash/heater unit. at this point i noticed while the lights were on you could jiggle the light control on the steering column(while leaving the lights on) to get everything to light up again, but not when turning. we were just avoiding the turn signal because once the initial jiggle worked it would stay put.
also i noticed probably around the last 2 phases that the engine would run rough for a bit when i turned the lights on. just last week i remember coming to a stop in the rain and turning them on and it almost died and i could see the check engine light flash, like it was missing.
4. now where im at is i can hit the high beams and they come on as always. but no surge when i turn the lights on and they wont come on no matter how much i tap, nor the dash/heater, back, side lights. the signals still work like always.
after this first started i did the basic tuneup stuff, new plugs, rotor, d/cap, wires, fuel/air filter. oils, clean battery leads, etc.
i did replace all the fuses and the big ones under the hood of the car even though all that appeared to be ok. never affected anything and i even did it again recenlty just to make sure and no luck.
i have spent allot of today searching here and reading but the electrical is over my head. i do have the haynes manual and tried to look over what parts i could take apart, the steering column to check and clean up leads, etc. i have not noticed any hanging wires and the electrical system has never been touched.
would appreciate any feedback. my gut tells me that something in that headlight switch is screwing up everything else and they are tied together because a good jiggle could set everything straight. but when i pulled it apart it looks so simple and the wires from that switch in the handle go straight to the big bundle underneath the wheel. that and now it isnt even giving feedback when i turn the lights on.
thanks!
car has been great until a few months ago where a chain of events started and escelated to its current condition. it happened in the below phases, not even on the same days. its never gone back to the way it was previous, just gets worse.
1. turn lights on and heater panel and guages would not light up. could tap on the heater unit and up until now you could get everything to light up.
2. same as above but also i could tell when the dash lights were out and the lights were on the side lights would be out as well as the back lights.
3. same as above but when the right blinker was on, the headlights would go off as well as the dash/heater unit. at this point i noticed while the lights were on you could jiggle the light control on the steering column(while leaving the lights on) to get everything to light up again, but not when turning. we were just avoiding the turn signal because once the initial jiggle worked it would stay put.
also i noticed probably around the last 2 phases that the engine would run rough for a bit when i turned the lights on. just last week i remember coming to a stop in the rain and turning them on and it almost died and i could see the check engine light flash, like it was missing.
4. now where im at is i can hit the high beams and they come on as always. but no surge when i turn the lights on and they wont come on no matter how much i tap, nor the dash/heater, back, side lights. the signals still work like always.
after this first started i did the basic tuneup stuff, new plugs, rotor, d/cap, wires, fuel/air filter. oils, clean battery leads, etc.
i did replace all the fuses and the big ones under the hood of the car even though all that appeared to be ok. never affected anything and i even did it again recenlty just to make sure and no luck.
i have spent allot of today searching here and reading but the electrical is over my head. i do have the haynes manual and tried to look over what parts i could take apart, the steering column to check and clean up leads, etc. i have not noticed any hanging wires and the electrical system has never been touched.
would appreciate any feedback. my gut tells me that something in that headlight switch is screwing up everything else and they are tied together because a good jiggle could set everything straight. but when i pulled it apart it looks so simple and the wires from that switch in the handle go straight to the big bundle underneath the wheel. that and now it isnt even giving feedback when i turn the lights on.
thanks!
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