SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Topic: SHift light flashes on while cruising.... (Read 4490 times) previous topic - next topic

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #15 – January 05, 2008, 11:34:28 PM

RJ
i was out in my garage last night at 2am trolling through this in my manuals.

I cant find a thing about the existance of a "shift" light on that buttstuffog cluster , especially with an AOD. I even flipped through the AOD rebuild section in the power train book with no mention of the shift light.

My first thoughts last night were to ask you if the car previously had a standard trans and you were not aware of it.

Im still digging

Ill take a wild crack and look through my emissions manuals just for the heck of it. I suspect if the info exists, its buried in an obscure topic.

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #16 – January 06, 2008, 10:07:47 AM

Thanks J, but please tell me when has the FACTORY '88 5.0L XR-7 EVER came with a 5 speed?

the way you guys are talking, I am thinking it must be a Canadian car thing, since it sounds like you guys are calling me an idiot that is seeing things... (even with pics to prove it)

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #17 – January 06, 2008, 10:29:43 AM

I've seen it in US clusters. I bought a cluster from somebody on here (Crystal maybe?) a few years ago that had it. The US cluster was identical to the Canadian ones I've had (including the one in my car), except for the metric speedo.

As for why that is coming on in YOUR car, I have no idea. I've never seen it lit up before in any T-Bird I've ever owned (including the brief stint with the 5-speed TC). It might be a Canuckistan thing, or it might even be another market thing, but even still, it should be a M/T only thing, as in "only in Turbo Coupes and four-cyl XR-7's".

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #18 – January 06, 2008, 10:49:20 AM

Quote

the way you guys are talking, I am thinking it must be a Canadian car thing, since it sounds like you guys are calling me an idiot that is seeing things... (even with pics to prove it)

I don't know, RJ...when you've got several people pouring through their manuals on their own free volition and trying to figure this situation out logically (with very little success to this point), I wouldn't exactly consider them to be condescending. Especially when one of those people is a 20+ year veteran of these cars and has still never seen this.

We already know that Ford employed several different versions of the Turbo Coupe cluster between 1985-88, and not just the gauges...the actual housing too. It's probable that, at some point, this one with the 'shift' light was used on some cars but we don't know which cars, nor why. As Carm said, it was probably intended for manual cars but we all know that no 1988 XR7/T-Bird Sport had a factory manual transmission. Now, with that in mind, we're simply trying to backtrace the whole thing using the resources at hand.

In my mind it's either legit or a mistake. Legit, as in, if the light's tracer wire does indeed go all the way back to the EEC-IV module and/or transmission. Mistake, as in, the bulb should have been hooked to the 'Check Engine' tracer instead. Either way, something triggers the bulb. Once we find out why, we can deduce why it's suddenly not working as before.

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #19 – January 06, 2008, 10:56:32 AM

I found part of the old cluster that I got from Crystal and lo-and-behold, it has the light. I also checked my car (cluster from Canadian '87 TC) and it has the light too, but not active. If only I could find the white plastic "bucket" with the PCB on it from this old cluster to see where the traces go...

*EDIT* I've just checked my '88 owner's manual and it doesn't show the light (scan of pg 18 below). I dunno if Canadian manuals are different from American ones, but I doubt it because there are plenty of "USA ONLY" and "CANADA ONLY" notes throughout it

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #20 – January 06, 2008, 01:27:17 PM

Carm, I'll see your owner's manual scan...and raise you two.

1988 Cougar owner's manual, September 1987 printing:

1988 Cougar owner's manual, June 1987 printing:

RJ, is it possible for you to remove the cluster and follow the tracer on the flexible circuit board from that light to where it plugs into the harness, and note the position and wire color in the harness? That will help a lot.

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #21 – January 06, 2008, 01:36:35 PM

yeah I'll try and get around to it later tonight, or by next weekend... I have a ton of work on other cars to get done here yet...

wasn't triing to sound condesending, but when I show pics of it on and working and people still tell me it cant be.... well gets kind of frustrating.... and asking if it use to be a manual tranny when EVERYBODY knows they NEVER came from the factory with it that year.... you get the picture...

thanks for all the help and ideas though, I do appreciate it... could it be a "code" light, like the "check engine" light

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #22 – January 06, 2008, 01:57:47 PM

the reason i mentioned the 5 speed was for a good reason. Back then, you could pretty much sit down with the salesman and layout line for line what options you want.

I have this thought that someone was persistant in thier demand for a 5 speed behind a 5.0 and is willing to pay the price as well. Said salesman walks back and talks with the manager. Manager says ill talk with the techs and get back with you in a a few minutes. Techs say hell yeah we can do that, told you ford should have seen this coming. "send that car back here and we'll show you it can be done".

So, rolling forward, you inherited a xr7 with the possibility of it previously having a 5 speed.

There should be evidence of its previously being there but im not sure if you have looked at the hump to locate the shifter hole.

It was just an idea because i cant for the life of me understand why a shift light would be useful on an AOD, stick shift yeah but not an aod.

So, as of a couple nights ago while talking about this with my brother in law, we both concluded its likely a mistake or, Its likely an option the dealers got a memo on that would become an added feature due to the high public demands for a stick on the 5.0.

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #23 – January 06, 2008, 02:10:00 PM

Isn't the check engine light on a separate harness than the rest of the bulbs on the cluster? Does your check engine light work?

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #24 – January 06, 2008, 04:51:44 PM

Quote from: CougarSE;196077

Isn't the check engine light on a separate harness than the rest of the bulbs on the cluster? Does your check engine light work?

yep, check engine light works too....

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #25 – January 06, 2008, 05:20:50 PM

Try pulling codes and see what blinks.

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #26 – January 06, 2008, 05:35:39 PM

Does your "BRAKE" light work?

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #27 – January 06, 2008, 05:42:02 PM

Quote from: jcassity;196076

the reason i mentioned the 5 speed was for a good reason. Back then, you could pretty much sit down with the salesman and layout line for line what options you want.

I have this thought that someone was persistant in thier demand for a 5 speed behind a 5.0 and is willing to pay the price as well. Said salesman walks back and talks with the manager. Manager says ill talk with the techs and get back with you in a a few minutes. Techs say hell yeah we can do that, told you ford should have seen this coming. "send that car back here and we'll show you it can be done".

So, rolling forward, you inherited a xr7 with the possibility of it previously having a 5 speed.

There should be evidence of its previously being there but im not sure if you have looked at the hump to locate the shifter hole.

It was just an idea because i cant for the life of me understand why a shift light would be useful on an AOD, stick shift yeah but not an aod.

So, as of a couple nights ago while talking about this with my brother in law, we both concluded its likely a mistake or, Its likely an option the dealers got a memo on that would become an added feature due to the high public demands for a stick on the 5.0.

Nope. You could perform slobbing the on a salesman and it wouldn't have gotten you a 5.0, 5-speed XR-7. Just didn't happen from the factory. A dealer might install one if you paid enough, but that wouldn't get you a special cluster.

It's more likely that the instrument cluster bezel was common from 85-88, and in '85 the SHIFT light may have been a consideration (even if it wasn't actually used). An automatic car wouldn't get its own bezel, nor would an XR-7 (I'd bet that if any XR-7 or Sport owner were to look closely he'd have the ABS and Check Turbo lights, but not active).

A similar scenario would be the "Check Turbo" light in the 85-88 full digital "Disco" dash. The full digital was never available in a turbo car, but the light is there. At some point FoMoCo probably considered it and just didn't change the cluster when the idea was nixed.

None of which explains why Ron's is lighting up...

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #28 – January 06, 2008, 06:36:54 PM

Quote from: Thunder Chicken;196103

Does your "BRAKE" light work?

yep...

Quote from: Thunder Chicken;196105

Nope. You could perform slobbing the on a salesman and it wouldn't have gotten you a 5.0, 5-speed XR-7. Just didn't happen from the factory. A dealer might install one if you paid enough, but that wouldn't get you a special cluster.

It's more likely that the instrument cluster bezel was common from 85-88, and in '85 the SHIFT light may have been a consideration (even if it wasn't actually used). An automatic car wouldn't get its own bezel, nor would an XR-7 (I'd bet that if any XR-7 or Sport owner were to look closely he'd have the ABS and Check Turbo lights, but not active).

A similar scenario would be the "Check Turbo" light in the 85-88 full digital "Disco" dash. The full digital was never available in a turbo car, but the light is there. At some point FoMoCo probably considered it and just didn't change the cluster when the idea was nixed.

None of which explains why Ron's is lighting up...

and X2 to all that...

SHift light flashes on while cruising....

Reply #29 – January 06, 2008, 07:37:03 PM

1 thing that the light would be useful in an aod.. at least for me. a couple years back i got stuck in a parking lot b/c my car wouldnt shift out of park. this was before i was mechanically trained, but anyway, the button on my floorshift auto broke and my dad got it fixed with a ziptie. so basically i can shift on the fly (OD to D is the most common) but i can use 1-d-od if i so choose, and when in 1 a shift light would come in handy so you dont over rev.. ??? just a thought but i have no idea why someone would either order it from a dealership with that or it could be anything but a mistake.