flasher relay?

[Euphoric306]

so my main relay has been hanging down onto my feet lately and it gets annoying so i just shove it up under the console somewhere till it falls out again and today i put it up there and a little cylindrical relay with two male connectors (much like the flasher connector in the fuse box) fell out. now my right headlight doesn't work? both turn signals and hazards work, brights and flash to pass are both okay on the light that works, but the right headlight just won't do chit (passenger side, sorry)

so does each headlight have it's own relay or something? what's the dealio. i tried looking under the dash to find where it fell out of but i couldn't find a single place it looked right. the fuse box has the cylindrical relay missing, but there's an identical one on the back and the wires go to that, there's no where to plug a circular relay into the front of the fuse box.


i'm a little confused with all of this, any help appreciated thanks people


edit: the relay that fell out says "flasher" on it, but like i said the only thing that is not working right now is the right headlight, the flashers are all fine

 

[HISSIN50]

No relay on the headlight. Are you sure the low filament didnt happen to burn out?

I would probably start with mr Test light or Mr DMM and see if you have power reaching the pass headlight low beam. If you do, the filament happened to poo poo at a coincidental time.

It very well might not be that, but it would suck to trace from the other end to find that was the issue.

 

[Saleen0679]

Hazard relay is mounted on the back of the fuse box like you've seen. There is nothing on the front. I think Ford did that just so it didn't protrude outwards.

For your turn signal flasher it should have a little square extension out from the center of the top hat that should snap in to a metal bracket under the steering column with a quarter turn.

 

[Look Its Aaron]

J/k Garret.

 

[Euphoric306]

thanks saleen, i think that's what i'm lookin at. it's got two male spade connectors at 90 degree angles to eachother. any idea what the harness looks like that it plugs into?


hissin i thought of that at first, but my headlights were fine literally up until this mystery relay fell out, so my foremost thought was one had to do with the other.

 

[HISSIN50]

hissin i thought of that at first, but my headlights were fine literally up until this mystery relay fell out, so my foremost thought was one had to do with the other.

I hear that but the feed for the headlights is a single wire for both low beams, and another single wire for both high beams. So if you only lost one low beam, I would assume the wiring to be good to atleast the driver side headlight (it splits off into another harness at that point to go to the pass side, IIRC).
That was my reasoning for spending 30 seconds testing at the bad headlight socket. Just MHO.
Good luck with figuring it out.

 

[Euphoric306]

thanks i appreciate your help and it turns out the passenger bulb was grenaded so sorry that's the first thing i should've checked.


what's still got me puzzled is this mystery relay that fell out. as far as i can tell, the only thing that it can possibly control is the rear window defrost, and im unsure whether that circuit even had anything remotely similar to this piece. there are a few harnesses under the dash that aren't connected to anything, but i beileve that's normal, or something.

i'm confused though, maybe it was just stuck up under there and eventually fell out either way, thanks for teh help hissin and saleen. and to aaron..... **** you!!!!!!!!!

 

[Saleen0679]

thanks saleen, i think that's what i'm lookin at. it's got two male spade connectors at 90 degree angles to eachother. any idea what the harness looks like that it plugs into?

Sure sounds like the turn signal flasher. Short cylinder, probably light blue in color. The flasher mounts horizontally under the steering column about where your left knee points to. There should be a bracket with a small hole that it snaps into along with a grey connector and a P/O and LB wires.

I don't think you should have that many loose harnesses unless someone has disconnected things. I know of only one in the 89 that isn't connected an that one goes to the fan controller in a 2.3L.

Take some pics if you can.

 

[Euphoric306]

lol, i'll try and borrow a digital camera. you described the flasher in perfection. light blue, short cylinder, little square mounting tab in the middle of the tophat.

i'll try and get some pics up. i found another similar piece still connected tucked up under there, but it is a metal cylinder in the same shape, not plastic coated... maybe it got replaced and the one that fell out never got taken out... jsut disconnected?

 

[Saleen0679]

Sounds like someone replace the original flasher with the type used for the hazards. It's a small metal can with no mounting tab on top.

 

[Euphoric306]

there was a farmer had a dog.... thanks saleen, mystery solved.