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Last Friday going back home all of a sudden my radio and radar detector cut out momentarily. I was thinking I had a loose connection because I had to jamb all the wiring back in the dash when I replaced my radio. Then I noticed the radio and detector cut out momentarily when I hit the brake pedal. They would come right back on even though I still had my foot on the brake pedal. As I drove on it seemed to be more consistent with the brake and at times all the gauges would drop to zero but oddly the low fuel light would come on. I did have my head lights on during this, it was raining but I didn't notice anything with them until later when we went out to dinner and came back in the dark. The head lights would also momentarily blink. Last night I noticed it would happen when I used the direction switches.
It's frustrating since it doesn't happen all the time and when it does happen, it can be different things not working. Some times the gauges are not effected, sometimes they are. What ever is the cause seems to be related to a sudden inrush of current when the stop lights come on. When trouble shooting I learned a long time ago to look at anything that might have happened or changed before a problem started even if they don't seem to be related. A few days before I had a minor fender bender. It just started to rain, the local traffic stopped suddenly and I just slid into the back of a Durango bending my hood and breaking a parking light lense a little bit. The lights work normal, the filament are not broken or shorted out to each other. I've check the tail light wiring and dont see anything out of the norm. I just tried the car before and no problems but I know if I drive it for a while, it'll happen. My gut thought is it's a typical symptom of an electronic component going bad. Any thoughts? No fuses blown either. I tried googling the problem but didn't find anything. I did find similar problems on other cars with body control module going bad. The Escort forum says there isn't one but Rockauto lists one but I have no clue where it could be located if I did or do have one.
It's frustrating since it doesn't happen all the time and when it does happen, it can be different things not working. Some times the gauges are not effected, sometimes they are. What ever is the cause seems to be related to a sudden inrush of current when the stop lights come on. When trouble shooting I learned a long time ago to look at anything that might have happened or changed before a problem started even if they don't seem to be related. A few days before I had a minor fender bender. It just started to rain, the local traffic stopped suddenly and I just slid into the back of a Durango bending my hood and breaking a parking light lense a little bit. The lights work normal, the filament are not broken or shorted out to each other. I've check the tail light wiring and dont see anything out of the norm. I just tried the car before and no problems but I know if I drive it for a while, it'll happen. My gut thought is it's a typical symptom of an electronic component going bad. Any thoughts? No fuses blown either. I tried googling the problem but didn't find anything. I did find similar problems on other cars with body control module going bad. The Escort forum says there isn't one but Rockauto lists one but I have no clue where it could be located if I did or do have one.
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