The other night I was driving along, and everyone kept on flashing their lights and blowing their horns at me. I pulled over and they said "you don't have any lights in the rear", "no tail lights, brakes, any of that %!$#*&". Since it was raining, and dark(and I have all around 5% tint), I turned around and went home to avoid a ticket.

When I got there, me and my Fiance did the old light check game. I have Brake lights when the pedal is pressed down. But the all the other lights are not working. I have checked all the fuses, and the bulbs, everything is fine. What else could it be?

Have you got dash lights? I suspect not. Check the wiring at your headlight switch. Running lights (tail) and dash are run from the same circuit, and it branches off the headlight switch.

Alex.

hey, you nailed it right on. My dash light stopped working about a week before the running lights. And now the running lights are out. Thanks for the reply.

You will need to replace the entire headlight switch assembly. Most likely when you pull your switch out you will see a burnt area like the attachement posted by GM guy on the plug unit of the switch these switches are pretty cheap under $50.00 and are worth the replacement. Also check your wire that plugs into the area that was burnt if needed you may have to clean it.

In my case, the headlight switch was fine, the connector, and about an inch of wire had charred to a crisp.
You can buy repair pigtails (the connector and a length of wire) in the aftermarket and from ford.
Switches are under 80 bucks from ford if you need one.

Alex.

Hey, thanks guys for all your help, I am fairly new with all the electronic stuff on this car.

Ok I know this is old but I just had the same problem headlights work but dash and running lights not working and you don't know it. Till you can't see the speedo in the dark.
Was in auto mode. Tried light switch but still wouldn't work. Playing with the dimmer and switch got it to work but then mine finally stopped working

I've got the 94 that doesn't have an lcm. I finally pulled the dash and got to the switch and the connector was exactly like the one in the photo. Exact same connector. Wire was still ok so I filed the corrosion off the light switch blade and cleaned plug and socket with electric contact cleaner. I didn't replace the connector because I don't have time and need to drive. The switch overall looked good. Put it back together and now my lights work.

Once the knee panel is pulled it was easy to get a screwdriver and press the button to release the switch knobs and pull them out before removing the panels.

I could hear some sort of a relay I think at the back of the switch that activates running lights and the dash lights from the switch or the auto light control. But this problem was the contacts.

What I'm thinking of doing is replacing all my tail lights and running lights with led versions now that the prices are dropping and I think this could be a fix to this problem. It will reduce the load. I hear a relay that activates my headlights.

Hello all. I have been reading up on my issue before I decided to post since I am new here. I have a 2005 P71. Appears to just been released from fleet. My issu the tail (running lights) will not turn on. I originally had the one hi beam issue which was fixed through this forum. My issue now is that all lights work except my rear tail lights. I have checked all fuses, and took the dash apart to look at the headlight switch and there are no burnt out wires etc. I have noticed the closest thing to my issue is that the instrument panel is dark ALONG WITH the tail lights. this is NOT my issue...just the tail lights. I took my car to a dealer to have the the LCM replaced due to recall but the problem was there before my trip to dealer.

Lastly, I was told by another motorist while I was driving at night that i didn't have any lights or brake lights. I replaced the brake switch as well (so brake lights work fine)

In short all lights work, brake lights work, license plate lights works, 4 ways work, turn signals work. OH the car is in Dark Mode which does not bother me but would this have any issue on the tail lights? My car passed inspection and they work working at the time (unless for some reason they missed this) but I am 99% sure the tail lights were operational.

Please help...I love this car but can't drive at night.

thanks.

Have you pulled the trunk carpet out? There are 3 or 4 grounds back there and IIRC the tail lights is one of them.

Same note, have you pulled the tail lights off and checked that the brown wire isn't cut back there, possibly during strobe removal?

Absolute worst case, you say the license plate bulb works, you could tie the brown wire going to it to the brown wire that is supposed to go to the tail lights. They are all on the same brown parking light circuit.

(not 100% sure the wire is brown on your model year, but parking light circuit is brown on 95% of Fords for most years).

thanks for the reply Steve this is very annoying. I have not pulled all of the carpet out yet but enough to remove the tail lights to replace bulbs check connections. I need to check for this Brown wire. are you suggesting just splicing the tail lights into the brown wire at the license place light?

how will/does that work?

Any other Advice I would appreciate. Thanks!!!

Unfortunately, electrical issues can be very hard to trace, especially in an ex-cop car, where the fitters may not have been careful during decommissioning. Best thing would be to get a factory wiring diagram and use a voltmeter to trace the taillight circuit.

thanks.

Start by pulling the carpet as mentioned. You might find a pinched wire somewhere, or one that was cut previously and has now broken apart.

Alex.

Wiring diagrams: