Trying to figure this out for someone else. The person was driving along, then their Ford Escape (2001 model) just stopped and all the idiot lights came on. After stopping they turned it back on in a few minutes & it worked normally. They later brought it to a dealer who had it checked out but couldn’t find anything wrong. It only happened once. There was enough fuel. Anybody know why this might happen? Thanks for any input.
One of the beauties :rolleyes: of modern cars is all the computerized components installed on them. The designers seem to forget that the more things you put into something, the more things that can go wrong. There’s a few of things that could have caused your friend’s problems:
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Power surge.
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Faulty wiring harness.
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Software glitch.
Here’s what I’d have your friend do:
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Check Ford’s website to see if it mentions anything about it. There might be a recall notice or a technical service bulletin there that the dealer hasn’t seen yet.
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Check Consumer Reports website to see if its a common problem that Ford’s refusing to handle for the moment, or if anyone else has had that problem.
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Check the “Car Talk” section of Cars.com to see if anyone there has reported the problem and what they did about it.
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Tell them to carry a notebook in the car with them so that if it ever happens again, they can write down an exact description of what they were doing when it happened. Be sure to have them include things like how long the car was running before it died, how often they had driven it that day, what the road conditions were, and what the weather’s like. If it was rainy or humid, a bit of moisture could have gotten somewhere it shouldn’t have and caused a temporary short. All these things will help the dealer diagnose the problem if it ever occurs again.
I’d try a site more critical of Ford, like http://www.blueovalnews.com
Hey, Tuckerfan, was just getting ready to crash & thought I’d check back here, & lo & behold! Thanks for the quick reply & I’ll definitely pass this on in the morning. Er, perhaps afternoon. Appreciate the help.
The silicon based control system may have inadvertently gone into a “lamp test” mode. This is a function whereby the processor is instructed to illuminate all of the console lights in order to check for any of them being burned out.
That said, my Volvo used to go into a mode where all of the dashboard lights would come on at once. This was due to the wiring harness going through a direct and rather damaging short circuit (costing more than I paid for the car to fix). So, I might be wrong.
Um… because it’s a Ford? 
[South Park Saddam]
Hey, relax, fellah! Look over there!
[/South Park Saddam]
Back in '89, in momentary fit of stupidity, I bought a new Mercury Marquis. It would do exactly as you described.
Turns out that the one of the plastic quick connects to the engine control computer had its little lock tab broken off when the highly skilled ford factory installer forced it into place off center. Road vibrations would cause it to lose electrical contact. All the idiot lights would come on, and the thing would die out.
I had the car for two days and the dealer recommended that it be superglued on :wally:. I refused and after having to be towed in three times, the lemon-law sent the car back to F.O.R.D. motors.
Because it’s a ford… Escape while you can…