Dash Light'g on/off on it's own...

[jbr927]

I've noticed over the last couple weeks that the dash lights (during the day) come on and off on their own? I run w/ the lights on all the time now. However, when I first got the car I had the "auto" on.

I read the wiper/lights threads and they go on/off when it's cloudy or raining, but the headlamps are on all the time? I did search at length for other threads on this and had no luck. So any leads on this would be great.

Thanks

Jacki

Happy Holidays - be safe out there - people are a little testy...

[RedMM]

The only oddity I've noticed wiyh dash light is the backlighting on the console gauges appears to flicker-not occasionally, but consistently. Can't notice it in the rest of the dash backlighting-just the oil and volts.

[SergntMac]

There is a TSB on "auto lamps" but I don't know the issue. I drive with my lights on full time, and haven't noticed any complications, maybe this is why.

Can anyone here research this TSB for us? I may need a repair and not know it.

[TripleTransAm]

Are your wipers on?

Also, I think there was an issue with over-sensitive light sensors as well.

[jbr927]

Originally posted by TripleTransAm
Are your wipers on?

They were - as needed, I will pay more attention to if that's when it was go'g on/off.

Thx - J

[jbr927]

Would the dash lights still turn on/off w/ the wipers even when the head lamps are turned to "on"? Shouldn't the dash light just be on and stay on? Or is the light sensor still in effect when it daylight?

Thx - J

[Murader03]

If you are using the wipers, the lights will come on, all lights, after a short delay. They will stay on as long as the wipers are on, either full on, or set on interval. After the wipers are off, again, after a short delay they will turn off hen the wiper switch is in the off position. This is a pet peve of mine, I think all cars should be equipped this way. There are so many dummies running around with no lights in bad weather. Likewise with DRL's! You may have the headlights burning, but there are no tail lights burning. People seem to think all there lights are on when the drl's on are. Nada, Nada!:(

[jbr927]

Originally posted by Murader03
If you are using the wipers, the lights will come on, all lights, after a short delay. They will stay on as long as the wipers are on, either full on, or set on interval.(

:confused:

Ok, I'm still a bit confused on this. My lights are on all the time. Not on auto or DRL. Shouldn't the dash lights just be "on" if the lamplights are on?

Thanks for your imput :)

J

[marauder307]

Dunno what could be causing your symptoms, jbr. But here's a few things I've learned about lights in this car...

1. The dash backlighting WILL flicker slightly at normal operation. My grandmother's '92 TownCar does this too, always has, so evidently FMC ain't fixed much in the intervening time. It's the distributor. At the low rpms at idle, the dist gets loaded (particularly if you're like me, and your typical "night" profile is park/heads/fogs/heater and maybe defrost/radio/sat. radio and cranked to the rafters!), and you'll notice some mild flicker. Shouldn't be that bad tho, and oughta go away at normal cruise.

2. I think this car's got a failsafe in its electrical system to prevent overloads in the lighting circuit. Just discovered it the other night cruising home---had my typical "night" lighting profile on (see above), and got some dumbnuts in front of me that insisted on doing 35 in a 65 zone. Went to flash the brights at him, and just happened to notice that the green indicator for the fogs went out when I flashed the brights at him. Apparently the lighting circuit can't handle the additional load, so if you've got the fogs on and pull the brights, the fogs will shut off and the brights will come on, and I'm guessing (emphasis on the guessing) that that's normal, so that the electrical system won't blow a fuse from the load.

Guess those brights are pretty bright...

[Dr Caleb]

Originally posted by jbr927
:confused:

Ok, I'm still a bit confused on this. My lights are on all the time. Not on auto or DRL. Shouldn't the dash lights just be "on" if the lamplights are on?

Thanks for your imput :)

J

DRL - Daytime running lights - turn the high beams on to 75% brightness whenever the motor is running. They will not turn any other (dash/marker/tail) lights on. Only the highs at 75% brightness.

So, no, if your DRL's are on, the dash lights will not be on. If your lights are on whenever the motor is running, you have DRL's. DRL's cannot be turned off.

My company GMC truck you can start the truck with the parking brake off, and the DRL's will not come on until you release the parking brake. There is no way to do this on the MM according to the manual.

[bugsys03]

1.DRL's can be turned off. Pull the fuse.
2.Driving lights go off automatically when you activate the brights

[Dr Caleb]

1. DRL's save lives. Leave them on.
2. TripleTransAm was looking at an alternate wiring setup to allow fogs and brights or fogs only. Any luck TTA?

[bugsys03]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by marauder307


2. I think this car's got a failsafe in its electrical system to prevent overloads in the lighting circuit. Just discovered it the other night cruising home---had my typical "night" lighting profile on (see above), and got some dumbnuts in front of me that insisted on doing 35 in a 65 zone. Went to flash the brights at him, and just happened to notice that the green indicator for the fogs went out when I flashed the brights at him. Apparently the lighting circuit can't handle the additional load, so if you've got the fogs on and pull the brights, the fogs will shut off and the brights will come on, and I'm guessing (emphasis on the guessing) that that's normal, so that the electrical system won't blow a fuse from the load.

[ap2003]

Sgt. Mac..
Isn't there some law that limits the number of "headlight / fog lights" that can be turned on at a time?

Would this be the reason that the fogs and the brights can't be turned on at the same time? (Assuming that the brights follow the traditional trend of having two filaments turned on at the same time.)

Just a thought...

ap

[TripleTransAm]

Originally posted by Dr Caleb
1. DRL's save lives. Leave them on.
2. TripleTransAm was looking at an alternate wiring setup to allow fogs and brights or fogs only. Any luck TTA?


1. DRLs piss off Drive-In patrons immediately in front of you, on hot humid evenings. ;)

2. Yes, it works. But before I post anything, I wanted to run the results by my favorite technician, to make sure I wouldn't be overdriving anything or risking burning any module.

No wiring involved, although there are several ways to do it, from the mechanically inept ("snip!") to the more creative methods, involving bending one pin out of the way using a big pair of plyers. All methods are completely reversible within 30 seconds... provided I'm not stressing out any other component.

(And I don't believe I am stressing out anything, but since reading a particular Sarge post a while back, I'm going to do a lot of double-checking first...)

[TripleTransAm]

Originally posted by bugsys03
Went to flash the brights at him, and just happened to notice that the green indicator for the fogs went out when I flashed the brights at him. Apparently the lighting circuit can't handle the additional load, so if you've got the fogs on and pull the brights, the fogs will shut off and the brights will come on, and I'm guessing (emphasis on the guessing) that that's normal, so that the electrical system won't blow a fuse from the load.


I believe it's related to lighting regulations, although I can't (yet) guarantee that the system can handle all lights + foglamps on at the same time.

There is a maximum candle-power allowed, here in North America. All cars equipped with foglamps adhere to this limitation. The operation is controlled by a foglamp bypass relay, which is tripped by current to the high beams, and cuts out the fogs.

Explanation here:
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3616&perpage=15&pagenumber=2

And the explanation for how the cutoff relay kills the fogs during highbeam operation:
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3994&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

[Murader03]

I had a Chrysler Sebring and both my Cobras were the same way. The fogs are really kinda usless when the high beams are on anyway, so to keep the curent in the light circuit down, they are turned off when high beams are selected. If you look at the light pattern when the highs ore on, you can't even tell the fogs are off! JMHO!

[01True BlueGT]

HERE IS 1 BULLETIN I HAVE FOUND FOR THIS PROBLEM:

17295 2003-2004 CROWN VICTORIA/GRAND MARQUIS BUILT BEFORE 10/20/2003 -
FLICKERING IP DISPLAY
SOME 2003-2004 CROWN VICTORIA AND GRAND MARQUIS VEHICLES BUILT BEFORE 10/20/2003 EQUIPPED WITH AN ELECTRONIC CLUSTER MAY EXHIBIT A FLICKERING ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENT CLUSTER DISPLAY, ELECTRONIC AUTOMATIC TEMPERATURE CONTROL DISPLAY, RADIO DISPLAY, AND/OR OVERHEAD CONSOLE DISPLAY. THIS MAY BE CAUSED BY SETTING THE BACKLIGHTING INTENSITY ADJUSTMENT BETWEEN 25-75% IN COMBINATION WITH FLUCTUATIONS OF THE VEHICLE CHARGING SYSTEM VOLTAGE INTO THE LIGHTING CONTROL MODULE (LCM). TO SERVICE, REPLACE THE LCM WITH 3W7Z-13C788-BA.