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1998 Taurus Power Failure

3K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  outatyme357 
#1 ·
many times windows / power steering / wipers / inteiror lights / and sometimes power locks don't work
if i move or diconect and then reconect the circut board from behind the main fuse block they will all work but steering you must restart the car. I have torn out all of these parts and inspected but found no bad wires or shorts in circut board or entire fuse block or relays. mainly if i move that circut board by hand or foot while driving i can get all of it to work. This cars preveus owner my father in law has taken it to at least 5 ford dealer appointments and they keep replacing power steering pumps. I do keep geting a abs light on dash once or twice a day, then won't come on for a few days.
 
#2 ·
QUOTE (jlo @ Nov 28 2009, 11:44 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=769776
many times windows / power steering / wipers / inteiror lights / and sometimes power locks don't work
if i move or diconect and then reconect the circut board from behind the main fuse block they will all work but steering you must restart the car. I have torn out all of these parts and inspected but found no bad wires or shorts in circut board or entire fuse block or relays. mainly if i move that circut board by hand or foot while driving i can get all of it to work. This cars preveus owner my father in law has taken it to at least 5 ford dealer appointments and they keep replacing power steering pumps. I do keep geting a abs light on dash once or twice a day, then won't come on for a few days.[/b]
I don't want to sound dumb but maybe try replacing that circuit board? :dunno: If you can get it to work by moving it with your foot
or hand perhaps there is a break in a wire running to or from the board or fusebox. Troubleshooting electrical issues can get tedious,
but it sounds like you have already isolated the problem area? A good technician should be able to test the wiring in your car and if their
is a break or breaks in the wiring, they should be able to repair it. Good Luck and welcome to the forum!!!

There are a bunch of good guys here and I'm sure a mechanic or two will chime in and answer so keep checking back!
Oh and when you solve the issue, please post back and let us know.
 
#5 ·
I asked ford dealer about this and aparently this is called the gem board. To replace it is 400.00 + ford must reprogram computer to accept new. By some merical if you found one in a salvage yard it has to be same year, model, make, and configuration of code #s,
Any help from the club would be a great help since shop labor is very very spendy.

where is the trans range sensor?
 
#6 ·
I asked ford dealer about this and aparently this is called the gem board. To replace it is 400.00 + ford must reprogram computer to accept new. By some merical if you found one in a salvage yard it has to be same year, model, make, and configuration of code #s,
Any help from the club would be a great help since shop labor is very very spendy.

where is the trans range sensor?
 
#7 ·
I asked ford dealer about this and aparently this is called the gem board. To replace it is 400.00 + ford must reprogram computer to accept new. By some merical if you found one in a salvage yard it has to be same year, model, make, and configuration of code #s,
Any help from the club would be a great help since shop labor is very very spendy.

where is the trans range sensor?
 
#8 ·
QUOTE (jlo @ Dec 3 2009, 12:29 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=770678
I asked ford dealer about this and aparently this is called the gem board. To replace it is 400.00 + ford must reprogram computer to accept new. By some merical if you found one in a salvage yard it has to be same year, model, make, and configuration of code #s,
Any help from the club would be a great help since shop labor is very very spendy.

where is the trans range sensor?[/b]
According to my service manual, the trs is actually bolted to the transanxle. It is removed by,

1, disconnect battery ground cable
2. Place manual control lever in Neutral
3. Remove engine air cleaner and outlet tube
4. Disconnect electrical connector from trs
5. Remove manual control lever from transaxle
6. Remove two tr sensor retaining bolts
7. Remove tr sensor

Of course it recommends a special alignment tool to replace it ( t92p-70010-ah tr sensor alignment tool)

Install:
1. make sure manual control lever is in neutral position
2. Install tr sensor loosely install retaining bolts
3. Align tr sensor using alignment tool
4. tighten tr sensor retaining bolts to 7-9lb-ft. or 9-12N-m and remove alignment tool
5. connect tr sensor electrical connector
6. Install transaxle manual control lever. tighten to 8-11 lb-ft or 11-16N-m
7. Install air cleaner outlet tube and engine air cleaner
8. Connect batteryground cable
9. check for proper operation, engage parking brake( for safety) vehicle should ONLY start in park or neutral

That is what I could find, my service manual is from 1996 but I believe it is the same for your vehicle. Just remember any info posted on
this site is use at own risk. Here is another post about the trs issue. I hope I helped somewhat, it would be a good idea to get the obdII scan to see if its throwing any codes. Any autoparts store will check it for free if you can get it there. It would be bad to spend the money
and replace that if thats not really the issue, money being tight as it is these days!! Good Luck!! Ill keep following the thread I am interested
in the outcome! :salute:



Tom9489
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post Sep 18 2008, 08:04 PM
Post #1





Group: Members
Posts: 74
Joined: 13-March 07
Member No.: 12,860

Car: Ford Taurus
Year: 2002
Engine: 3.0 OHV (Vulcan)




I may have to re-think buying genuine Ford parts. Three days ago, my 2002 Taurus lit up the Check Engine Light and the Transaxle Light. I had the OBD II scanned and it showed a P0705 code - defective Transmission Range Sensor. I pulled out my Ford Wiring Diagrams manual and checked out the switch. Sure enough, one section of the switch which was connected to the Powertrain Control Unit was completely open. I bought a Ford replacement, installed it and no more warning lights.

Being an engineer, I took the switch apart to see how it failed. The problem was a printed circuit board within the switch with extremely narrow copper runs. They were so narrow that they simply broke apart, thereby disrupting the circuit.

My only hope is that Ford has improved the design. Otherwise, I wonder if I would have been better off with an Echlin replacement part.
 
#9 ·
Thanks for the advise the car has not acted up for 5 days of normal driving witch is at least 60 miles a day.
I removed the connectors for the trans range sensor and reconneted them making sure they were clean.

Thanks to everyone for the info!!
 
#10 ·
The dealer you went to isin't well informed. For the GEN3 line of cars (1996 - 1999) The GEM's are all interchangeable ANY GEM from a 1996-1999 WILL work with your 1998.
you can swap the the early gen4 (2000 - 2003) out with another one from an early gen4 as well but there are one or two programmable features (lighted unlock) etc. that may
require those people to get a 2002 - 2003 GEM. but for your situation with your GEN3 the swap is plug and play with any gem from 1996 -1999 with ABSOLUTELY _NO SPECIAL PROGRAMMING_ REQUIRED.


Go get you a GEM from a junkyard. (If you're sure it's the GEM then I have several GEM's that I could sell you if you're not the junkyard type. just waiting to be installed.
It's really not that hard of a part to change out.
 
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