Hello all, i am new here and this is my first post so please go easy on me.

OK here we go. I have recently purchased a K reg mkV Escort 1.8 (130) DOHC XR3i Cabriolet.
When i purchased said vehicle the guy i bought it from said that he had probs with the electrics,

I will explain the problems ::

#1: When i turn the ignition on my head lights come on (a bit like the safety feature on a volvo) only my car is not a volvo and its only the dipped beam at the front of the vehicle not the rear lights. The headlights come on and stay on no matter what position i put the headlight switch in they stay the same setting. ie side lights, No full beam or flasher. What i did notice is that when i pull on the windscreen wiper arm it blows the fuse for the lights and the wipers????? strange i know but true.

#2: If i remove the fuse from the fuse box for the windscreen wipers the lights all work properly. ie no probs at all. side lights, dipped headlights, full beam and flashers all work correctly.

I was thinking it was the common fault that the mk5 escorts suffer from so i went to the scrappies and purchased a new secondhand indicator stalk. I was assured by the guy that the indicator stalk was in full working order and had only just been taken out of the scrapped car.

I returned home and installed the newish indicator stalk but once installed i was still presented with exact same probs as with the original stalk which was on my cabriolet.

From this experience i have assumed that it cannot be the indicator stalk which is at fault more like a wiring problem somewhere along the lines of a bad earth or something.

I have since dissasembled my fascia to expose the wiring loom for the indicator stalk to check if there are any wires which may have melted and fused together but after tracking along the wires i cannot find n e thing which looks like there has been an overheating.

I know that another prob with the mk5 escorts is that the fuse box can be a bit dodgy but when i purchased the car i was told that there was a new fuse box installed and the old one was in the boot.

So after all this im am in a position to say that i think it not the actual lights (indicator stalk) but more along the lines of the windscreen wipers as if i take the fuse out for the windscreen wipers the lights work as they shoul and upon returning the fuse for the windscreen wipers the problem re occurs.

But the fuse only blows (both fuses for the lights and the windscreen wipers) when i call for the washer function ie when i pull the wiper stalk towards me to engage the window WASH function. I have checked the washer pump and that is working fine. (i wired it straight to the battery)

so now i am extremly Peeeeed off and really need some help from n e 1 who can help me.




one other question i have is the rad fan was not attached when i purchased the vehicle and the plugs were all cut off so i had nothing to connect the bloody thing to. so what i did was found an earth in the engine bay and now i am looking for an ignition live but as i am no mechanic and i have no idea where to start can someone tell me a good ignition live to attach to, one which is gonna be the amp fuse to run the fan off of.


Thank you all for your help

danelliott