Interior Lights / CD Player

[Red Bird Dave]

Coming home from our Sacramento Retro Tbird meeting last night, I noticed that the interior lights (below rear view mirror) would not go off while driving, I played with the switches to no avail. After I put the car in the garage for the night,they were still on. Just before I went to bed I checked and they were out. So they are staying on while driving and staying on way longer than they should after the engine is off. I check the switch that adjusts the dash lights to be sure it wasn't adjusted to the on position and it wasn't.

It has also developed another little aggravating problem occassionally, if I'm listening to the radio and push the CD button the CD player will not work. This is an intermittent problem that I'm sure won't happen if I take it to the dealer.

Both of these problems have developed after installing a new battery. I don't knw if this is related, I did have to reset the side windows after installation.

Anyone have any ideas what is going on?

Red Bird Dave :mad: :mad:

[farmbird]

I don't know much about Fords, but on a GM they can do funny things after changing the battery. It sounds like the retained memory system is not working. That is the thing that lets you keep operating accessories after turning off the key until the doors are opened. The computer may have to be re-flashed by the dealer.
If changing the battery caused this, you can avoid that problem in the future by buying a cirgarete lighter adaptor and a 9 volt transistor radio battery adaptor and tie them together so you can supply voltage to the car while the car's battery is being changed. This will retain all of the memory in the computer and accessories. These items are usualy available at Radio Shack.