Originally posted by MTOBryan:
My daughter has a 1998 Contour LE Sports Sedan, 104,000 mi.
Whenever it rains, the headlights come on and you cannot turn them off. This even happens when the car is sitting in the driveway with nobody in it, engine off, all switches off, door locked. If it rains and the lights come on, no matter what you do with the switches, they will not turn off!
To keep from draining the battery when they come on, you have to pop the hood, remove the fuse box cover, and pull the middle relay out that turns on the lights. Leave it out for a few minutes and you can plug it back in and the lights will stay off. Relay has been replaced - twice.
We have left for the weekend leaving the car behind. If it rains while we are gone, the battery is invariably dead. When you plug the battery charger in, you will see that the headlights are on.
We have a friend with an identical model, this happens to his car sometimes even when it is in the garage. If it rains, his lights come on.
Does the Contour have a sensor that turns the lights on while raining for safety reasons?
My daughter thinks it is possessed.


- Regards;
MTOBryan




Contours are not that luxurious as to have a nice sensor like that. I know in my contour I have a DEI nightlight system that automatically turns on teh headlights when it is dark and when I put the wipers on, but never when just sitting around in the rain. Only explination would be something in the wiring that there is water in either power distribution bos, or underneith and shorting the headlights to come on. I woudl check the wiring to the headlights. The relay could be being affected by the different barametric preasure when it rains but that jsut seems a little far fetched.

1999 Ford Contour Lx, 2.5L V6 ATX, 145,000 miles Pioneer DEH-P6400 H/U , Rockford Fosgate 351M 350 Watt Amp, Pioneer TS-W305DVC 12" Sub, Compustar 2WSS, Whelen CSP650 Strobe Pack with 6 strobes, Whelen Talon B/B LED Dash Light