North American Turbocoupe Organization



New Member Head Light & Fog Lights Question
Kuch Offline
Senior Member
#11
My story with my ignition switch going bad was on my old 87 TC I used to drive back around 99-00. I used to drive around Brooklyn, Staten Island, and NJ a lot back then, I was driving along the BQE in Brooklyn one evening typical heavy traffic when all of my dash warning lights turn on, along with the hard brake pedal and all. A little nerve wracking for sure, to get it to work again on mine I had to do a turn off ignition switch and back on quick to get it to catch. Everything would be good, for a while, then same issue. I drove it like that for about 2 weeks till I got a new switch.
1988 Turbo Coupe, Black/Black, 5 Speed, Moonroof,  T3/T4, ported E6, 255LPH, Kirban, Stinger Exhaust, MGW shifter, K&N, Gillis valve, BP1.5, PIMPx, Koni's
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, 390 6V, Big Solid cam, Headers,3.89's, 4 Speed, Vast and fast
1960 Ford Starliner, 292 Y Block, 312 4bbl intake, headers, 3 Speed, slow and low
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BradM Offline
Member
#12
5088Tbird-
I just went through a similar issue with my TC. If I toggled the light switch ON, it would sometimes kill the instrument lights (it even happened when going over a bump). I had to carefully press the toggle switch back towards OFF (but only move it about 1/8 inch). There is a dead spot in my headlight switch. Try playing with the On/Off toggle switch and see if you have a dead spot. The switches aren't too easy to find but eBay did have one (NOS).
1965 Mercury Comet Caliente; 1968 Mercury Monterey; 1969 F100 Ranger; 1982 Mustang; 1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe; 2017 Police Interceptor
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Kuch Offline
Senior Member
#13
I agree with Brad above, I would take the light switch out and give it a good cleaning with some Deoxit contact cleaner. I bet you could take it a part a little as well to check it out inside. I had intermittent power lock buttons on my 88 and a good cleaning with the above cleaner and they work good as new now.
1988 Turbo Coupe, Black/Black, 5 Speed, Moonroof,  T3/T4, ported E6, 255LPH, Kirban, Stinger Exhaust, MGW shifter, K&N, Gillis valve, BP1.5, PIMPx, Koni's
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, 390 6V, Big Solid cam, Headers,3.89's, 4 Speed, Vast and fast
1960 Ford Starliner, 292 Y Block, 312 4bbl intake, headers, 3 Speed, slow and low
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anasazi4st Offline
Senior Member
#14
(02-16-2021, 09:23 PM)I Jeff K Wrote: ^^^ Yup, the Ford shop manuals are a lifesaver. I have the complete Ford (published by Helms, Inc) shop manuals  as well as the EVTMs for our 5 Fords and they explain pretty much everything in great detail, with step by step instructions for virtually every and any repair procedure.

Even better, there is an official Helms repair CD available on eBay that has ALL the manuals, and for 1988 models, so it is more up to date the 1987 manuals (you’ll need the 1988 Supplement, there were no 1988 ones produced). The price is very reasonable—under $50 last time I checked—and it is completely searchable—copy it to the hard drive of your computer, or use something like Dropbox. I usually perform a search first, note the section, and then go to the paper manuals.
Another proud dues-paying member.

1987 Turbo Coupe w/T5OD, 8.8 axle, grey smoke; most options. Got it in 1991 with 41K miles: 3 turbos, 2 heater cores, 3 T5OD full rebuilds, 6 clutches, 1 head gasket, 2 Teves II ABS units, etc. later....
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Interceptor86 Offline
Junior Member
#15
Possibly a dumb question, but you don’t know until you ask.... Do ALL TCs have this head/fog light issue, or was it more so the 87 and 88s? I have an 86 TC and have not had this issue...yet! Should I plan ahead and do the relay mod stated above? Thank you for your time.
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Kuch Offline
Senior Member
#16
I believe that ALL Fords from the 80's-early 90's had the fog lights going through the light switch. I would do it, took me about 3-4 hours total to do the relay mod. I also did the headlights with relays as well.
1988 Turbo Coupe, Black/Black, 5 Speed, Moonroof,  T3/T4, ported E6, 255LPH, Kirban, Stinger Exhaust, MGW shifter, K&N, Gillis valve, BP1.5, PIMPx, Koni's
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, 390 6V, Big Solid cam, Headers,3.89's, 4 Speed, Vast and fast
1960 Ford Starliner, 292 Y Block, 312 4bbl intake, headers, 3 Speed, slow and low
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Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#17
^^^^ Yup! All FOX Tbirds used the same headlight switch.

Besides headlight and fog light relays, changing all the exterior bulbs and fog lights to LED cuts the current going thru the headlight switch, for light switch an MFS by 80%.
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
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BradM Offline
Member
#18
UPDATE (the real failure was found)

I commented on this thread that I had the same intermittent headlight switch issue and bought a NOS headlight switch to solve it. When I bought the car, the owner said you have to wiggle/toggle the switch to get the headlights and exterior/instrument lights to work together. Easy fix, just replace the switch. Put in brand new switch, same problem.

The real issue was a blown exterior/instrument lights fuse (fuse #4, 15A). But why would the exterior/instrument lights still work with a blown fuse? When you wiggled the switch, you could hear a relay engage and the exterior/instrument lights would work. That told me something was circumventing the designed circuit and bypassing the blown fuse to engage the exterior/instrument lights relay. This picture shows the headlight switch disassembled. The area circled in red is where the contact bar (on the right) would bridge the headlight and exterior/instrument lights contact pads (when you wiggle/toggle the switch). When this happened, it would bypass the blown fuse and put 12V on the exterior/instrument lights relay. That's why the lights work with a blown fuse. It looks like Ford designed these contact pads to be make-before-break, which caused this weird issue. Check fuse #4 first.


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1965 Mercury Comet Caliente; 1968 Mercury Monterey; 1969 F100 Ranger; 1982 Mustang; 1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe; 2017 Police Interceptor
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Kuch Offline
Senior Member
#19
Brad, that is great info there, thanks for the great pics. I think if I could change one thing on my 88, it would be this stupid light switch! I much prefer the Mustang/standard Ford pull out style. The Bird one just feels odd to turn on and off, and I hate it every time I have to turn the lights on
1988 Turbo Coupe, Black/Black, 5 Speed, Moonroof,  T3/T4, ported E6, 255LPH, Kirban, Stinger Exhaust, MGW shifter, K&N, Gillis valve, BP1.5, PIMPx, Koni's
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, 390 6V, Big Solid cam, Headers,3.89's, 4 Speed, Vast and fast
1960 Ford Starliner, 292 Y Block, 312 4bbl intake, headers, 3 Speed, slow and low
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Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#20
I rarely use my light switch anymore. Years ago, I picked up an aftermarket automatic headlight control module on Ebay. I seem to remember it was an Audiovox brand, and was around $25. Has a CdS light sensor that mounts at the bottom of the windshield. Darkness level to turn on lights is adjustable. It also has an adjustable headlight delay that leaves the lights on after the key is turned off for an adjustable time of 30, 60 or 90 seconds. Works great. It also has the option to automatically turn on lights when windshield wipers are turned on which is great as it is the law here that lights must be on if it is raining. Also put in an Ebay auto dimming rear view mirror at that time.
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
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