I have a 2005 Taurus SE with the 3.0 Vulcan engine with electrical problems. Years ago my wife took it in for an oil change; I usually do them myself but was working 14 hour days, 6 days a week. when she picked it up, when you started it the info center on the dash made the scream and said "check charging system." I checked everything; battery, alternator, and wiring. took it to a shop and they said it was charging but I needed to go to Ford and get the specific alternator for my car (which was wrong and I knew it.) anyway, it was parked for a long time and when our other car was totaled we started using it as I am retired now and don't have the money for a new car. Thursday I had a VA appointment 3 hours away. I was smelling antifreeze and the car overheated, I stopped at an auto parts store on the way and put a gallon of antifreeze in the car, along with almost a gallon of water. I bought a new "radiator cap" which goes on the overflow tank as it is a closed system. the tanks acts as if it stripped. the cap will tighten but not click and then it gets loose again. so I will be ordering and replace the tank again.
the problem is on the way home every time I hit a rough patch of road, I would lose electrical power. the cruise would kick off, it would just be for a moment and then everything would come back on. Until finally I hit an expansion joint in a bridge and it lost power completely and will not start. it won't even turn over and I can't hear the fuel pump kick on. this happened at almost exactly halfway, so I called my son to come pick me up. I disconnected the battery to see if the computer would reset itself; first for 5 minutes, then for 15, then for 30. when you hook the battery up, it shows a display of mileage with dashes and then immediately displays "low oil pressure." which may prevent it from trying to start. I did look over grounds while I was waiting.
I had Googled years ago and I believe the "check charging system" is a computer malfunction. I am wondering with the computer already malfunctioning with the car getting hot, thus transferring heat to the computer, finally got the computer to the point it quit? or am I totally off the mark? about to hook up the trailer and take the truck and go get it.
the problem is on the way home every time I hit a rough patch of road, I would lose electrical power. the cruise would kick off, it would just be for a moment and then everything would come back on. Until finally I hit an expansion joint in a bridge and it lost power completely and will not start. it won't even turn over and I can't hear the fuel pump kick on. this happened at almost exactly halfway, so I called my son to come pick me up. I disconnected the battery to see if the computer would reset itself; first for 5 minutes, then for 15, then for 30. when you hook the battery up, it shows a display of mileage with dashes and then immediately displays "low oil pressure." which may prevent it from trying to start. I did look over grounds while I was waiting.
I had Googled years ago and I believe the "check charging system" is a computer malfunction. I am wondering with the computer already malfunctioning with the car getting hot, thus transferring heat to the computer, finally got the computer to the point it quit? or am I totally off the mark? about to hook up the trailer and take the truck and go get it.
Guys on Youtube are fixing this fault by resoldering the connector on the cluster, but it could be from any module on the CAN bus. If you have wiring diagrams, you can follow the CAN wiring around and measure the resistance between CAN HI/LO and those pins to ground on the various modules. One is likely shorted or open circuit, or there is just a dirty connector.
