Hi!
I have a 2002 Ford Windstar Gasoline V6 with the weirdest electricity issue.
While driving it now and then it looses electricity to headlight, stereo, dashboard and windshield wipers. But the engine stays on and I have a voltage meter in cigarette outlet and it shows 14,4 volts all the time.
So far I have changed the altinator and battery so they are new and I have dissconnected any after market items like amplifier and extra head lights.
I have tried turning the key of and on while driving and that is not the same, then you get all check engine, hand break and simular lights turned on on dash panel and that doesn't happen when you get the power outs. Also tried turning headlight switch off and on and that does nothing djring power out.
Kind regards:
//Jimmy
Well the most common reason for that is your ignition switch is failing and it stops sending power to some things but not the other. I would start there and pray it's not a computer failure. That would be really hard to trace down
Just because I had this issue on a 2001 Honda Accord I would closely inspect your battery cables going to fuse box and look at both connections. Mine had real bad corrosion hidden under a connector and it would do exactly what your describing.
It might be a bad ground wire. The reason I think this is because the headlights can usually be turned on with the ignition off. Plus there's multiple components loosing power all at the same time. They probably all go to the same ground point.
Try looking at a wiring diagram and see which electrical circuit they all share. They might all connect to the same ground.
I've also seen where all those components share the same power wire. The power wire rubs through and touches metal on the car causing a short to ground. Which prevents power reaching all the components that share that power wire.
The easiest way to tell it's a power or ground issue is going to the easiest to access component and probing the power wire for that component with a volt meter or a test light. If there's no voltage on the power wire than it's a power issue. If voltage is read on the ground wire then it's a bad ground issue. Voltage should read zero volts on a good ground connection.
I found a wiring diagram for the headlights on a '02 Windstar. https://www.2carpros.com/questions/ford-windstar-headlights The link has instructions on how to test the headlight when it's not working by grounding the headlight and seeing if it lights up. If it does then there's probably an issue with the Front Electric Module (FEM) not grounding the headlight like it's supposed to. The FEM is located under the left side of the dash. The ground for the FEM is behind the left kick panel. Maybe the stereo, dashboard and windshield wipers are all tied into that ground?