There are a couple wires underneath that zip tie and the electrical tape that the insulation had been rubbed through. They have been like that for a long time...The K&N filter rubbed through them. I have had each wire taped up, then tape around the bunch, with the zip tie there to keep the tape from unwraveling, with a piece of rubber on top of the harnesses to keep the filter from doing more damage. The single set goes somewhere to the back of the truck, it runs along the frame for a while and I haven't traced it any further. I can't see where each of the 3 different ones go though...somewhere at the front of the truck. I'll check that out after I finish up what I am doing with all of my wires. The truck is wired so that the lights behind the grill come on with the high beams, and I can also keep my fog lights on in conjunction with my high beams. It was wired that way when I got it and as such the wires are a MESS and I am checking them all out, re-doing some, and cleaning them up. Theres more fuses and relays than I know what to do with. When I did my google searching I did see the GEM (whatever the hell the thing is) come up in one thread.
possibly the lighting system, itll be a pain for me to trace them on diagrams. all i can say is look in the harness for a dark green/orange wire and/or a light green/black wire. those are the headlight wires. test em with a voltmeter and try to trace em if you can.
It is possible for two hot wires to go to the same circuit without blowing a fuse. Now a hot wire to ground should blow a fuse. Other threads have said there is an issue of water leaks in those F150's. Though water may not be an issue, corrosion on the back of the interior fuse panel is possible. Usually this results in a no power condition. A GEM can go bad without water leaking on it. Wife' GEM on her Mazda Tribute went bad causing the interior map dome lights to stay on (warranty). Smaller grey plug C244 W/B Fog lamps on indicator Grey Plug C245 DB/W Power (hot in park or head) W/R Lamps on output to GEM BK/PK Ignition (hot on acc) BR Exterior lamps output T/W Power (hot at all times) O/LG Dome lamp switch Black Plug C246 BK Ground Y Fog lamp switch LB/BK Radio illumination DB/O Power (hot at all times) R/Y Headlamps output LB/R Switch illumination circuit Says R/Y (red with yellow stripe) is the headlight output. If Ty tests the back of the headlight switch with it in the off position and is getting power on the headlight output wire then I would safely say the headlight switch is the problem. Especially if the headlight switch was modified for the foglight bypass mod. If there is no power coming out of the headlight switch in the off position then something is causing power to go to the headlight relay trigger. Either that or the relay is hung closed letting power go to the headlights. Now if the contact points in the headlight relay holder (factory) for the relay's trigger contacts 85 and 86 have power with the headlight switch off there is the gremlin. One should be ground and the other hot ONLY when the headlight switch is on. Electrical gremlins can be the most elusive things to track down, usually a process of elimination. __________________ Here's one thread I was reading 1997 F150 had issue of radio and lights coming on with key out, he replaced the GEM and now the headlights, turn signals and odometer won't come on. 1997 F-150 - GEM Replacement - Reflash Unit - Odometer not working - F150online Forums
GEM = General or Generic Electronic Module Most of the threads say this "box" contols things like interior lighting pw windows, pw door locks and 4x4 lighting controls. Anything is possible with electrical systems something may be back feeding power into another circuit and causing power to go to a relay that controls the headlights. Otherwise the GEM doesn't support function of the headlight relays and their controls. Ty I would check the factory headlight relays again, try using another similar relay in it's place like the horn relay. I don't want to give you wrong info in your repair but there are so many things going on electrically that could be causing your problem.
Alright that just fried my brain The way the fog light mod was done is still a mystery to me but maybe I'll figure it out while I'm working on this. I believe there is more than one way to do it but I could be wrong. I'll post back with what the truck is doing once I finish rewiring all the stuff for these grill lights. There is a single wire tapped into the high beam wire on the passenger side headlight harness. This write goes to a relay. Tapped into the low beam wire were two yellow wires that run to two different relays. Also tapped into the same place was a wire that runs to the first relay I mentioned. The two relays that are hooked up to those yellow wires each have a power wire with a fuse going straight to the battery. then on each of those two relays, one leg has a blue wire that I have not traced yet. The fourth leg of each of those relays has TWO black wires hooked to it. These blue and black wires are what run the actual power to the grill lights. One relay per pair of lights. Tons of wires and incredibly confusing but the way it is all set up had been problem free for years, until now As far as I can tell, the low beam gives the first relay constant power, when the high beams are switched on it trips the relay, which tells each of the other two relays to activate and allow power from the battery to go to the grill lights. Sent from my Milestone X using Tapatalk 2
I wonder if ya remove all the relays (just pull from relay holder) that control the two sets of foglights behind the grill, does that fix the headlights won't turn off problem? If it does one of those relays is funked. If not the problem is further up the circuit toward the factory headlight relay or the factory headlight switch. Did you recently have a battery charging problem? Trying to remember.
That's not a bad idea. No I haven't had battery charging issues. Sent from my Milestone X using Tapatalk 2
Everything is working...for now...we'll see if it lasts. If not then I'll be back to this thread and try some more of the ideas you guys had I'm not hopeful Sent from my Milestone X using Tapatalk 2
