Questions and Answers
Windstar Lights And Speedometer
Q. Hey Vince! I have a 1998 Ford Windstar GL van with about 67,000 miles on it. I say about because the speedometer and the odometer stopped working. The cruise control and tack work fine. I also have a problem with the door sensors not working all the time and I have to pull out the fuse to get the interior lights out.
Replacing the fuse later seems to allow the sensor or whatever, to reset itself. I'd leave it out all the time except for the fact that the power windows are on the same circuit as the interior lights. ANYWAY; could I have done something to an electrical circuit that runs the speedometer by pulling out and replacing the light fuse.
Sometimes in the dark I don't always get the fuse back in it's proper socket and my wife sometimes gets it in the wrong one. She pulled a fuse out one time and it didn't shut off the lights and she stuck it back in. Into what we have no idea. The Ford manual doesn't even list or show some of the fuses so I have no idea if we screwed something up or if the speedometer problem is unrelated.
Thanks in advance!!
AlA. If the speedometer and odometer not working coincided or occurred after your fuse pulling for the lighting problem, then it is very possible you pulled the wrong fuse and stuck it back into the wrong or empty slot.
If the car was built before 9/8/97, it is fuse #35. If it was built after 9/8/97 it is fuse #14. The interior lighting is controlled by the Generic Electronic Module (GEM) and does store diagnostic codes for the interior lighting system. A Ford Dealer can pull the codes and find out why the interior lights won't go off. It could be a bad Interior Lamp Relay, located in the fuse box, directly under the fuses and second from the right.
Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA
