‘14 Ford Interceptor Sedan Headlight Flashers

Nick7071

Member
Feb 13, 2018
48
Michigan, US
Hey all, I was looking into installing some front hideaway warning lights for my ‘14 FPIS and I was originally going to put the 2 white vertexes my car came with back in the headlights which is when I realized how much of a pain it is to access them. So after giving up on that idea I started looking into headlight flashers and after reading, many people say that traditional headlight flashers can damage the BCM because of the projector style headlights. So i was wondering, are there any manufacturers who make headlight flashers that bypass the BCM/ wont damage the assembly? I believe ECM Products made one successfully but I cannot find the product page anymore. I was also looking at the Fed Sig FHL-HL which claims to work with the Sedan. Any info is appreciated, thanks!
 

Carlos SpicyWeiner

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 3, 2012
5,233
Lakeland, Florida
ERM products made one, but he passed away. Fedsig/Brookings copied his design though. You can try either of them.
 

John Smith

Member
Oct 19, 2010
304
CO, US
Any non-resistance based flasher will work. Just wire it to the trigger for the high beam shutters, and make sure you also give a steady or flashing 12v to the headlight itself.
 

Nick7071

Member
Feb 13, 2018
48
Michigan, US
Any non-resistance based flasher will work. Just wire it to the trigger for the high beam shutters, and make sure you also give a steady or flashing 12v to the headlight itself.
Thank you for the info, would this mean any solid state flasher would work as opposed to a mechanical relay based one? Just want to make sure I get the right one and don’t damage something, model numbers would be very helpful too :) Right now I’m considering the Soundoff Flashback for taillight flashers and the Whelen SSFPOS for the headlights
 
Last edited:

cory y2.0

Member
Oct 24, 2016
39
DFW
Any non-resistance based flasher will work. Just wire it to the trigger for the high beam shutters, and make sure you also give a steady or flashing 12v to the headlight itself.
And making the shutters continuously move will cause premature failure. Better idea to force the shutter to stay open and flash the bulb itself.
 

John Smith

Member
Oct 19, 2010
304
CO, US
I'm torn on that. Yes, you're right that will cause them to fail earlier. But I've never seen one fail, it doesn't seem like a common failure point. I've seen a bunch of videos where guys even strobed them without failing. So I'm not sure, but yes even a slow alternating flash does add cycles to the servo motor, which is only rated at so many.

On the other hand, your way has one distinct disadvantage. It would work since the Taurus doesn't use HID, you would need to add an override with the OEM switch, so when you turn on the headlights it overrides the flasher. So of course you would have to lose the HLF at night.
 

1863650

Member
Jun 2, 2014
111
Colorado
Maybe I've just taken apart too many of these things, but it seems pretty easy to take out the headlights to work on HAWs.

The issue with the projector headlights is that they're dim and directional due to the projector lenses, no matter what you do with them, they're going to suck more powerfully for warning than they do as headlights. I have two Interceptors which had factory ready-for-the-road kits installed with the Vertex HAWs and the Ford OEM Whelen LED turn signal/strobe combo lights. The amber running lights, on full turn-signal/DRL intensity, are brighter than the headlights with halogen bulbs installed. There's a little improvement with high-output LEDs in the headlights, but they're sub-optimal for warning under any circumstances except for toddlers standing directly eye level with your headlights in front of your car on the highway.

I'm sure Ford researched this & ran focus groups, their conclusion was to go with the Whelen combo turn signals & HAWs rather than headlight flashers. It's probably a large part of why they redesigned the Explorer/FPIU headlights in 2016 or so, even folks with civ Explorers were complaining about the awful headlights and malfunctioning shutters. The FPIS got no love, probably because they were already planning to phase out the sedans and didn't feel like wasting time redesigning & retooling on a dead-end vehicle line.
 

Da-Sarge

Member
Feb 27, 2020
393
Canada
If you can find them whelen made wigwag led modules that fit in place of your turn signal bulbs strobe is white but it still keeps the turn signal and running light functions you can use any led flasher for the white it won't affect the ECU at all and they just fit rite in
 

Nick7071

Member
Feb 13, 2018
48
Michigan, US
If you can find them whelen made wigwag led modules that fit in place of your turn signal bulbs strobe is white but it still keeps the turn signal and running light functions you can use any led flasher for the white it won't affect the ECU at all and they just fit rite in
The Whelen PTW’s are definitely an option however they’re pretty rare and expensive when you can find them
 

John Smith

Member
Oct 19, 2010
304
CO, US
Funny I remembered this thread. I am being issued a 2016 PIS in the next week or two, and it does not have the PTW LEDs. I searched around and found a few, but not up for spending $300 on them.

I ordered an HID kit for the car, since the OEM halogens suck and the OEM HID’s are stupid expensive. I’ve got a SoundOff Solid State flasher laying around, and I’m going to wire that to flash the shutters like I mentioned. I’ll also have a +12v wire to trigger the HID relay. So when I go code 2 or 3, the HIDs will be triggered on, and the flasher will flash the high beam shutters. Combined with a dual color nForce interior bar, and dual color nForce modules in the grill, front lighting should be excellent.
 

Da-Sarge

Member
Feb 27, 2020
393
Canada
Funny I remembered this thread. I am being issued a 2016 PIS in the next week or two, and it does not have the PTW LEDs. I searched around and found a few, but not up for spending $300 on them.

I ordered an HID kit for the car, since the OEM halogens suck and the OEM HID’s are stupid expensive. I’ve got a SoundOff Solid State flasher laying around, and I’m going to wire that to flash the shutters like I mentioned. I’ll also have a +12v wire to trigger the HID relay. So when I go code 2 or 3, the HIDs will be triggered on, and the flasher will flash the high beam shutters. Combined with a dual color nForce interior bar, and dual color nForce modules in the grill, front lighting should be excellent.
Sounds pretty solid of a setup the Nforce lights are very powerful to be honest they put federalsignals solaris lights to shame lol if I'm correct the taurus police interceptor has DRLs using the halogen bulbs so the headlights will be on regardless but remember to install antiflicker resistors on both sides because HID ballasts (non OEM ones) are extremely noisy and can cause issues with the canbus system in the vehicle
 

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