Today I wanted to solve a problem I had been experience for some months now. Whenever it rains the ignition stays on (position 2 only) after I have removed the keys. After a few days without rain this would stop and everything would work normally. This morning it was raining and after lunch it had stopped, so the conditions were perfect to find the fault. I removed the ignition relay (that was warm as it had been on for a long time), and as I disconnected it I felt it click. I gently pushed it in an out a few times and it was clicking each time. So with the ignition relay removed I put my tester into the connector in the fuse box and saw 10 volts. Clearly there was some voltage leakage. When I keyed on again I could see 14v and this is the normal 12v system voltage from the DC-DC converter. Keyed off again and the voltage went back to 10v. I recently bought a complete set of Ford Technical service wiring diagrams (originals), so I checked the circuits and the removed the fuse supplying the key switch. I keyed on to position 2 and the radio came on and the aerial went up. When I put the key in position 1 the radio turned off and the aerial went down. This indicated that the fault was in a circuit that uses both of the first 2 key positions. Back to the wiring diagrams and I found the engine cooling fans' circuit was one of them and I pulled the fuse. Another indicator was that the cabin blower was also working before. When I pulled the fuse for the engine fans the cabin fan stopped and the voltage at the ignition relay coil connection went to zero volts. I put back the key switch fuse and everything was working properly. I have left the engine cooling fans' fuse out. This makes sense as this is at the front of the car and with no radiator is exposed to rain water. I was struggling to find anywhere water was collecting, so it was somewhere in the engine cooling fan loom. As I don't have any engine cooling fans anymore then I can just leave the fuse out so the circuit is now dead. Problem solved (finally). The reason I wanted to solve this so badly was because I have bought a 12v GSM gate opener switch so I can defrost my car remotely in winter. In winter I can turn the car off with the key then press the heater button to on and then switch the ignition on remotely from a text message to the new module. I can set it to stay on for a time of say 15 minutes (max 16.65 minutes or 999 seconds). So the scenario is; In winter I get up in the morning and look out of the window and see frost or the screen misted up, I get my phone and send a text message to the car that switches the ignition on for 15 minutes. Then brush my teeth etc., get dressed and when I go to my car it is defrosted / demisted and I can just drive off nice and cosy. I can send different text messages to change the control so I can switch on (permanently), switch it off, switch on for a time and also control which phone numbers that can activate the switch. So now I have the problem of the ignition staying on solved I can go ahead and add this new circuit.
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Some time ago I said that I had added the front parking sensors and these have been working fine for some time now. The picture below shows the 2 sensors on the front right side. There was 4 in total on the front.
On Sunday I fitted the rear parking sensors. It was some time before I got round to these because I had ordered some 2 pin auto connectors from eBay and once they came I cut the cable and fitted the connectors. The module for the parking sensors was mounted under the hood, so I had to run the wires under the rear seat and under the right side trim. The cables had to pass through the rear bumpers, so it would not be possible to remove the bumper without having to feed the cables back through the car, so this this is why I added connectors so I can just disconnect them near to the bumper and leave the sensors in place. I checked the sensors all worked with the connectors before feeding the wires. Once fitted, everything works fine. The rear sensors work all the time when the car is in reverse, but the front sensors only work when I operate a switch near the handbrake and when the brake pedal is pressed then they stop after the brake has been released for some time. The good thing is that I can switch the front sensors off so they don't keep beeping when I am driving.
