Parking Lamps and Dash Lights won't turn off!

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Hamfisted

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I had the crazy idea to disconnect the battery ground cable for a few minutes and see if that did anything. I hate to talk you into a VSM replacement if that can be avoided. Just for shock therapy call the dealer and see how much a new VSM and programming would be.
But find out where the water is coming from. Does it have a sun roof ? Those drains get clogged, or the drain tube cracks and water runs down the interior sidewall, right there above the security module and fusebox. Another awesome Ford engineering feat. Take the glove box out for easier access to the module. If you unplug it and the parking lights go out, that's most likely the issue. The plugs are on top of the box and water can run right into the plugs and short stuff out. The service manual says non-serviceable. That usually means the crap is soldered in there to a complete circuit board of other junk. Take it out and look at it. I'm not a very good electrician when it comes to repairing circuit boards. You can get a used one on Ebay for about $50 in case that works out better for you. Probably have to reprogram it to your Expy though.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2003-Ford-...056364?hash=item4b51b04f6c:g:-S8AAOSwzt5bbg6Y



s-l1600.jpg
 
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Steven Braman

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I had the crazy idea to disconnect the battery ground cable for a few minutes and see if that did anything. I hate to talk you into a VSM replacement if that can be avoided. Just for shock therapy call the dealer and see how much a new VSM and programming would be.
But find out where the water is coming from. Does it have a sun roof ? Those drains get clogged, or the drain tube cracks and water runs down the interior sidewall, right there above the security module and fusebox. Another awesome Ford engineering feat. Take the glove box out for easier access to the module. If you unplug it and the parking lights go out, that's most likely the issue. The plugs are on top of the box and water can run right into the plugs and short stuff out. The service manual says non-serviceable. That usually means the crap is soldered in there to a complete circuit board of other junk. Take it out and look at it. I'm not a very good electrician when it comes to repairing circuit boards. You can get a used one on Ebay for about $50 in case that works out better for you. Probably have to reprogram it to your Expy though.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2003-Ford-...056364?hash=item4b51b04f6c:g:-S8AAOSwzt5bbg6Y



s-l1600.jpg

Well damn.
Praying that isn't it, i can pull it out of there and look at it. My buddy is pretty decent with electrical stuff maybe ill cash in a favor and have him give it a shot. But to answer you're question it does not have a sunroof, it has a few dings and dents as it is now being driven by my gf.

Any idea how much it would cost to reprogram this new VCM to my truck?
Is that something ferd would have to do for me, or can i take it to a speedshop and have them work that out?
Just trying to cut costs as much as i can, i don't wanna drop a g to fix this.
I can call my local dealership and see what their $.02 is.
 

stamp11127

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Try pulling F6 15amp fuse in the cjb and see if the lights go out. According to ShopKey that fuse feeds the relay.
 
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Steven Braman

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Try pulling F6 15amp fuse in the cjb and see if the lights go out. According to ShopKey that fuse feeds the relay.

Forgive my lack of knowledge on this but...
Where is the cjb?
Are you referring to the fuse box by the passenger foot well?
 

Hamfisted

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Try pulling F6 15amp fuse in the cjb and see if the lights go out. According to ShopKey that fuse feeds the relay.

Ok, Ok, Stamp wants to do it the easy way ....

I must've missed it but I thought you already tried the fuse. But yes, the F6 fuse powers the parking light relay circuit through the VSM. I just went out in my truck and tried it and it does in fact shut down power to the parking lights, and the lights on reminder chime, and maybe some other stuff that I didn't look for. ( I didn't try the key FOB while I was out dorking with it...).
If you drive the Expy you won't have parking lights/tail lights for night time driving ....


The parking light (F6) fuse is the 15 amp one on the left side, number 6 from the top .... (the relay at the top labeled Trailer Tow / Parking Lamp is for the 7-pin plug at the rear of the truck...)

https://imageshack.com/i/por79Fjej


r79Fje.jpg
 

stamp11127

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Just to verify the source is the security module and to keep from killing the battery. Then he can see if the relay has failed closed or if the microprocessor is keeping the relay energized and the circuit closed.
 
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Steven Braman

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Ok, Ok, Stamp wants to do it the easy way ....

I must've missed it but I thought you already tried the fuse. But yes, the F6 fuse powers the parking light relay circuit through the VSM. I just went out in my truck and tried it and it does in fact shut down power to the parking lights, and the lights on reminder chime, and maybe some other stuff that I didn't look for. ( I didn't try the key FOB while I was out dorking with it...).
If you drive the Expy you won't have parking lights/tail lights for night time driving ....


The parking light (F6) fuse is the 15 amp one on the left side, number 6 from the top .... (the relay at the top labeled Trailer Tow / Parking Lamp is for the 7-pin plug at the rear of the truck...)

https://imageshack.com/i/por79Fjej


r79Fje.jpg
Just to verify the source is the security module and to keep from killing the battery. Then he can see if the relay has failed closed or if the microprocessor is keeping the relay energized and the circuit closed.

Hello all, sorry for such a delayed response on this. But i was able to put in a few hours on the expy this weekend. And well i found the solution for it...
The battery died on Friday night so i pulled it and trickle charged it all of Saturday while i went to work on the electrical problem. When the battery was finished charging i hadn't been able to find a single wire that was grounded anywhere, so i threw the freshly charged battery back in and the security alarm went off as soon as i touched the positive probe to the battery, so i quickly disconnected it and tried it again figuring maybe it was a bad connection, but i got the same result the security alarm went off unless i pulled the positive wire. Fed up with this, i went to go and pull the security alarm fuse so i could get power and keep testing some things out. But the security fuse was blown!!!
Long story short one 7.5 amp fuse later and all of my problems have been fixed!!
Parking lights function normally and no longer does the trucks theft alarm go off at random. *NOTE* i don't know if this was the issue for all of these things, my best guess is i fixed the security system with the fuse but i fixed the parking lamp problem with a "battery cycle". By pulling it and plug/unplugging everything is most likely why electrics operate now.
Thank you all for you're help and knowledge. Take care, and drive safe!
 

Plati

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Hmmm .. its always nice to find a problem and fix it and understand how it all works so the "fix" makes sense and you know the problem root cause has been corrected. In other cases its just good enough to make the problem go away and then it never comes back so you dont have to understand everything, you just dont have a problem anymore.

I'm not sure which category this falls into. I always wonder what caused a fuse to blow. They blow from over-current. So why did this fuse blow? Is that going to happen again? Was the root cause of the lights problem the blown fuse and the root cause of the fuse blowing is ... ?

Maybe I'm overthinking this?
 

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