whats up everyone. i recently purchased a '97 RS w/ a 3.8l v6 and a 5-speed. i luv it but as w/ any car w/ 80k miles on it it had a few querks. one being that the running lights dont work all the time. ill start it one day and they will come on fine (light switch in off position), the next they will be off, and the next only the parking lights will be on. also note that there isn't any other electrical problems that i can tell. there might be a simple answer but the car didn't come w/ a users manual and there isnt anything useful in the haynes repair manual. any help would be great thanks!

 

Did you try turning the running lights on when they don't work? Your pic is too big, I can only see your window.

 

if the running lights arent on when the car is turned on the headlight switch operates as it should. its just wierd how sometimes when i turn the car on they come on, with the headlight switch in the off position, and sometimes they arent. i know the pic is big, u can see it if u zoom back. i tried to edit it out but when i try to delete it from the post an error occurs. its no big deal just a pic of my car.

 

With 97-02's the DRLs come on only when the parking brake is off. Are you checking to see if the DRLs are on when parking brake engaged?

 

when i was on my way into work this morning i noticed that my parking lights were on when i saw the reflection in the car in front of me at a stoplight (headlight switch in the off position). so i pulled the e-brake to test wether they would go off or not and they didnt. out of curiousity i hit the foglight switch and they came on. wierd cause they usually only work when the headlight switch is turned on and it wasnt. next i turned on the headlights and they worked fine so i turned them off and my parking lights stayed on. i tried the fog lights again and they didnt come on this time. its really not that important cause everything works with the switch when i want them to its just one of those things that puzzle u and want to figure out.

 

I dont know about the 97, but my 98 has a light sensitivity sensor on the dash that turns on the headlights automatically when it gets dark. Maybe you should get that checked out.

 

Sounds about right. My T-birds had that and so does the wifeys crown vic.

 

[quote]ORIGINAL: bidicamaro

I think the problem there is that they are garbage Fords.