HELP WITH DCL

[Dookie19]

Can any one help me,or point me in the right direction. my 92 lin cont. ill be driving and some times my check dcl light will come on and i lose all my econ stuff and beeps lould, this happons after drving for about 5 min or sometimes it wont work at the start, when this happons also my oil gage will drop down to zero and then bounce around, i have replaced the oil pressure sencer. Are thease conneced what can i do about the Check dcl
thanks

[Bluegrass]

There is a good chance that a poor ground is causing an electrical problem. Can't tell you where to look. If there are others that have had the same or simlar problem, lets hear from you.

[Dookie19]

Do you know what i can do to fix this problem

[TW/92LSC/SE]

I have no contie wiring diagrams but if all the problems are on the insrtument panel I would remove and clean the connectors to the panel. as Bluegrass stated it sounds like a ground problem. Most electrical problems on these carr are caused by corroded or weak connectors. Any tin looking terminals should be polished with a pencil eraser before reconnecting connectors.
If your under the dash, any black wires you see sheet metal screwed to steel brackets or framing are grounds. Break the screws loose and retighten to ensure corrosion hasn't gotten under the terminals.
That's about all you can do without proper troubleshooting manuals.

[ May 16, 2002: Message edited by: TW/92LSC/SE ]

[Dookie19]

This is what someone elce wrote about this problem

Do what I did.
At your driver's side floorboard, behind the kick panel, there are two harness bundles. One big one, and a small one. Cut open the small one, and you'll find a solid orange wire. Cut the wire, and splice in a jumper about 8" long. Ground the end to the hood release handle bracket mounting screw.
I did this a year ago to fix my fuel guage, and haven't had a problem since. By the way, I also had several bulbs on the right side of the instrument cluster that didn't work until after the spliced ground repair.
Good luck.

Dose any one know where the orange wire is like whats it by, i looked underthere and there are wires all over. And dose any one know what it is or what it dose. I though all the grounds where black so why would you ground the orange. Can anyone help me the beping of the warnings is driving me nuts.

Another thing is the air ride. I have to replace the driver rear one. Can anyone walk me through it so i dont have any suprises. Thanks this web site is the best

[My Money Pit]

I have the exact same problems with my 91 Continental. Check DCL, Low Oil Pressure, missing econ data, fuel level errors, etc. It is intermittent and not always the same alarms at the same time. The previous owner had the same problems and even had Ford check the oil pressure with a real guage and it was fine. They drove the car for a year this way listening to that annoying beep, an I have driven it for another year with the same beep. I will watch this thread for awhile and maybe learn something. I haven't looked into the problem yet as I have been busy fixing my braking system.(posted results today under brakes & ac)

[My Money Pit]

Reading post by TW/92LSC/SE, about any tin colored looking connectors. Last week I got Charge System alarm. Went to auto parts store for a new alternator, but when bench tested it was fine. When re-installing alternator I noticed the contacts in the connectors were very tinny looking (grey in color). I decided to scrape away the tin color before re-connecting everything and to my absoloute delight my charging system is now working just fine.

[TW/92LSC/SE]

I believe that orange wire runs from the dashboard to the fuel tank sender. It is the ground circuit for the fuel sender at the tank. It gets corroded/rusted and causes varying problems with the dash gauges, dashlights, and tripminder circuits. It applies only to Mark's as they use a 3 wire sending unit.
You have 3 Ground terminals on your instrument panel connectors. I don't have a good diagram so I don't know how many connectors you have but I'll list the terminals and wire colors.
A-36 terminal 57/black should jumper over to; B-3 terminal 57/black which splices to the 'interval governor(intermittant wiper control) ground.
C-4 terminal 676/pink-orange which seems to be the ground for the C-connector which has terminals for the Oil Sender; Fuel Gauge; DCL; Air Suspension; W/S Washer Fluid; and the Warning Chine Tone Generator.
Most of those C- connectors terminals seem to be affected, so I would concentrate on the Pnk/Org ground wire a bad connection.
Remove the instrument panel, remove the connector, find the pink/orange wire terminal, use an OHM meter to see if the ground circuit is good.
Also there is a ground terminal to check for corrosion at the (Top left side of Safety wall near right hood hinge).
Also check ground terminal at (Top front of left fender apron. This is where the interval governor ground is attached.
Have fun, this ought to keep you going for awhile. TRY THE 'FENDER' and 'Safety Wall' "Grounds" BEFORE tearing your dash out!

[Dookie19]

guse what i fixed the problem, all my stuff works on my dash now with no problems..... My gas gage oip pressure gage econ stuff all work no no problems for 5 days now. What i did is took the whole dash apart and took the insterment cluster out and cleaned the light connecters with a pencile eraser and blew out the connection for the actual data comes in. But one word of caution befor you put it all back togeather plug in the 3 connectors inb the back of the cluster and turn the car on to see of all the light bulbs are working i blew out 2 but i did not check ontill i put it all back to geather. So i had to take it all apart.

BUT if your going to do this E-mail Me at daboymn@aol.com because there are some thing that i read in my chilton book that if i would have not read i would have brooken some things that i dont think you can fix with out spending lots of $

write back

[brokebyford]

That is the exact prob I have with my 92 conti.Lincoln told me my dash was bad and replaced it at the tune of 500 plus.It still went beep beep all the time.It annoyed me so damn much I parked it and bought my Mark.The connections you cleaned were they the two gray plugs that plug in the back or the actual printed board on the back of the cluster.My conti is in mint condition and has had about 10 grand worth of work done to it over the last 3 years.I would love to sell it so someone could enjoy it like I have but wont until I fix that stupid beeping.I hate to sell someone a car unless everything is fine with it.

[Dookie19]

I did them bith, I took he eraser to the printed (for the light bulbs) part and then since there is really no way to clean the other parts becuse is like 2 9 pin connecter in the back i took a air gun and cleaned them out. I worked great. Just remember there are some things that you need ot worrie about when taking it apart. If you do not know about them they can break.

[My Money Pit]

I tried cleaning the ground points under the hood as posted by TW/92LSC/SE. I found three of them, one near each hood lift cylinder and another one in the center. They are copper and there was heavy bluish/green corrosion on all three of them. It's real easy to check and I'm glad I took the time to check it. The fuel gage seems to be better, but still get DCL and Oil pressure alarms.

Glad to hear you solved the DCL/Oil gage probelms by cleaning the connectors at the insturment cluster. I will do that to my 91 Cont. in a few weeks.

[TW/92LSC/SE]

Here's another Conti ground to check for the fuel sender: Below Left Side of Left Front Seat. But according to my diagram its for the Inertia Sw (Pnk/Blk pwr; Blk ground) which is part of the fuel sender.

[My Money Pit]

More Fuel Gage, Oil PSI, DCL, and econ troubles. I spent 10 hours on this Memorial Day and still have problems with erratic insturment cluster readings. I have the Ford Service Manual and EVTM Manual. Here is what I have done so far:

Cleaned the following grounds
<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>G100 - left front fender near battery
<LI>G105 & 109 - Radiator Support Bracket near battery
<LI>G110 - on safety wall near right hood lift cylinder mount
<LI>G111 - on safety wall near left hood lift cylinder mount
<LI>G106 - on safety wall, center of vehicle (between hood lift cylinder mounts)
<LI>G102 - Right front fender near air ride compressor[/list]

I have removed insturment cluster and cleaned wide terminal connector (C255) and ribbon connections with a pencil eraser, although I now see in EVTM Manual that this connector has nothing to do with any of my problems.

Blew out pin connectors C254 and C256 on back of insturment cluster. According to EVTM Manual, C256 is the connector carrying wires for oil psi, fuel gage, and DCL, all of which I am getting alarms occassionally.

I need to test the ground wire in C256 as mentioned in the post above by TW.... It is wire #676 PK/O. I assume the ohm meter will show no continuity or full continuity depending on whate state it is in at the time. Could there be any other type of reading the ohm meter might show? Any other ideas? :(

[ May 27, 2002: Message edited by: My Money Pit ]

[NHRA21]

Well, I thought I would post my 2 cents...

My wife has a '90 Conti with a some dash problems. Sometimes, when I start the car, the dash is blank. After wiggling the key, it comes back. It seems that the ignition switch is bad. Picked one up and am going to replace it in the next couple days. One word of caution for anyone who does this: the switch is held in by tamper proof torx screws. These are torx(star like pattern) that have a hole drilled in the middle of the bit. A standard torq will not work. Napa carries a nice little set of about six bits and a socket adapter for a 1/4" drive ratchet.

Problem number two. The gas gague displays "CS" most of the time. I tried the grounding of the orange wire with the key on (which was not solid orange, as it turned out. It was Orange with a White trace) and that did not work. Please note that I did check the wire before I grounded it and it was already grounded(no resistance on a VOM). This wire is one of the grounds for the fuel sender (ground to ECM). I then cut into the Yellow with White trace. This is the positive side of the fuel sender. I attached the VOM between the yellow and orange wires and found about 100 ohoms of resistance. Tank had 11 gallons of gas in it, so that sounded like it could be correct, but I don't know what full and empty readings are, so I am not positive. I also checked between yellow and ground and found the same results, go I know that my ground was good. I then cut the Orange wire and saw the gague change from "CS" to "CO". At least I knew it was getting data. I reconnected the wite and continued hunting. BTW, that was all done at the driver's side kick panel. Next, I took out the instrument cluster. I took the whole thing apart and removed all the boards. Everything looked ok to the naked eye, so I cleaned all the contacts and put it all back together. It worked. For about three minutes. After a few choice words, I pulled the unit forward and disconected both of the connectors on the right side. The control the right side of the cluster, and this worked fine for me, so I eliminated them from the problem. I then disconnected the large gray connector from the left side. This caused the cluster to go blank because it controls the backlight for the gagues(lightbulbs). If you use a small flashlight, or tilt the gagues to the side, you should be able to see that there is still an image on the left side and speedo, it is just very dim. Mine still said "CS" (Circut Short) as opposed to "CO"(Circut Open). I grabed the cluster and squeezed just above the fuel gague, and I saw the display change. It said 11 Gallons. When I released it, it stayed for about 30 seconds, then went back to "CS". DO NOT squeeze the gague itself, as it is a Liquid Crystal Display and it may crack. Then will will need a new cluster. After repeating this a few times, I came to the conclusion that there was a bad solder joint somewhere inside the cluster that I could not see. I replaced the cluster and it seems to be ok. For now atleast smile.gif I will write back if anything changes.

-NHRA21

[ May 29, 2002: Message edited by: NHRA21 ]

[My Money Pit]

In case I have to go shopping, how much did you pay for the insturment cluster? Was it new or used? Where did you buy it from?

[NHRA21]

I found my instrument cluster used in a junkyard. The only problem is that you don't always get a good one like that. It only cost me $20, but I think that was a steal. Between all my cars, I am on a first name basis with these guys.

-NHRA21

[My Money Pit]

While driving around this week I noticed that if I pressed on the plastic gage trim between the fuel gage and speedo, the alarms (both fuel/temp/batt/co, and check DCL) would go away and the insturment cluster will go back to normal for 15 seconds or sometimes much longer. This worked every time I did it. I am now thinking maybe the cluster is bad, although it could still be those connectors on the back, its a little tight back there. I will look at junkyard this weekend and let everyone know what happens.