Recontenting lighted headlight switch

[Aussie Ford]

Recontentingthe lighted headlight switch stem:

This feature was removed in 97 or 98; it supplies light to the headlight knob.
To identify a lighted knob you can either remove the knob or check the connector. Connectors with this feature will have four contacts in the center row.

Electrical:
There are a couple of easy ways to obtain the necessary connections:

Harvest a couple of proper size contacts from a donor connector, or remove them and the bezel light from a donor harness and headlight connector. The later is a bit harder since the center row of contacts can be very difficult to remove. I usually harvest them by cutting up the connector to get them safely out. The trick is you do not want to break off the small locking tabs on each side ofthe contact, which help retain it in the connector. Either way below are the wiring parts needed:



To insert the contacts pop out the red center retainer and insert them in from the rear of the connector then replace the red retainer. Pin #7 is the black wire, pin #9 is the white wire.



After inserting the contacts;

If using just the wires you can either solder them to the respective wires on the existing bezel light, or use scotch locks.




if using the pigtail w/ bezel light then cut the existing bezel light off, match the wires up and splice the new wires in place.(my preferred method)




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[Aussie Ford]

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The switch:




This can be found on either a Contour or Mystique 95 & 96. The easiest way to find it, is to remove the knob. To remove the knob, insert a paper clip or other small wire through the hole in the bottom side of the grip. You can feel the resistance when against the keeper and slight movement. Then pull the knob straight off. On the Contour, the tool goes straight in, but on the Mystique, it is on an angle back towards the dash.(I’m a slow learner and it took me a couple of minutes to figure this out… lol)



Once the switch is located, remove the knee panel from under the steering column. Remove the two screws from the bottom of the headlight bezel. Then from the front pull straight off. There are a couple of spring clip retainers on the top side of the bezel, that can be more than a bit difficult and break easily. Sometimes a bit of WD40 squirted on them from the back and pushing from there will help remove it intact. In the pic below you can see in the lower right mine broke.




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[Aussie Ford]

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This type of switch comes both with and without fog lights and it is important to get the correct one for your application, as the connectors are different and not interchangeable. (There were some problems with HL switch connectors melting and replacement connectors are universal. You will know if you have one of these since all wires will be spliced.)

So you have a Contour and you just found the correct switch in a Mystique now what. The first thing you may find is that the switch is red not orange. (I have no idea why they did this but the red and orange versions have the exact same part number and are interchangeable. It was probably just a way for a stealership to overcharge Mystique owners for the part….. IMO)

Disassembly:
Remove the knob.
Remove the switch assembly from the headlight & mirror switch bezel – 3 screws.
Remove the bezel face by pushing in the two locking tabs on the sides.
Remove the headlightswitch from the bezel by squeezing the retainers on the sides of the switch and pushing it forward through the bezel.

With the HL switch removed, this is a good time to remove the bulb and check that it is good. I use a small pair of flat pliers (with masking tape on them) to grab the bulb push in slightly and turn to the left. Nothing is worse than putting something all together and finding a bad bulb…. (again I am a slow learner…)



Now you can reverse the steps and put yours back together with your new switch in place.



Enjoy


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[Aussie Ford]

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One more thing…… Since you are messing around in there anyway, if you haven’t done the fog light mod, now is a good time to do it. In the pic below, you can see the fog light mod done with a scotch lock. It is very simple and takes about 2 minutes to do. The pic is actually of my tap splice for the Mystique fog light indicator light add. Not doable in a Contour dash.



Regards,

Aussie Ford

6/11

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