Its interesting this thread came up. I have a 1995 Lincoln Town Car that was in this same recall. When first emailed the old lady about the car when I bought it in June, she said it (recall) had been performed. When I went to see the car I noticed it did NOT have the "fused wiring harness" that most others I had seen with the recall performed had. I looked up the VIN on Fords website and it showed the recall had NOT been performed. So I called one of my local Lincoln dealers to have it done. I took it in back in June about two weeks after I had purchased it. They said they would take care of it. I got home, popped the hood to see how it looked and to my amazement and disappointment, I could not see where they had done done anything!
I was very cross, so I called the dealer and he said he (guy at the service desk) said he didnt know why the service guy would not replace the switch, he said he had even taken him the part. He came back and said on my car I would not be able to see it, because on my car it was performed underneath, which I know was a bunch of nonsense because I had researched this recall. So... I said I would take it back (he said to return the car), but I really didnt want that dealer touching my car again, so I took it to FIVE other Ford-Mercury-Lincoln dealers and they all said it had been performed. I explained it to them and they would send out a guy to look at it and all would say, yeah, its been replaced, they replaced your switch and didnt install the wiring harness, which was also a lie, because its the same old switch on the master cylinder that was on there when I purchased the car. It was a very crazy ordeal the two weeks I tried to deal with this. So.... as of now, as far as I know, the dealer didnt do my recall (at least didnt install the wiring harness), so I dont know what to do. Out of anger I may go back to the original dealer and tell them I want to PURCHASE the new fused harness and I will pay them to install it, which isnt right, since I feel they should have done this. I had even called Ford and talked to the customer service center and they acted like I was crazy. One lady even asked me if I was a "trained mechanic tech" and knew they had not done my recall. I told her I had done enough research on these to know it wasnt done. So, I had basically gave up. It was like I was in a twilight zone and no one was listening to me at these dealers. So I am still confused as to if they were supposed to add a fused harness regardless of a leaking switch. Someone said they thought if the switch was leaking, then they only replaced the switch, but I think the fused harness should be installed no matter what to keep it from overheating.
First couple of weeks I would disconnect my battery overnight, but that got old. At least the car is setting outside away from my house, so if it does burst into flames, it wont burn my house down.
Here are some pics of the area near the cruise switch after my recall was supposedly performed... (I dont see that anything was done... do you?) What would you do?
*also to the original poster... this effected some cars as far back as 1992.... here is a complete list from ennislaw I found on a google search...
The complete list of recalled vehicles is as follows:
Cars
1992-1998 Ford Crown Victoria
1992-1997 Lincoln Town Car
1992-1997 Mercury Grand Marquis
1993-1995 Ford Taurus SHO
1993-1998 Lincoln Mark VIII
1994 Mercury Capri
SUVs
1993-1996 Ford Bronco
1997-2002 Ford Expedition
1998-2001 Ford Explorer
1998-2001 Mercury Mountaineer
1998-2002 Lincoln Navigator
2000-2003 Ford Excursion
2001-2002 Ford Explorer Sport
2001-2002 Ford Explorer Sport Trac
Pick-up Trucks
1993-2003 Ford F-150
1993-2003 Ford F-250
1993-2003 Ford F-350
1993-2003 Ford F-450
1993-2003 Ford F-550
1993-2002 F-Super Duty
2001 F-Series Super Crew
2002-2003 Lincoln Blackwood
2003-2004 Ford F-150 Lightning
Vans
1992-1993, 1997-2002 E150-350
1994-1996 Ford Econoline
1996-2002 Ford E-450 1995-2002 Ford F53 Motor Home
Diesel engine equipped vehicles are excluded from recall.
Models included in the newest action October 2009 expanded recall
1995-2003 Ford Windstars.
2000-2003 Ford Excursion diesels.
1993-1997 and 1999-2003 Ford F-Super Duty diesels.
1992-2003 Ford Econolines.
1995-2002 Ford Explorers and Mercury Mountaineers.
1995-1997 and 2001-2003 Ford Rangers.
1994 Ford F53 motorhomes.
One Ford source tells NBC that the recall is “significant.”
According to Ford, vehicle owners have reported that the cruise control on their vehicles has malfunctioned before they shut down the engine. The mechanism that shuts off the speed control may overheat, eventually causing a fire, Ford said.
“We're getting flame literally falling on other plastic components,” said Florida mechanic Larry Perry.
Perry says even when the engine is turned off, power flows to the switch, causing it to overheat and start a fire. “All it takes is a little more heat, a little more flame, you've got a vehicle you can’t put out.”
Ford says it knows of 63 alleged vehicle fires and of one alleged injury associated with a fire. No deaths have been reported, but the instances of fires appear to be increasing, the car company said.
Ford said the cruise control will be disabled once the switch is deactivated.
“We recognize this may be an inconvenience, but we believe this preventive action is in the best interest of our customers’ safety,” the company said.
Also to the original poster... here is a Ford truck that looks like it was not going to be saved in time... thankfully you were there to put out that fire....
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