Running board lights stay on while driving

[Pudgedawg007]

Hello this is my first post so I will give a little background on my 2000 Expedition it is a 5.4 Eddie Bauer. I bought it earlier this year from my wife's aunt who had drove it with a bad coil pack until it would not drive anymore. I put a low mileage engine in it and it has ran great ever since. Until last week, wife was driving and smoke was coming out of the vents so I replaced the heater core and now a bunch of different things are going wrong.

1. The power seat will not move correctly if you try to move it forward it will a little at a time but will NOT go back.

2. The interior lights will not come on when I open the door.

3. While driving the running board lights and inside lights on the door stay on but the door ajar light is not on.

4. Parking sensor is NOT working, either is the overhead console with mileage and all that.

ALL of them worked fine before I changed the heater core. Everything that I unplugged was plugged back in. I checked the fuses and don't see any blown. Please help.

 

[tonydiv]

Well, I think it's obvious that it was something that was done during the heater core install. If only one thing went bad after the install, it could just be a coincidence. But 4 items all going bad at the exact same time.... that's way more than a coincidence.

It may not be a fun idea, but you're going to have to retrace your steps and make sure that every plug and connection is solid. This includes any plug or connection that you may have moved, kicked, bumped or unplugged by accident.


Keep in mind that I'm assuming that these are all things that actually stopped working after the install, and not things that you just happen to notice after the install.

 

[Pudgedawg007]

That's what I was afraid of. Yes ALL of these items worked correctly prior to the heater core replacement. I was hoping someone would know the location of a plug that connects ALL of these.

 

[hwy73]

Maybe not a plug, but a disconnected ground might be more likely if you pulled the dash, just sayin.....

 

[Pudgedawg007]

Well I pulled the bottom cover under the steering wheel and found a broken wire right at the connector. Hopefully that is the problem.

 

[Pudgedawg007]

Well I replaced the broken wire. Actually replaced the whole plug looked around for anything else broken or disconnected anywhere behind the dash found nothing hooked everything back up. The inside lights now work so I was excited checked the power seat it moved forward smoothly went to move it back nothing. WTF it won't move back at all up or down would only move forward the compass mileage thing on the ceiling won't come on either. I don't know what to do. Where would the ground connections behind the dash be?

 

[tonydiv]

When my seat stopped moving it was a broken wire at a connector under the seat. I think someone pushed something under there and must have broken the wire.

 

[stamp11127]

I looked the wiring diagrams for the seats in my 99. They are reversing the polarity to the motors through the switches. All the switches use a common ground which is the solid black wire at the Driver Seat Control Switch. The hot wire is a dark green wire on fuse 112 in the battery junction box. Unfortunately that hot wire also has four connectors in series from the fuse to the driver seat switch. I'd assume that wonderful Ford changed the color coding but kept the same logic of operation.
I'd start by checking the hot wire for power, or as an old school mechanic I work with says "check for fire"....and the black wire for a good ground.

 

[Brickman]

My interior lights and running lights stayed on a few years ago. I put some WD-40 in the door locks and the lights went off. Might not help you but it was a cheap fix for me.