Ford - Explorer :: Dash Lights Turning On And Off Randomly And Intermittently
Apr 4, 2012
I have a 2002 Ford Explorer. For about the last year some of the dash lights have been turning on and off randomly and intermittently. The three lights are the check engine, the airbag and less frequently, the check gauge light. It seems like there's some connection between the lights because often when one comes on so does another and often one will turn off, but immediately another will turn on. My mechanic (not a Ford dealer) tried to fix the check engine light by diagnosing and fixing the indicated codes, but a day later the light came back on. It stayed on for a week, then one morning it stayed off, but the airbag light came on. Is there some electronic (or other) component that links these three lights and could be causing this situation?
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I have a 2006 Explorer with the 4.6 liter V8.
The airbag light on the dash comes on randomly after start up. It lights up solid and does not flash a code. I hooked up my code reader to it and it shows no code as well.
As part of my observations I have noticed that the passenger air bag off light comes on and goes off even when the seat is empty.
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My wife has been driving this Escape for about a year after driving one she inherited from her father to 162K miles. This one has just under 70K now.
In the last month or so, the interior lights have begun to come on and go off at will. It can happen going down the road, or sitting in the garage for hours. When it's running, the door chime may or may not sound. It sometimes comes on when it hits a bump, sometimes without one. I looked at it earlier, and the light was on. (I have turned the center one off. I don't see a way to turn off the front ones) An hour later the light is off. No one has been in the car since this afternoon.
She says the car is haunted, and is now calling it Casper, even though it's solid black.
I have tried the standard fix of lubricating the door latches several times. There are six latches including the rear hatch and rear window. I have used CRC electrical cleaner as well as subsequent doses of good old WD 40. I don't know if there is an easy why to tell which switch might be causing the problem, so I have taken the shotgun approach.
The two remaining bulbs are tiny, so the battery has not run completely down, YET. The car is driven almost daily, sometimes several times in a day. I'm beginning to think that the situation may not be caused by one of the door switches. What else can it be? Why does it cycle like that? I doubt that it's haunted.
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My girlfriend has a 99 explorer Eddie bower the dash lights and tail lights sometimes go out last time I checked the fuses they were fine will check again she does home health care so we drive a lot the last owner had a system in it he took it out when she bought it he just unhooked the box the wire we ran hidden but the dash around the gauge cluster does not fit right so it has been off I'm desperate to keep her safe.
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Recently Ive been having issues with my prius 2008 , it all started when I was driving back home and 3 lights came up randomly. They were the VSC, (!), ! With triangle. I parked the car and turned it off and turned it back on the engine would not start and the 3 lights from before came up in addition to the check engine light, the abs, the emergancy brake and anti skid, and then the red car with ! Came up on the navigation screen. I had to unplug the startup battery and pluged it back in. it started and was fine for about a day. Cant run any tests until it happens again. We had the 12V battery checked and it is just fine.
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Is there a way to turn all interior lights on the dash off when the headlights are off?
It is so bright that you can't see in the dark with everything off without being blinded.
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I replaced the factory head unit with a aftermarket radio. While making adjustments my battery died, I jumped my battery and now I don't have any dash lights. I found 3 blown fuses that I have replaced, however the only lights that don't work is the dash lights. I replaced the headlight switch and the dash lights are still not working?
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The cruise control and the overdrive off dash lights go out when I turn on the headlights. The cruse control and overdrive still work but the dash lights are not lit. It is a 95 4door explorer.
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I have been having a problem with my dash lights intermittently going out. They are out for good now. My interior lights, license plate lights, climate control and glove box lights are out as well. The fog lights work only if my high beams are on.
I have replaced all 5 and 10 fuses. I am wondering if I have a relay out, I don't really know anything about them except their location. I'm putting a friends light switch in tomorrow to see if that's it. I have a euro switch.
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I have 1997 ford explorer my 4x4 lights on dash flashing 5-6 times and four wheel drive kicks in and binds when I turn wheel left or right and engages while going straight . Happens on occasion put its happen more often. How to disconnect the 4-wheel drive from engaging.
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So just for a little bit of a background, I have an Imola 20th with 165k miles on it lowered on B&G's, stage II+ unitronic w/ Franken turbo setup.
I've been running into some issues with the ride as of late, well, more than usual, and I can't seem to figure any of it out. First, the car kept overheating even when it wasn't warm outside after driving for only about 10-15mins. Took it to the shop, and they said that the fan & fan motor died on me and so they replaced that and the blower motor resistor, but then a month later I was back at the shop getting the fan replaced again. A month later, I was at another shop getting the fan switched, and not even two months later I was back at the original shop having the fan swapped out yet again because the previous one died. It's been a couple weeks now since the last fan being switched out and I'm starting to see some overheating issues yet again when the A/C isn't turned on and blasting. That's problem number 1.
Problem 2 would be all of the dash lights that randomly keep coming up; the traction control and ABS lights have been on for about three months now. Just last week the dash light for the airbag came on, and then today the light stays on for the door saying that it's open but the interior lights don't stay on like what's typical seen when the door is open. Also, every now and then when I start the car up the brake light will flash/beep a couple times then stay lit the whole time I'm driving around, but when I turn the car off then turn it back on again the brake light isn't lit...the airbag, ABS, traction, and door lights are still lit. I plugged a reader up to it, and no codes are showing and everything says it's checked out. Not to mention, the car has been idling real funny lately, usually sitting at 800rpm's then randomly dropped to around 400 to where the car almost dies off then it just shoots right back up.
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The Problem : The short version of the problem is that, as the description says, the ABS and Brake dash lights will come on for awhile, but then shut off, either why driving or the next time I start my car. The brake fluid level and color seems fine, and I checked the hidden service menu from the control screen, and the computer is not reporting any error codes (though I have not hooked it up to any formal error code reading device).
Problem History : The first I saw this problem was about 4 weeks ago just after I got an oil change at a local Toyota Service Center. They warned me that the lights were on and I should get them looked at (though I had never had an issue with them before). when I started my car after, they were on, but then shut off after about 30 seconds. I did not see them again for a few days, so I assumed it was just something got bumped or whatnot, and was not worried. Later I randomly started my car one morning and they were back on, this time they stayed on for a few minutes before shutting off. It continued to do this randomly, but I never felt any issue with brakes, nor noticed any other problems with the operation.
The first time I saw it come on why driving, was when I was pulling over to the side of the road, and hit a puddle that was deeper than I thought and jerked the shocks a lot. After this the problem started to be more frequent, most noticeably if I park on a hill with the e-brake on.
My Thoughts : I called my Service center, and they wanted 100 bucks for the inspection, and then most likely another couple hundred for the repair. I am not inclined to just dump my money into this without looking it up first, and what I have seen online is that similar cases on other cars have been a faulty abs sensor or some kind of particle in the fluid line. Since I am not seeing any error messages from the computer, nor are the lights consistently on, I am thinking of getting my brakes flushed.
Is there anything I should know about flushing the brake fluid, or should I really take it to a service center. They are asking 130 (plus mostly likely an extra 20 bucks b/c this place always finds little things to tack on) to change the fluid.
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I recently just got an R32, from a local guy in town. I love the car, and have driven it sparingly as I am still waiting on the title from the bank. As for now I'm doing the usual used car shake down.
I am having problems getting the gauge cluster lights to come on with the head lights. Sometimes when I move it over a bump or two it turns on. Sometimes the trick is to open and close the doors a few times it shakes the car into turning on the dash lights.
I know I have an electrical short somewhere, and I am not sure where to begin diagnosing this problem. Is it the switch? A bad connection to the gauge cluster? A bad wire? I've already pulled the switch and cleaned all the contacts. What else should I do?
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I just started getting 3 dash lights that come and go intermittently? ( I'm getting a (!), ABS and VSC lights in amber). I first had these three come on while I was traveling home one evening (traveling a little too fast /approx 84mph). This 2007 Prius has 276,000 miles on her. The lights will come on, them go out once I stop for a short period of time, or slow-down and travel at 40-50 mph.
I've checked the 12V battery and its seem to meet at the recommended voltages. I did have a recall on the inverter water pump around 150K. With that said, the pump does have circulation when I remove the cap? Over the 6+ years that I've owned this car, I've only changed the oil (synthetic), replaced tires, changed a water pump/alternator belt and a second set of replacement front brake pads. This has been the BEST car (maintenance and economy-wise) that I've ever owned! She's still consistently getting 48.2mpg. I've ordered the OBD pigtail and diagnostic software....
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My father was driving his 2007 sport trac limited on his way home tonight and all of a sudden he lost all of the instruments in the gauge cluster. At the same time all the indicator lights came on. the truck kept running along with the air conditioning and radio, just lost the instrument cluster. almost like when you first turn the key on before starting. when he got home and turned the truck off, it would not re-start. when you turned the key on even the odometer was blank. when you tried to start it it wouldnt even try to crank. i unhooked the battery and hooked it back up. after about 5 key cycles of not starting like previously, it finally started.
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So the past week I've noticed that on occasion my dash lights will get really dim then randomly come back to full on (to where I have it set at.). Is this normal?
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I have a 2000 Chevy Silverado pickup, V8, A/C, 105,000 miles, which drives like a top.
However, about a year ago, the TWO brake lights on the dash started coming on together, randomly. Sometimes the lights came on right after I started the first time, other times, they came on later in a trip after the truck warmed up.
The brakes worked perfectly, as far as I could tell. I took the pickup to the dealer, left it 2 days, and they checked the brakes, belts, tried everything (they said) including trying to get error codes on the computer. Trouble is, the lights had mysteriously gone out and refused to come back on.
A few days later, they came back on for me!! I could turn the truck off, wait a few moments, restart it, and the lights would go off, say, 80% of the time. Only to come back on later. So, I took it to a local Goodyear Tire store (while getting new tires) and they saw the lights, did a diagnosis on a computer, and got NO codes.
Now, I'm worried very much - you see, the brakes on this truck have never been changed! I've had them checked many times, always with the answer that they are still in great shape - last time, they had 30% left! I waited until the lights were ON, and drove all the way to the dealer; parked the truck running; and waited until a technician could come out and do the computer test. NO codes.
Now, I have noticed a possible pattern: when the weather is hot, as it has been most of last year here, the lights come on; when it's cold, as it's been lately, the do NOT come on. Just today, the weather warmed up into the 70s and, zap, the lights came on today.
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At 130,000 I replaced the transmission. Now, randomly the car has flickering lights on the dash while I am driving. The radio flickers, and the tach/speedometers drop to zero. After this happens and I turn off the car, the car will not restart. It is completely dead. If I wait 2.5 minutes, there is much clicking in the dash, then everything comes back to life. No one can figure it out. I will add that in the 9 years I've owned this thing, I have replaced 5-6 batteries. The transmission guy says something is pulling on the battery, but he nor Honda can figure out what it is.
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I have a 2002 Hyundai elantra GT. Since I've got the car last year I've had this intermittent problem with the dash lights coming on every once in a while not really a lot at all. It never bothered me before because they would come on for maybe two minutes then turn off and didn't cause any problems whatsoever.? I think because they were coming on during the day. I never realized it happening at night time. In the last month the lights came on at night time and blew out all my headlights. I replaced them three times already. I read that maybe the alternator is overcharging. I haven't checked anything yet.. I'm very mechanically inclined. Just not with electrical...
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My dash lights have a weird glitch when the headlights are on. I can hear a click and the dash lights will go out and immediately back on almost like a blink.
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My headlights and dash illumination lights will intermittently flicker when I use the turn indicator to signal a right hand turn. Is it possible that there is a short in the turn indicator/high-low beam headlight control switch that is causing this?
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