Electrical Problem....

[tliss]

Hey fellers,

Wonder if any of you guys have some advice...I'm starting to think I have an electrical system issue. My truck is starting to drain batteries like no one's business (though it is probably because it is sometimes 3-4 weeks before I start the motor). The thing that is concerning me is on Saturday night I took the truck out for a quick spin with my wife's brother in law and decided to run a WOT pass down the straightaway outside my neighborhood. At about 80 MPH at WOT the damn thing kinda half stalled out on me! :eek: :mad: It dumped and when I would step on the gas I could see the boost gauges move and die, but no repsonse from the motor. I coasted almost all the way home and when I came to a dead stop, I cranked it and it fired right up. :confused:

Any thoughts? I'm going to pull the chip when I get a chance and clean the connectors to make sure I've got a good connection, but I'm starting to get a little worried there's something up with the electrical system. Stereo, lights, etc all seem to work fine when the battery is charged, but I'm not sure what's up.

Thoughts??

Tom

[Silver_2000]

Done any work under the hood ?
How old is battery ? Is it OEM ? OEM battery is NOT maintenance free
Check your Ground straps
Pull chip and see if it helps

Doug

[99WhiteBeast]

Do gauges (MPH and RPM) sweep on start up? If so good indicator the battery is on its last leg.

[tliss]

The battery was replaced in April last year and replaced again in October. The guages do not sweep on startup. If the battery was dead or dying, I don't think the motor would stall, or would it?

Tom

[my2002lightning]

Any SES codes being thrown, Tom? Bad alternator maybe another explanation.

Ronald

[99WhiteBeast]

The battery was replaced in April last year and replaced again in October. The guages do not sweep on startup. If the battery was dead or dying, I don't think the motor would stall, or would it?

Tom

Its possible if it couldn't supply enough energy to the coil packs I suppose. My guess is you have a bad ground or chipset connectivity

[PUMP]

Operating with an almost gone battery (say one bad cell) can damage the alternator, which in turn harms the new battery, etc. So, you need to get the battery and charging systems checked out, before looking for other gremlins.

[tliss]

Operating with an almost gone battery (say one bad cell) can damage the alternator, which in turn harms the new battery, etc. So, you need to get the battery and charging systems checked out, before looking for other gremlins.

I know the battery is fine, but the charging system might be screwy. You know of anywhere I can get the system checked for an inexpenisve amount (like free)? I hate paying for diagnostics, but I will if I have to.

FYI, I don't have anything to do data logging or check out codes, so I have no odea if it's dropping a code or not.

Tom

[my2002lightning]

Tom,

Do you have a laptop handy? We can throw the Autotap on your L, drive around for a bit, throw it all into a .xls and see if any of your electrical readings look flakey.

Here's what all it can tell us: http://www.autotap.com/enhanced_parameters_ford.asp

Let me know.

Ronald



I know the battery is fine, but the charging system might be screwy. You know of anywhere I can get the system checked for an inexpenisve amount (like free)? I hate paying for diagnostics, but I will if I have to.

FYI, I don't have anything to do data logging or check out codes, so I have no odea if it's dropping a code or not.

Tom

[Silver_2000]

I think sears wil do a charging system check for free as will MANY places that want to sell you a battery

[PoorSvtman]

I think sears wil do a charging system check for free as will MANY places that want to sell you a battery

most of the time they will say something is wrong to

[Mark #2]

most of the time they will say something is wrong to
I have had good luck with Autozone diagnosing battery, alternator, and starter issues.

May have to go back again soon as the K5 is starting slowly, the battery date is only 12/30/99, can't imagine what the issue might be:confused:

[dboat]

Its possible if it couldn't supply enough energy to the coil packs I suppose. My guess is you have a bad ground or chipset connectivity

I would second this one.. I just had all my grounds redone with new cables and ground connections.. read too many things about ours not being that great and they arent.

Dana

[Beaudee]

I know the battery is fine, but the charging system might be screwy. You know of anywhere I can get the system checked for an inexpenisve amount (like free)? I hate paying for diagnostics, but I will if I have to.

FYI, I don't have anything to do data logging or check out codes, so I have no odea if it's dropping a code or not.

Tom
Just take a plane jane volt meter and read the volts with it runnin.Should read 13-14 volts.If not alternator.

[Tex Arcana]

Hey, Tom: if you need a voltmeter, I have one. IF you want someone to go with you to VAtozone or somesuch, to keep the testers honest, I can do that as well.

I'd say to start off with, I would check the chip seating. Second, make sure your battery connectors are clean and making good contact. THirdly I would make sure the battery is fine, and get it and the charging system tested.

If you want to come over and us work on it, give me a holler.

[Tex Arcana]

Just take a plane jane volt meter and read the volts with it runnin.Should read 13-14 volts.If not alternator.

Only problem with that, is if the battery is intermittently shorting out internally (thanks to junk in the cells), you might get a full 13-14v reading while sitting still, and when driving the junk shorts the plates. A proper test involves a stress test of the battery and a load test on the charging system.

[Mark #2]

Only problem with that, is if the battery is intermittently shorting out internally (thanks to junk in the cells), you might get a full 13-14v reading while sitting still, and when driving the junk shorts the plates. A proper test involves a stress test of the battery and a load test on the charging system.

Yup it is simple really
V=IR
V= Battery(load test)
I= Alternator(again load test)
R= Wires(clean terminals and ground connections)

[tliss]

Well, I left the truck sit for a week and the truck ate the battery again. I'm beginning to think that the alternator is screwed. Any thoughts?

Tom

[Tex Arcana]

Well, I left the truck sit for a week and the truck ate the battery again. I'm beginning to think that the alternator is screwed. Any thoughts?

Tom

My previous offer still stands. Call me.

[Silver_2000]

Well, I left the truck sit for a week and the truck ate the battery again. I'm beginning to think that the alternator is screwed. Any thoughts?

Tom

See my post here
http://www.talonclub.com/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=11173

Ford can do a drain test on the truck to see if there is parasitic drain while its off

[Lyfisin]

You've gotten a lot of great responses. Letting your truck sit for a week shouldn't cause the battery to drain and a bad alternator wouldn't be the cause of it anyway. When my battery was two years old, my L sat for a month and I didn't have any issue starting it at all.

I think you have a bad connection somewhere.

[SILVER2000SVT]

You most likely have a parasitic drain somewhere. Up until a year ago I always kept my radar detector plugged in and it would kill my battery within about 4 days. I always kept it plugged in on my last two vehicles and never had a problem but because I sometimes don't drive my Lightning during the week it gives it time to run down.

You should be able to isolate your problem within about 30 min or so with a DC current meter. If you don't have an inductive DC current meter, most multimeters have a DC amps mode, you just have to disconnect the circuit and run it in series through the meter. Start at the battery disconnect the one of the terminals and connect it in series with the mulitmeter and see how much current it being pulled through the system with nothing on. Any more than a 1/4 of an amp will cause the problem your are having of draining the battery over several days. If you see the current draw, reconnect the battery and go through each fuse in the truck doing the same thing, removing the fuse and connecting the mulitmeter in series until you find your problem.

Do you have an alarm in the truck. Sometime installers will screw up and install a relay that will rest in an energized state and will cause this exact problem you are having. This is really common with starter kill relays.

If I were doing this test, I would start with all the aftermarket stuff first, radios, alarms, etc, then move to the factory circuits. Keep in mind that some of these things have their own fuses and don't flow through any of the factory fuses depending on how they were wired, so you will need to find those fuses as well.