Not mine, a client's 2007 Mercury Montego. It came in on the magic rollback ride after dying, and the engine could not be cranked nor the shifter taken out of park. I found a blown fuse and replaced it. It would then start, but the fuse blew as soon as I stepped on the brake. Besides the brake lights, that fuse also feeds the shift interlock, the communication "bus" between the car's modules and is an input to the ABS. I found one of its tail lights filled with water. Disconnecting the light stopped the short. The light had close to a quart of water in it. Even better, the tail/brake portion of this light is one giant LED/lens assembly and is ~$300 - used. A new one lists for ~$800. Thanks, Ford.

See, lousy engineering isn't just Ferds. Back in 1978 I bought a moped. Just for fun and not having to pedal. Well, it was fun, but when the tail light burned out, the engine died. The opposite problem we see here. It would start just fine, but if you applied the brakes you lost the engine. I managed to get it home by pedaling. Then bought 2 lights. An expedient fix if you knew the problem and quick fix.

The dealer was a friend and contacted the distributor. That guy was afraid he'd have to buy them all back. Instead my friend solved the problem by giving all his customers of that brand a free box of bulbs. Then he told all his customers to keep their burnt out bulbs. When/if the freebies wore out, if they would bring them back he'd trade for a full box of new ones.

Even though I always carried a spare, I never lost another and the free box sat around here for years. I'm guessing my wife pitched it over the last 40 years.

Tabitha’s Sentra did the same thing. Drove me crazy trying to run the problem down.

"I found one of its tail lights filled with water. Disconnecting the light stopped the short. The light had close to a quart of water in it."

Ford neglected to provide a drain hole I guess.

That model car, along with its Ford-badged twin called the Five Hundred as a replacement for the TortoiseTaurus, was only made for two or three years. Parts of that type are a little harder to locate than others.

The under-dash fuse box, BTW, is not just a fuse box, but a [finger quotes] smart fuse box. It is itself one of the control modules.

I've seen a lot of cars at stoplights and such with taillights full of water. I've never run into that problem, personally, so I don't really understand how it happens. seems like an easy thing to encase or make sure it doesn't happen in the design and manufacturing phases.

quote:

. The light had close to a quart of water in it. Even better, the tail/brake portion of this light is one giant LED/lens assembly and is ~$300 - used. A new one lists for ~$800. Thanks, Ford.

Put a drain hole inside, you can also heat up the lens and remove the light back then apply new adhesive to reseal the assembly, or do both.

This model might have been involved in the recall for an issue on the master brake cylinder that required having a circuit breaker or fuse installed.

quote:

2007 Mercury Montego

found this recall while not the lights, kinda important...

NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID: 11V355000
RECALL DATE: 2011-07-13

SUMMARY
FORD IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2007 FORD FIVE HUNDRED AND MERCURY MONTEGO VEHICLES MANUFACTURED FROM SEPTEMBER 5, 2006, THROUGH SEPTEMBER 11, 2006. THE FUEL TANKS MAY NOT HAVE CONSISTENT WELDS BETWEEN THE FUEL TANK AND FUEL FILLER NECK SPUD WHICH CAN AFFECT THE STRENGTH OF THE JOINT. SOME FUEL TANK SPUD WELDS MAY NOT PROVIDE THE EXPECTED STRENGTH IN THE EVENT OF A SEVERE REAR IMPACT TO THE VEHICLE. AN IMPROPER WELD CAN RESULT IN A CRACK IN THE JOINT WHICH COULD ILLUMINATE THE EMISSIONS MALFUNCTION INDICATOR LIGHT, CAUSE A FUEL ODOR, OR ALLOW FUEL TO LEAK OUT.

CONSEQUENCES
FUEL LEAKAGE, IN THE PRESENCE OF AN IGNITION SOURCE, COULD RESULT IN A FIRE.

REMEDY
DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE FUEL TANK FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON AUGUST 16, 2011. OWNERS MAY CONTACT FORD MOTOR COMPANY CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP CENTER AT 1-866-436-7332.

COMPONENT AFFECTED
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY:FILLER PIPE AND CAP

NOTES
Ford Motor Company

quote:

found this recall while not the lights, kinda important...

Maybe it was gas in the tail light.....

Co-worker had one go bad a few years ago, same model, same year. (didn't make the car shut off though)

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

quote:

. The light had close to a quart of water in it. Even better, the tail/brake portion of this light is one giant LED/lens assembly and is ~$300 - used. A new one lists for ~$800. Thanks, Ford.

Put a drain hole inside, you can also heat up the lens and remove the light back then apply new adhesive to reseal the assembly, or do both.

This is something you or I might try if it were our own car. For somebody paying me, I can't do something I can't guarantee or warranty. It might work, but it also either might not work at all, or worse, short out again shortly after and leave him walking. Putting the light back in but leaving the tail/brake part disconnected is a liability issue. Only if the part were not available at all at any price would I try that.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
"I found one of its tail lights filled with water. Disconnecting the light stopped the short. The light had close to a quart of water in it."

Ford neglected to provide a drain hole I guess.

Kind of like the idiot who installed the tail/brake lights on a boat trailer I recently purchased. One of the light assemblies was installed upside down, so the water drain hole was on top.

Since the trailer had only been used in salt water launching, the result would be pretty clear. Rusted all the shit and causing turn signal problems on my truck.

Fortunately, no damage to the truck, but it is a 2000 model so none of that super fancy, ultra-expensive silliness.

Personally, I am just about convinced that the manufacturers have done it on purpose! So they can continue to plunder the public with outrageous charges to keep cars running.

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:

Personally, I am just about convinced that the manufacturers have done it on purpose! So they can continue to plunder the public with outrageous charges to keep cars running.

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

I had a car one time that had a break light assembly that would get water in it . I drilled a small hole in the bottom corner of the lens and let it flow . Problem solved .

I replaced a transmission in my BIL's 1991-ish (don't remember the exact year) Tracer one time for a similar problem. Car wouldn't shift above 2nd gear. No codes in what passed for a computer in those days, or lights on the dash. Trans fluid looked burnt. Ended up getting a junkyard unit for $200 and spent a day installing it. Same problem with the new unit.

Turns out, the wiring for the taillights ran along the trunk hinge. Over the years, the bending when the trunk was opened and closed cased a break in a wire inside the insulation. I spliced it, and the car started shifting fine. The disruption in the brake light wiring was causing the electronically controlled transmission to not shift properly.

I would have thought that by 2007, over 15 years later, Mercury would have stopped doing stupid circuitry shit like that. Apparently not.

In 2016, my 2002 Grand Marquis started blowing the main lighting control fuse. It would be fine then suddenly no turn signals, etc.. I'd replace the fuse and it would be fine for a while, then blow again. I went through a box of fuses and finally realized it was blowing every time I put it in reverse.

Checked all the bulbs, and changed the neutral safety switch (NSS) on the trans - no change.

Finally took it to a shop and they spent 2 days searching and all they came up with is that there must be a short somewhere between the NSS and the reverse lights.

The next step was to start tearing apart the interior to get to all the wires.

I decided to just cut the reverse light wire at the NSS. Problem solved, but now no reverse lights.

Reverse lights are not required and not an inspection item in North Carolina.

My1990 Ford econoline 250 would over heat and shut down.... took mechanics 2 months to figure out it was not over heating... bad temperature sensor was telling the computer it was too hot and shutting down the fuel pumps in the gas tanks... yes there were two of those.... which could drive you crazy because the extra gas pumped out of the rear tank went to the front one and so you had to run the front tank close to empty before switching to the rear and then after 50 miles on the rear tank you would run it dry and have to switch back to the front....

Tail light installed today, car released. Yes, that's how long it took to get the thing.