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['00 MGM LS] Dash and door controls illumination quirks

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    ['00 MGM LS] Dash and door controls illumination quirks

    Hi,

    I've just bought a '00 MGM LS and I found some quirks in the controls and dash illumination - I will have them inspected by an electrician (who needs to convert the headlights to European beam pattern standards), but I just wanna pinpoint the causes before I get the job done:

    The symptoms:
    1) The dash control buttons, e.g. Rear Window Defrost, the EATC buttons, and the door-mounted seat controls, and the headlight (main lamp) switch) ARE NOT illuminated. They work fine, though.
    2) The radio head unit display and buttons are illuminated and work fine.
    3) The EATC display works, and the buttons are responsive.
    4) The ashtray/cupholder drawer is not illuminated.
    5) All other interior illumination (courtesy and vanity) works.
    6) The door latch/window buttons on the doors are illuminated.

    What gives? I read the wiring diagrams, though I'm unsure how the power is distributed to those components which are not illuminated. I thought they get power from their respective wire harnesses and connectors. Perhaps there is a faulty hot line before the voltage for the this illumination is distributed to the components, but I just don't know.

    Could there be something unplugged? A blown fuse in the cabin fuse box or the battery fuse/relay box?
    There's also non-stock wiring work, e.g. an additional 12-V cig-style power outlet in the right footwell; there are traces of a deleted phone/loudspeaker system and a mobile charging dock (some old Nokia, I guess). The LCM works fine. The headlights got the bulbs converted to some awful LEDs, which will be deleted and converted back to filament bulbs.
    Last edited by SpitShine_PL; 12-27-2018, 03:41 AM.
    '00 Mercury Grand Marquis LS, Silver Frost, the "Sharona": runs, drives and currently with mods in progress
    '96 Chrysler Grand Voyager LE 3.3 V6
    "You obviously have not been introduced to the ASTM Guidance for Profanity Gauging of Technical Services, Addendum#1, American English to Polish Scale Conversion, by which a repair done at a rate of 35 kurwas per 5 minutes means normal performance."

    #2
    The EATC has replaceable bulbs, the door mounted seat controls do not light up. The defrost button has LEDs inside which may have burned out. Headlight switch has a tiny bulb in it that is almost always burned out in just a few years.

    LOUD EXHAUST IS FUN! AM I SHOUTING?
    Last edited by BlackVic_P71; 12-27-2018, 09:04 AM.
    1989 Country Squire - Twilight Blue, 347 stroker


    2005 Crown Victoria Sport - Black - Stainless Works full exhaust with Borla Pro XS mufflers, BBK 75mm TB, Accufab plenum, CVPI airbox, Heinous control arms, etc...

    Comment


      #3
      OK, I see.
      So, the EATC in 2000 MGMs is the pre-revision version with replaceable bulbs, right? The newer ones have those pesky "revised" lights (LEDs?) that cannot be twisted and popped out for replacement.
      I imagine that the ashtray/cupholder light might be dead, too, or disconnected.

      PS. Yeah, I got a pair of Magnaflows to make the LS rumble and purr louder.
      Last edited by SpitShine_PL; 12-27-2018, 09:36 AM.
      '00 Mercury Grand Marquis LS, Silver Frost, the "Sharona": runs, drives and currently with mods in progress
      '96 Chrysler Grand Voyager LE 3.3 V6
      "You obviously have not been introduced to the ASTM Guidance for Profanity Gauging of Technical Services, Addendum#1, American English to Polish Scale Conversion, by which a repair done at a rate of 35 kurwas per 5 minutes means normal performance."

      Comment


        #4
        BTW. Getting a new headlight switch. AFAIK, I can't find those mini-bulbs for the EATC. They seem to be on eBay only. Are there any replacements? I found these on Amazon, the bulb base looks almost the same.
        https://www.amazon.com/cciyu-Halogen...ype=automotive
        '00 Mercury Grand Marquis LS, Silver Frost, the "Sharona": runs, drives and currently with mods in progress
        '96 Chrysler Grand Voyager LE 3.3 V6
        "You obviously have not been introduced to the ASTM Guidance for Profanity Gauging of Technical Services, Addendum#1, American English to Polish Scale Conversion, by which a repair done at a rate of 35 kurwas per 5 minutes means normal performance."

        Comment


          #5
          Updating this thread with a solution, for I don't like loose ends.

          The best replacement bulbs for the EATC with the backlight filament bulbs that CAN BE REMOVED are simply green LEDs with the Neo Wedge base, size T4; the base diameter is ca. 9.5 mm and the overall height is 12 mm. See below.
          [The image shows size T4.2, the base diameter of which is ca. 10 mm to 10.2 mm, give or take.]

          Click image for larger version

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          NOTE: LEDs are polarity dependent. I've seen people cussing about DAT DAMN LED THING NOT WORKING, ZERO OUT OF FIVE STARS!!!. So yeah, you need to figure out which wires are the positive and the negative one.
          Normaly, you have the pole legs of a LED exposed, and one is longer: this is your positive pole, or anode. The negative pole is called cathode.

          With the T4 base already fitted to your LED, you can't see which leg is longer, even if you carefully unwind the wires from the base. However, you can see the anode and cathode tips embedded in the plastic. The legs are connected in the plastic with a bridge that is seems to be cut diagonally and off-center, leaving one side of the gap smaller. The small bit is the positive (anode), the large one (which looks like a flag) is the negative (cathode).

          Click image for larger version

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          If you are unsure, grab a power adapter (I mean any power adapter) that outputs 12 VDC, and having a female plug on it is best. There should be a polarity diagram shown on the adapter's housing (usually the plug's outer ferrule is (-), the inner ferrule is (+)). Carefully unwind the legs from the LED base and touch the female plug's ferrules according to the polarity; the LED should glow. And that's it, you've tested it and know what the polarity assignment is.

          I will install my T4s when the wooden dash strip arrives with a new main light switch.
          Attached Files
          '00 Mercury Grand Marquis LS, Silver Frost, the "Sharona": runs, drives and currently with mods in progress
          '96 Chrysler Grand Voyager LE 3.3 V6
          "You obviously have not been introduced to the ASTM Guidance for Profanity Gauging of Technical Services, Addendum#1, American English to Polish Scale Conversion, by which a repair done at a rate of 35 kurwas per 5 minutes means normal performance."

          Comment


            #6
            A small udpate here. While I replaced the main lamp switch backlight bulbs without a sweat (just swapped the filament bulbs with LEDs with extended wiring to make it fit the really long fixtures), the EATC... is a whole different story.

            Yesterday I finally got around to change those damn EATC backlight bulbs. Well, now I'm stuck. I took the front panel out and removed the PCB from behind it... only to find (THE HORROR, THE HORROR!) that the bulbs are NON-REPLACEABLE. Gulp. I thought that 2000-ish EATC units had replaceable bulbs but it is what it is. Oddly enough, the top of the EATC back housing reads SEE OWNER'S MANUAL FOR BULB REPLACEMENT. FoMoCo, LOL, you mean old troll.

            The fun part is: each bulb is fitted to the PCB with a weird style of base/block. It's not square, it is ROUND and black (and about 2/5 inch in dia. by 2/5 inch in height). I never seen this type of mounting in EATC — I thought there were only the replaceable wedge-locks and the rectangular black blocks.

            Each bulb is fitted in the centre of the round black block. At the base of the block, right at the PCB surface, I see two thin wires which are most likely coming from the bulb; the two wires are located on directly opposite sides of the black block. The wires do not seem to be soldered anywhere at their visible section on the black block.

            I've never seen this bulb fixture design in an EATC; I though there was the older style with replaceable wedge-lock bases and the later revision with those rectangular black blocks.

            So, I can't tell if the bulb wires are soldered through and through the PCB, or the round blocks are glued with the bulb wires in contact with some flat pinouts on the PCB surface. Or perhaps Ford is not trolling me with "SEE OWNER'S MANUAL FOR BULB REPLACEMENT", and there is a way of replacing the bulbs with those black round bases?
            '00 Mercury Grand Marquis LS, Silver Frost, the "Sharona": runs, drives and currently with mods in progress
            '96 Chrysler Grand Voyager LE 3.3 V6
            "You obviously have not been introduced to the ASTM Guidance for Profanity Gauging of Technical Services, Addendum#1, American English to Polish Scale Conversion, by which a repair done at a rate of 35 kurwas per 5 minutes means normal performance."

            Comment


              #7
              Probably just like the original headlight illumination bulb, grain of wheat lamp with a couple thin wires. Under warranty, the eatc would just get replaced outright, no lamps replaced. You got it apart, you got most of the battle done.

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