No high beams, no fogs. Any ideas?

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jolinc01

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Ok the LS has been in the shop for a week no with no high beams and no fog lights. They haven't figured it out yet, but said it's not the FEM or burned out bulbs. They said the computer is reading the volt change to switch from low to highs. 01 LS w/ Gen 2 headlights...
 
It's my local dealer. They only have 1 "electrician" and he works on all the ambulances in surrounding 4 counties, so he's been looking at it in between working on them. This is the 1st time I've felt led on by them.
 
joegr said:
Sounds like you picked the wrong "shop."
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im going to have to agree, this problem shouldn't even take a day to diagnose.

if the signal is switching at the switch harness, then the switch is not bad.

if the signal is getting to the computer, then the harness from the switch to the computer is not bad.

if the signal is switching coming out of the computer, then the computer is not bad.

if the signal is getting to the bulb, then that harness is not bad.

if there is 12v at the other wire in the bulb harness, then the power supply is not bad.

the only other things that it could be is the wiring in the headlights, the bulbs, or the relays (if they are any and they are not built in the the FEM)


a week seems a little strange to not have any ideal what the problem is.
 
FIXED! It was a completely corroded wiring harness. They overlayed new wires instead of replacing the harness because it was alot cheaper. So, I'm happy to have fogs again!
 
jolinc01 said:
FIXED! It was a completely corroded wiring harness. They overlayed new wires instead of replacing the harness because it was alot cheaper. So, I'm happy to have fogs again!
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I still don't understand why it took them over a week when this should have taken no longer than an hour or two to find.
 
I was burned by the corroding harness as well, took me years to find out where it was.

was it right up front in the corner where the harness bends up?
 
joegr said:
I still don't understand why it took them over a week when this should have taken no longer than an hour or two to find.
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I wasn't very happy it took that long. They had my car 2 weeks and put 6.5hrs into it. I do however understand they had 3 ambulances to fix and the tech that works on them is their electrician. Bottom line is the car is back and all the lights work, so I'm happy :D

112 LS said:
I was burned by the corroding harness as well, took me years to find out where it was.

was it right up front in the corner where the harness bends up?
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That sounds about right from what they said.
 
jolinc01 said:
I wasn't very happy it took that long. They had my car 2 weeks and put 6.5hrs into it. I do however understand they had 3 ambulances to fix and the tech that works on them is their electrician. Bottom line is the car is back and all the lights work, so I'm happy :D



That sounds about right from what they said.
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def be happy. I avoided ford dealership for so long with that, little shop mechanics just wanted to throw new computers at it. lucky for me I found an obscure post somewhere from a FLM tech that noted the likely trouble spot.

here's an LS laugh, I took the harness down from under the wheel well, patched it up and re-wrapped it all nice, I was so happy my gremlins of 5 years were gone!

threw her in reverse to go around the block, heard a thud and the car jerks, thought I might have hit a brick? when I got out to look, to my horror I find I forgot to secure the harness back up and it had wrapped around the wheel and got f'n mangled beyond repair.

cant really blame the car, it was my fault. but she wouldn't have had it any other way.
 
jolinc01 said:
FIXED! It was a completely corroded wiring harness. They overlayed new wires instead of replacing the harness because it was alot cheaper. So, I'm happy to have fogs again!
Click to expand...

I'm glad you found the problem. I will have to see how my connectors look to see if that maybe my problem as well.

Did you try and hook them up independently like I have?
 
just take your front bumper cover off and look at the harness where it bends, the connectors are waterproof.
 
Hawk03 said:
I'm glad you found the problem. I will have to see how my connectors look to see if that maybe my problem as well.

Did you try and hook them up independently like I have?
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Hawk I never made it around to doing that. It was on the to do list, but we all know how the to do list for an LS goes. I actually thought of you when they found the issues, and wondered if that was your problem too.
 
I guess sometimes we over think it and forget to check the easy fix first.

112 LS said:
def be happy. I avoided ford dealership for so long with that, little shop mechanics just wanted to throw new computers at it. lucky for me I found an obscure post somewhere from a FLM tech that noted the likely trouble spot.

here's an LS laugh, I took the harness down from under the wheel well, patched it up and re-wrapped it all nice, I was so happy my gremlins of 5 years were gone!

threw her in reverse to go around the block, heard a thud and the car jerks, thought I might have hit a brick? when I got out to look, to my horror I find I forgot to secure the harness back up and it had wrapped around the wheel and got f'n mangled beyond repair.

cant really blame the car, it was my fault. but she wouldn't have had it any other way.
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HAHAHA, that happened to me too. When I installed my projector fogs, one of the days I was making adjustment I was in a rush so when I finished with the fogs, I left them out without tucking back in. I got home with no harnesses on both sides. :D
 
jolinc01 said:
Hawk I never made it around to doing that. It was on the to do list, but we all know how the to do list for an LS goes. I actually thought of you when they found the issues, and wondered if that was your problem too.
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I will have check. Its been a few years but I'm sure I tested the plugs and I was getting readings from them. Maybe there was just not enough noticeable power for the computer to turn them on?, or how ever they work.

I will have to play around with them when I get some time. Which wiring harness was it? Thanks for the heads up on this.
 
I know my main passenger side headlight harness was corroded when I bought the car so I think it was that one? I forgot which one they said but they took the bumper/fender off to get to it like 112 said.
 
yup, the trouble spot is on the main harness that comes out of the fuse box under the hood, if you follow the harness from the fuse box, you'll see where the harness makes a few wicked bends. water accumulates here and greens the wires, your problems will be intermittent at first but will eventually become a catastrophic pcu/fem communication failure.

there are the bends at the headlight harnesses too, and as shown if these green you would show headlight/fog issues.
 
I tried to fix the wiring issue but got stuck. I was hoping it was going to halfway easy to figure out. Once I got the bumper off, I wasn't sure where the wiring harness that was talked about was located. The wires were definitely wet.

Bumper.jpg
 
the main harness wire that is laying diagonally (with the white paint on it)

remove the tape to expose the wires in areas where water be able to build up and look for wires corroded green.

didn't you say your front wheel rubbed up into the wheel well? need to check in there too, it's all part of the main harness that connects to the ECU and FEM.
 
I removed the entire outer layers of tape, then I used a soldering gun to mend the wires and then used hockey stick tape to wrap it all back up, then a layer of electrical tape.
 
112 LS said:
the main harness wire that is laying diagonally (with the white paint on it)

remove the tape to expose the wires in areas where water be able to build up and look for wires corroded green.

didn't you say your front wheel rubbed up into the wheel well? need to check in there too, it's all part of the main harness that connects to the ECU and FEM.
Click to expand...

112 LS said:
I removed the entire outer layers of tape, then I used a soldering gun to mend the wires and then used hockey stick tape to wrap it all back up, then a layer of electrical tape.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info!

I removed some of the tape but i didn't remove that much of it, I wasn't sure how far I needed to go. The wires were wet but I didn't see any green wires. My side marker lights were terrible, I don't know how long they have been out.

Would it be possible to cut the wires at the bend and run it to the fog lights?

My tire never rubbed but I had an issue with the main power wire connection in the passenger side tire well along the fire wall.
 
I'm going to attempt to fix this wiring issue again this weekend but want to clarify where I need to splice the wire.

Do I need to follow the wires back into the fender any further to splice the wires or can I splice them at the bend (with the paint) and run new wires to the fogs from there?

Bumper.jpg
 
Mine were corroded enough they had to remove the fender and splice further back...
 
Thanks Joe. Do you think its possible for me to run new wires without having to follow the old through the fender. Insert new wire from the harness bend (white tape above washer fluid) down to the fog light connector. I'm unsure if it needs to run through another harness or something behind the fender. I'm hoping I can just run new wires straight down to the connectors.
 
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