2000 XLT expedition rehabilitation thread

[BakerEdition]

Man, Im gonna have to hire you to work on mine...YOU GO! Looks great...

 

[hwy73]

also, I found a 2-3" perfectly round hole in the firewall next to the brake booster. On the left of booster if you are facing the engine standing at the front of the truck. Anyone know what goes there or can look for me please? I'm guessing just a grommet/body plug is missing but want to make sure. It goes straight into the cabin so I need to fill it with something. Dont want cold air/road fumes coming in.

Correct, find a rubber grommet for it. I think that hole is utilized on the pick-ups that have manual transmissions for the the clutch gimmick.

 

[2000UN93]

ahh that makes perfect sense, thanks! I'll have to pick up a grommet for it. I think I will venture out to another local junkyard this coming monday and see what that one may have, hopefully I can pull a good grommet out of a truck there.

This tail light situation is driving me nuts. It's the only thing keeping me from driving the truck to work now. I know the bulbs are good. I suspect the wiring is good because the brake lights work. The brake lights use the same ground as the running lights from what I can tell. Front parking lamps work so it seems like the headlight switch is doing it's thing. I ordered that other one to try but I suspect I will still be without tail lights, license plate lights and reverse lights once I install it. If anyone has any troubleshooting tips on the rear lights I am all ears. Yesterday I crawled around under the truck and all of the wiring/ looms for the rear lights is intact, looks clean too.

 

[BakerEdition]

Heres a suggestion and you may have done this already...if yours has a trailer hitch and a plug...look around under the left rear side(drivers side) and they have a pig tail harness there make sure you got a good connection there.. and that someone has not hacked up the wires...if you take the connector apart you can get a test light and check the circuit to that point...if you get nothing then you work your way up front...you have checked all fuses under the dash and under the hood? also take a look under the dash... I'm not sure but if they had a trailer brake set up something may be unplugged under the dash...and check those bulbs...I have had some look good but were shot...my 5 cents worth

 

[2000UN93]

Thanks Steve. I just went out and had another look at the trailer wiring. It appears to be a straightforward add on with no splicing. I tested the trailer socket again for power with the running lights switched on. I am getting .5 volts to the running light pin of the trailer socket. I also unplugged the connector at the pigtail and tested there with the same results. Only getting .5v on one pin. I took the ground from the trailer wiring to the frame off and cleaned the connector and frame to bare metal hoping for some better results but nothing changed. It seems to me I am getting low/no power to the rear running lights, trailer or regular.

At the fuse box under the hood I have 12+ volts at fuses 5 and 6.

5 is trailer tow backup/park lamps
6 is parklamps/autolamps/feeds passenger compartment fuse 18

I already replaced fuse 6 with a new one which restored my instrument cluster lighting, but not my tail lights or anything out back. The only other thing I note about fuse 6 is that with the headlight switch off, both legs of the fuse holder are at 12+V. When the headlights or parking lights are switched on, only one leg of the fuse holder is 12+V. I thought that was odd but I am no electrical guru.

Do the running board lights some of you have run at all times with the park lamps or just when you open the door? I have harnesses for what I assume would be running board lights. Hopefully that headlight switch I ordered will arrive in todays mail run and I can try that.

 

[BakerEdition]

you also may want to follow that lead from the back of the truck which i believe runs inside on the left trim panel...some time people with fishin boats use a flat 4 pin connector and tie inside the truck...also if this truck was subject to road slat and corrosion..sometimes the connections on the bottom of the fuse panel become corroded or break...low voltage could also me a ground issue...the running boards I am not sure on as I dont have those....the fuse for the headlights will be hot both side because the headlights work all the time...they are not on a key switched circuit.

 

[2000UN93]

Thanks again for your help. I looked inside the removable cover inside the truck on the left rear for a flat connector for trailer tucked away and did not see one. My old explorer was set up like that now that I think about it.

So yesterday the new headlight switch got here. Installed it and although it solved my broken knob problem, the tail lights still did not work. It was at this point that I decided I have had enough of trying to troubleshoot this and it was time to use plan B. I ran a length of insulated wire from the passengers front parking lamp +12V to the passengers rear tail light +12V connector and turned the parking lights on. Immediately both tail lights came to life and I had power to the license plate lights. So I ran the wire carefully from front to back, spliced, soldered and taped the connections then put everything back together. I have tail lights now. For some reason there was no power getting to the rear of the truck so I ran a new wire rather than taking harnesses apart tracking down the bad wire.


Both of my license plate bulbs were bad and the housings have seen better days too. I went and got some new bulbs for those. It's nice to be able to drive my truck now, my other car needs a break it's due for a lot of work itself. It was really windy out earlier this evening and I expected the truck to pull me all over the road but it handled really nice for a vehicle of its size. I can't wait to get the new shocks on it next. I also need to see about the rear ABS sensor.

 

[BakerEdition]

Good for you!!! Sometimes you have to be a little creative...Kudos!

 

[jrjr]

Do the running board lights some of you have run at all times with the park lamps or just when you open the door? I have harnesses for what I assume would be running board lights.

When I unlock the doors with the remote the running board lights come on and also when I open a door. They do not come on with inside and turning on the dome light with the dimmer switch. They are not on with parking lights. My connectors are fastened to the truck frame and a wire runs to the running board. Most of mine were corroded beyond restoration and I found new pigtails at NAPA. Not exactly like the old ones, but they fit the hole with a quarter twist like the old ones did and use the same bulb. I make mine all orange. Hope that helps.

 

[2000UN93]

here is a pic from behind the wheel with the 3000K 55W xenon fog lights on.


Combined with the low beams I have no trouble seeing. I ran them on the way back from getting bulbs and no one flashed me either, I think they are aimed low enough they will not bother oncoming drivers. maybe if the road was wet and making a glare.