Ok guys, My EF is playing up, it is seriously making me go insane!

Its a Futura, 1995. So lets begin.
- When I put in my rear interior lights (on the roof lining... when you open up the door lights) as soon as I open up the door, my cruise control fuse blows (I think its either 10 or 15 amp).
- My amplifier is cutting in and out, I think it's something in the amp playing up. It's losing power, so my subs cut in and out.
- So while all this is happening, I drive at night in constant fear because my headlights flicker on and off randomly. This doesn't happen all the time, I would just have to say that it is entirely random when it wants to happen.
- And since all this has happened, my coolant warning light won't go away on my dash.
EDIT- Also has the dancing doorlock syndrome!

Has anybody had any other problems with their electrics? What did you do to get it fixed?

Last edited by razza62 on Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

mine used to do the same kind of things i have 95 futura too it all went away after i got my battery changed bloke rkns was earthing out or something

Thanks for the reply! I have a new battery though, 550CC... Did you know where yours was earthing out? As far as I can see it's not earthing out anywhere Is it a job for an auto electrician?

Krytox on these forums had a good solution to the earthing cable's on the EF/EL's, apparently on those car's, ford used pidly little gay earthing cable's, from what I've memorised there is 2 in total, one goes from the battery to chassis I THINK, the other goes from chassis to engine I THINK, someone else would be able to confirm though . Might be worth shooting a PM to "Alfy", his had a similer problem with his earthing cable's, not the same symptom's, but it's a start.

Yes, the earthing on EF/EL is very bad in my opinion, the size/gauge of the earthing cables are pretty ridiculous, especially the one which goes from the battery to the body (bracket where the coolant reservior sits right, almost directly above the battery) its so small it might as well not be there.

Theres another one which goes from the battery to the side of the block iirc? Thats not so bad but still should be improved upon. Havent had many issues with earthing in my EF so ive left it for now (apart from bigger heavy-duty gold plated battery terminals which helped a bit) it runs my lighting and sound system etc comfortably. Just make sure your terminals are clean and secure and check that the earth cables and connected tight and secure both on the negative terminal and the body/block. Better yet, upgrade them to thicker gauge if you have the chance

Theres a few topics on earthing but the search is sort of out of order
http://www.fordmods.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=75324
http://www.fordmods.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=75304

You blokes are legendary! I had a look at the earth cable, you're right, it really is piss weak. Me and my old man will attach a thicker one soon. I read through the links you sent, I'll borrow a multimeter first and test the connections. I'll let you all know what happens!

yea the bloke up the grade on my earth cables and redone my connectors for battery all heavier gauge now its sweet cept some tiimes to start it i have to flick my lights lol

You probably have a short circuit in your interior lights and or wiring which is causing your CRT fuse to blow.The door locks cycling is one or more of your actuators cracking the s**t and having a temper tantrum and causing the others to go out in sympathy.Good luck Kevman

Yeah, I tried everything suggested here but to no avail! Doesn't matter though, at least I tried, it's now booked in for the auto electrician monday. Thanks anyway fellas!

so..... how did this work out??? I'm trying to guage whether to just take it to an auto electrician and have the earth cables replaced with decent ones....
I ask because I've recently bought an EF Gli and it's done the dancing locks once and had all cluster / panel power drop out and come back on after few seconds (I know about the ignition barrel connector fix - will look into that if it keeps happening).

it could be your alternator

Mystro may be onto something. A rectifier diode that has gone open or short circuit would cause an imbalance between the 3 phases of the alternators stator windings. This would result in an AC signal of a reasonable voltage level being present. This would play havoc with all sorts of systems in the car.

I got it back from the auto electricians, and he told me what he did to fix the problems... the interior lights was a short circuit in the roof lining, so the lights are back in and all fine.
The headlights were flickering because the fusable link was burnt out, the link is located underneath the bottle where you put coolant into! The link wasn't making a good connection, most problems with the link is due to a fluid getting inside of it and burning it out. The coolant light is due to a faulty sensor, which is getting replaced Tuesday. The dancing doorlocks is due to a faulty solenoid in (most likely) the passenger side front door (apparently it's a fairly common problem). But when he went to fix it, my doors locked fine! They are about $250 to replace per door... he couldn't isolate a single unit, so he didn't change it. The amplifier is stuffed, so I got another 4 channel one off my mate and I'll get the auto electrician to install it Tuesday along with the coolant sensor.

So there we go! My car looks so much better with the rear interior lights in... it just adds a touch of class =) And as a side note, with the new fusable link installed, my headlights are much brighter now... before they were fairly dull (which I never noticed until I got my car back with the new link installed).

Cheers =)

Man thats good to hear, ended up being quite a few faults huh? At least its all sorted now

Yeah, now the car's finally up to scratch... I used to get funny looks from drivers when my headlights were flickering!