98 Taurus Wagon... headache in a car body today

[FritzTKatt]

Grandma's car...

Had a brake line rust/blow out. Pulled both of them (the rear ones), replaced. Bled, no leaks. Good pressure. Turn the motor on, no brakes. Went back and checked fittings and bleeder screws. No leaks, re-bled, no air. Good pressure again with ko/eo...

Then I tried to put it in gear for laughs and see if it changed anything. Wouldn't go into gear (automatic trans). The interlock wouldn't unlock from Park. Asked my uncle about it (he knows a thing or 2 about this and that), and suggested electrical issues. Going through the owners manual we pulled the #5 fuse (under the dash), which IIRC is the rear defrost/bk light fuse. With that out, it will go into gear and build brake pressure. From there we checked the lights and they are both dead, with and without the fuse in. The fuse isn't burnt out, blown, or damaged. Also tried a new fuse. Nothing.

Went out and bought new bulbs, because they might have caused a short or otherwise messed the computer up. Nothing. Also the #18 fuse in the engine compartment, when pulled and reinstalled will cause the interlock to function properly. Although that fuse isn't blown/damaged/etc.

Any ideas? The old lady's been taken to the cleaners' enough by the dealership, and mechanics as of late. I know they'd have charged her around $500 for the lines, and at this rate another 5 for the electrical problems...

[adsm08]

Hmm, 98 Taurus wagon, no brake lights, won't come out of park......

Lemme scratch my head for a 1/4 second ( I don't have to think about it, I just have dandruff).


Look under the dash, up on the brake pedal arm. I'll give you 10 to 1 that the plug and wires are melted. It's about a $30 pigtail at the dealership, not sure about aftermarket availability.

[FritzTKatt]

Ah. You would probably be correct. Except you're wrong because I'm a bit of a fool. In my rush, combined with the heat and low blood sugar of working on it all day I failed to notice that while grandfather was pumping the brakes to bleed them, his foot must have slipped and knocked the brake switch off. After I posted this, we had dinner and then I went back out to play with it some more. Crawled under there and saw the wiring/plug hanging there and the bare connection on the pedal switch. Plugged it back in and everything functions properly.

Although I should have known that simpler is better, and not to work in a rush... it happened anyway. I did hear that in 99, 00, 01, and 02 Ford had a recall on the switch/fuse/interlock and such because they kept failing. As always, however, thanks for your input, adsm.

[adsm08]

Glad you got her fixed.