The Continuing Saga of Electrical Problems

DocBar · Jan 17, 2013

Well, the truck pooped the bed tonite, electrically speaking. I have two new batteries ( less than a month old) and an alternator that is right at a year old. I got the ABS and seat belt lights and all of my gauges went dead. I never did get a battery light.

A lot of y'all will remember the problems I had with my truck after the motor swap and it all seems to revolve around electrical problems. I've checked my harnesses that are easily accessable and they look fine. If I can get Sunday off, I plan on pulling the valve covers and looking in there for anything.

I'm starting to consider rewiring the whole truck with new(ish?) harnesses. I've gone through 3 xfer case motors due to a wiring issue somewhere, an engine harness, several alternators and need new batteries every two years or less.

Does anyone know of any good places to buy new(ish?) wiring harness for my model of truck? Anyone know of any good mechanics in the Long Beach/Huntington Beach, Ca. area? I'm working 84 hrs a week (as usual) and just don't have the time for this. I either need to get it fixed right or I'll be parting out a pretty damned strong motor and extra goodies I have for the compound set up. It seems like everytime I get the truck running right, another electrical phantom shows up.

And to top it all off, my AE won;t connect to my truck right. It says it's too heavy or some crap. Tried all the different communication modes.

Dmstrucks02 · Jan 21, 2013

Damn not again, I'm interested to see what you find this time. Sorry I couldn't be of any help. Have you priced a harness from the dealer?

dentexpowerstroke · Jan 21, 2013

Join the club, I'm having nightmare after nightmare with mine since the motor swap. Looks like I'm now facing a cracked flexplate.

DocBar · Jan 21, 2013

I took the alternator in to Otterzone yesterday and it failed all three tests they run. This is the 4th alternator in 2 years. Now I have the mysterious batt light coming on for no apparent reason.

I wonder if I ruined the brand new batteries by running them til they were dead as hell. I'm getting 13.3VDC off of the alternator and 70-90 amps. I have no idea what it should be putting out for current.

Dantheman · Jan 22, 2013

When mine would eat the alternator it took the batteries with it. I had to replace the alternator 4 times in 365K miles. I would get a battery light first. Then I would go have the alternator tested and replaced. The first time I put on a new alternator it went out days later. The batteries were bad also and I had to replace at least one and disconnect the other till I could afford a second battery. Same thing happend about three years later. After the second time I had the batteries load tested before installing a new alternator. Each time I had at least one bad battery and usually on the passenger side. I replaced the positive jumper with 4/0 SO cable and an additional ground to the driver side battery form the alternator bracket and solved my problems. It started much better also.

DocBar · Jan 26, 2013

Dantheman said:
When mine would eat the alternator it took the batteries with it. I had to replace the alternator 4 times in 365K miles. I would get a battery light first. Then I would go have the alternator tested and replaced. The first time I put on a new alternator it went out days later. The batteries were bad also and I had to replace at least one and disconnect the other till I could afford a second battery. Same thing happend about three years later. After the second time I had the batteries load tested before installing a new alternator. Each time I had at least one bad battery and usually on the passenger side. I replaced the positive jumper with 4/0 SO cable and an additional ground to the driver side battery form the alternator bracket and solved my problems. It started much better also.

That's some good advice. I have tomorrow off, so I'll have them load tested.

neverkickn · Jan 27, 2013

If you have been having problems with alternators and batteries then you may want to go ahead and put on new cables this time too. I was using batteries and starters and one alternator till I replaced my cables. Did cables, batteries, alternator and starter all at once and no more problems to date.

POWER-STRUCK · Jan 27, 2013

might avoid rayloc starters and alternators from napa and autozone, do you jump start any equipment with the truck? might check the pins and wires on the alternator pigtail,
for aftermarket alternators and starters i've had the best luck with remy

907DAVE · Jan 27, 2013

Be sure to take a real close look at all the grounds. The engine needs to have a good ground to both the battery and the body, but be sure to check the battery to frame and body ground also. All of which can cause some weird issues, one of them being a battery light.

DocBar · Jan 27, 2013

POWER-STRUCK said:
might avoid rayloc starters and alternators from napa and autozone, do you jump start any equipment with the truck? might check the pins and wires on the alternator pigtail,
for aftermarket alternators and starters i've had the best luck with remy

The alternator and batteries are both from otterzone. The alternator says Motorcraft on it, so I assume it's a reman from Mexico.

I've checked all of the grounds and they are on clean metal and tight.
Since the truck is 10 yrs old and has 250K on it, replacing the cables sounds like a good idea.

POWER-STRUCK · Jan 27, 2013

was the part# on the reciept glv8412rm (motorcraft #)
all remans will have motorcraft on the casting no matter who rebuilt it

DocBar · Feb 9, 2013

Well, I got to replace the alternator again. The batt light never went off and the truck was hard to start this morning, so I checked volts/amps from the alt and had none. I managed to drive it to otterzone and get a new one. I asked the guy to test that one before I put it on the truck and it tested bad the 1st time and good the 2nd. At least the batt light is out now. What a PITA.

DocBar · Feb 9, 2013

Just ordered new battery cables from Ford. Hopefully this will put an end to this saga.

punkrockford · Feb 9, 2013

I saw you said you checked all the grounds. really make sure that the grounds are all good. If the electrical system is searching for a ground it will try to pick it up where ever it can and that usually means bad things for the charging system. sounds like you are on the right track with new battery cables from Ford. good cleaning of all contact points is a good thing to do also, especially if you are in an area that freezes and salt is applied to the road.

DocBar · Feb 9, 2013

punkrockford said:
I saw you said you checked all the grounds. really make sure that the grounds are all good. If the electrical system is searching for a ground it will try to pick it up where ever it can and that usually means bad things for the charging system. sounds like you are on the right track with new battery cables from Ford. good cleaning of all contact points is a good thing to do also, especially if you are in an area that freezes and salt is applied to the road.

I cleaned all of the ground connection points with emory cloth to make sure they were on bare metal and sprayed them with the spray connector protectant after I screwed them back down. Thinking of running extra ground wires to the frame when I do the swap.
I'm starting to have a lot of other problems with the truck, so I'm considering either full rebuilding every "wear" part on the front end. My front end is getting very sloppy.

lincolnlocker · Feb 10, 2013

have someone move the steering wheel back and forth for you and see what is actually loose on it... i thought the same thing along with a couple people i know and everything was tight except for the slop in the gear box... if thats the case the loosen the lock nut on top of the gear box and with a hex head turn the screw clockwise but only go 1/8 turns at a time. then drive it. come back and do it again and repeat till there is no slop in the steering wheel... if you go to tight with it it will cause a little bit of binding. hope that helps.

live life full throttle

DocBar · Feb 10, 2013

lincolnlocker said:
have someone move the steering wheel back and forth for you and see what is actually loose on it... i thought the same thing along with a couple people i know and everything was tight except for the slop in the gear box... if thats the case the loosen the lock nut on top of the gear box and with a hex head turn the screw clockwise but only go 1/8 turns at a time. then drive it. come back and do it again and repeat till there is no slop in the steering wheel... if you go to tight with it it will cause a little bit of binding. hope that helps.

live life full throttle

I plan on doing that once everything is replaced. There is more than the steering wheel slop going on.

lincolnlocker · Feb 10, 2013

10-4

live life full throttle

5150 · Feb 10, 2013

haha otterzone lmao

try getting a prestolite alternator or a leece-neville
http://www.prestolite.com/pgs_products/alt_search.php
a stock autolite should be putting out 130 amps +/-

Denver · Feb 20, 2013

If your still in HB avoid Orange County Diesel in Huntington Beach. If you still need an alternator check out DC power in Riverside. Very top notch product. I have one in my truck.