I wasnt sure where to post this but here goes. I have a 1996 Crown Victoria and have just recently replaced both the battery and the alternator on this vehicle. Since the replacement of both my wind shield wipers are no longer working and my turn signals that were working before the alternator was changed are no longer working. I have checked all the regular fuses and replaced one but still no luck. I dont know much about cars so any help would be very much appreciated.

depnds on who replaced them for you something mught of been diconnected when the did the job..

doesnt sound like a fuse to me.

Make sure your ground cable is tight

Changing the alternator and battery should have no effect on the systems you have mentioned.

Most likely your turn signal switch and wipers are all in the same switch on your steering colum and that switch has come unplugged or needs to be replaced.

Without perfoming tests for continuity to see exactly where the power goes and doesnt go, it's really hard to say what the problem is.

There are a few model GM's with tilt steering that have a problem that after many years of useing the tilt up and down, it can loosen or uplug the wiring in the column that goes to turn signals and wipers.

In my experience, its highly unlikely that both the turn signal switch which is located in the actual steering wheel housing ( the turn signal lever you push up or down is only a rod that activates the switch further in ) AND the wiper switch which is actually built into the turn signal lever ( and no where near the actual turn signal switch located inside the steering column ) , are both gone at the same time.

My best guess would be that the wiring harness has come unplugged to them which if your lucky may be under the dash and if unlucky located inside the steering column itself and requires special tools and knowledge to get at as a puller is required to remove the steering wheel and special knowledge to ensure the airbag doesnt deploy while your working on it.

if you know how to test for continuity , the first test would be to see if there's power at the wiper motor when the switch is on and then at the fuse box for the wipers... my best guess again would be none at the wiper motor and power at the fuse which means the problem is between those two areas and the only component between that , is the switch.

do your four way flashers function ? if they do this would indicate that the wiring going to your flashers is not at fault and give a larger percentage that the problem is the switch or the switch has come unplugged as these are two different circuits under the dash which run into the same wiring harness once under the hood of the car and go to the flashers

Be sure to check the main fuses (big square ones) that are under the hood and under the dash..Sounds like one of those might have blown

If all this fails......Buy a bike.....

light it on fire

Sounds like a possible short. Over the years, I've only had a couple of cars and when I was growing up I read road and track, plus tried to learn all that I could about auto mechanics.

Thanks so much for all the help. This is great. I did go and buy a Chilton car book today to check out the diagram. I did notice when checking the fuses that the ones that are close to the hood latch. Where one of the fuses are that I removed there is a red wire that looks like it might have gone into where one of the fuses was plugged in. Could it go somewhere else? I am definately taking some type of auto mechanics class somewhere. Thanks again all.

Check main fuses as mentioned above, regulator boxes and all connections if this is not it your "main wire harnass" (if I am remembering the name correctly) could be at fault.

have ure cars main computor system checked it is the heart of the electronics

I would bet taking it to a competent shop, you would find the answer is pretty simple. Cars are getting to complicated for the average person to work on. I owned a shop for 18 yrs. & working on anything & everything since age 14.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I am off to the parts store tommorrow to get some advice on the relay switches. Right now my priority is fixing the wiper, the turn signals can wait.

I think they are related, as someone earlier mentioned.
does not sound like a relay problem.

hello,

heres what i can guest what happen to the car... on the right hand side / the battery is located... the black wire that goes from the battery to the body of the car... its a smaller wire ... about a 10 ga. it's either lose or not on the body...

check to see if the 10 mm' screw is tight on the body ... just trace the black wire from the battery to the body it's a short wire about 4 to 5 inches' then it hooks to the body.

hope you get your car fixed' ... and as above with all the other advice' you should find and fix it yourself...

if not post back ' here and then we will get into this deeper' and help you...

get rid of it and buy a chevy !