Ford Power problems

elkbow · Post by **elkbow** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 8:24 pm

Was getting ready to put in the Syntor Lowband X9000 to finish my installation. Have already installed MCS2000 UHF 110 Watt, A7 VHF Spectra 100 Watt, Kenwood dual band TM-D700A. Been running for about a month with no problems.

The power is supplied to a Stinger digital fuseblock by 4 guage from the battery directly to the Stinger. All power connections made to the fuseblock, each output individually fused. Ground is 4 Guage distribution block running to the chassis about 6 inches away.

Anyways, last couple of days got hard to start, today wouldn't start. My truck is a 8 month old 2002 Ford Superduty F250 4x4 Powerstroke, 13,000 miles. I noticed the voltage had dropped to about 12.4 as of yesterday, both batteries had 'red' instead of the usual 'green' lights.

Don't think anything in the installation could have affected the power. I built a chassis, which I will post pics when the Syntor is mounted, which is mounted on the hump. There are no wires running under the carpet, so couldn't have drilled or screwed into a wire. They are all remote mounts. The main units mounted behind the rear seat (crew cab), no wires under the carpet there either. So what is left, a short of the power cable? Nope, checked for shorts prior to powering up, also checked all connections and hole through the firewall, nothing.

My guess is one of the cells went bad in one of the batteries and sucked both down. I ran the truck for about 30 miles today, no problems with the alternator, well at least the light didn't come on.

One other possibility is the Stinger fuseblock. It has a digital readout that senses the voltages in a small circuit and displays the voltage on an LED readout. The thing has been a pain, wanting to beep telling me that one of the fuse positions was bad, but I think it was a connection on the fuseblock, hard to describe, been like that since I put in, but that was a month or more ago.

Problem that seems strange to me is that both batteries have 'red' indicators showing, not just one.

Any other thoughts?
dave

007 · Post by **007** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 8:34 pm

Did you take a VOM to the alternator voltage output with the truck running? If it has 14.0v+, then have the alternator load tested....if it tests out to 100-105%, then have the Ford dealer sweep the truck for a relay stuck open or a module that went south. The batteries obviously puked, but it is more likely that a OEM part went south and is the culprit.

If some underhood relay coil (which Ford loves, as you know) stays hung open (or closed) even partially, there will be that stupid continuous drain on those batteries. Since you problems manifested over a few days, I'd bet $$ that it is a relay or module that went bad/shorted etc.

Let the dealer chase it down....you'll drive yourself crazy trying to find it.

elkbow · Post by **elkbow** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:28 pm

Jimmy, since it is under warranty, thats exactly what I'm going to let the dealer do. I just think that they'll try to blame my radio's one way or the other, then when i hit them that i have a Masters degree in Electronics Engineering, maybe they'll back off.

Anyways, read your comment under general discussion about the Stinger digital fuseblock. The problem that I am having is that the 4th fuse doesn't want to seat...in other words, i can move it around and get the buzzer to come on to tell me that I have an 'open' circuit on that fuse. I can jumper the load side of the fuse to the one next to it and its fine, but shouldn't be that way. So the problem is in the circuitry that connects to each fuseholder and sense that you have a blown fuse. Its nice having the voltage readout so when you transmit with a 110 watt radio, you can actually see the load that is being caused on your voltage. Usually drops about .2 volts with the 110 watt radio's. I even try not to use the high power radio's without the truck running in order not to cause stress on the batteries. I've been mainly listening and haven't talked hardly at all. Anyways, picked up a standard fuseblock without the digital fuseblock. Noticed some other manufacturers of the digital fuseblocks, may try one of them, they cost less than the Stinger also.
dave

jim · Post by **jim** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:00 am

Sounds like a battery puked.

The 'red' or 'green' light is actaully a floating green ball that only shows wheter the specific gravity of the acid is good enough to take a charge- it doesn't mean that it's dead or charged.

n1pfc · Post by **n1pfc** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 2:03 pm

and typically that floating ball only measures one cell! So you could have a green ball floating in it, and the battery wont hold a charge more than a couple of hours.

Kurt

KitN1MCC · Post by **KitN1MCC** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 4:58 pm

I have noticed that Ford Batterus are not the Best

elkbow · Post by **elkbow** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 5:12 pm

Got the truck back today, it was a bad alternator. They never did say a thing about all my radio's installed. I think that they probably thought I was law enforcement or something. Good dealer to deal with, not the one I bought the truck from.
dave

motorolamonster911 · Post by **motorolamonster911** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 8:38 am

elkbow wrote:They never did say a thing about all my radio's installed

Lucky you! Guess what burned the starter up in my moms car? THE WIG-WAG Flasher,

..Or at least thats what the repair shop said.

They were so concerned about the wiring being bad ( I'm being very sarcastic) so they pulled off my ring connectors off my battery connection, and left the bare wires hanging there.

Being that they figure most people dont know that much about electronics, they assumed nothing would be questioned on how a wig-wag flasher that IS fused and worked perfectly till the day they disconnected it, well thats until my mom got home from the repair shop...

elkbow · Post by **elkbow** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 8:53 am

Funny how you have to always search for a good honest dealer, I don't think there is any.

What pissed me off on taking my truck in was the service guy telling me that one of my three clips on my air filter cover was open and that I was sucking air past my air filter. Thats impossible, its a rectangular K&N filter, downdraft, im-fricken-possible. Now here is the good part, he said they pulled my turbo apart and there were nics on the fins of the turbo blades....what BS. They had the truck for the morning. I looked when I got home, all the dirt and dust was still on every nut and bolt and its not an easy job to get to the turbo fan. So I guess its time for going to another dealer the next time.

motorolamonster911 · Post by **motorolamonster911** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 9:09 am

I RARELY ever take my car to get it repair. My mom and dad will take theirs, but not me, I usually ask somebody on the board about a problem, or actually spend a few hours under the hood trying to locate the problem.

My dad's buick lesabre wouldnt start all this week, so he had mine

...Without even checking it they were going to send it for service, but my and my friends took a few days and looked it over.
My dad kept saying it was the Nuetral Safety Switch, but I pulled out my volt-ohm meter and that wasnt the problem.

I was under the car fiddling with some wires, then it started, on the starter there was a large brass nut for ground which was spinning around while the starter was going, So I pulled out a cresent wrench tightened it down, and its been starting right up for the last 2 days. Now if they would have taken it to a repair shop or the dealer, what do you think they would of diagnosed it with? Bad starter = few hundred dollars : bad ignition = a mess, ...or could it be my mobile radio destroyed the starter?...lol

I have heard all of the stories about my equipment doing stuff to cars, but I install the exact same way we do at work, and no one else has any problems whatsoever. Your right, BARELY ANY GOOD REPAIR SHOPS/DEALERS LEFT!

My $0.02 and maybe a little more..

elkbow · Post by **elkbow** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 6:52 pm

I normally don't take my vehicles to the dealer, but this truck is a brand new F-250 Superduty, only 13,000 miles, so its under warranty, so for now I'm gonna let someone else do the work. I still have my 93' Nissan PU, 260,000 miles, still runs good, I've done all the work.

jim · Post by **jim** » Sun Apr 20, 2003 7:12 am

Dealers just suck. They are full of "technicians" that can only repair a 2 year old (or newer) vehicle by changing parts one at a time until it works again then removing all of the other new parts that didn't "fix" the problem. This is a luxury when you have a stock room full of every part possible. Also, the only thing they can "diagnose" is something that they looked up in the factory TSBs (technical service bulletins). If the TSBs don't show a problem, they usually won't find it. They can preach about ASE certification and it means nothing. I can give my grandmother the study book for the ASE tests and she'll be an ASE Master Tech in two weeks time and still couldn't check her own oil.

I absolutely hate dealers. Before I started my business in 1996, I worked for an indepentent shop specializin in auto electric and A/C repair. It was a daily occurence to see the :o-for-quality work from dealers. Just look at how sloppy they will leave your vehicle after a repair.

Most reputable independent shops are superior to dealers- period. Unfortunately, if you have a new car, you must go to the dealer for warranty repairs (which are worse yet, since they make less money doing warranty repairs and cut more corners).

I took my Grand Cherokee to the dealer recently since the OEM Mopar battery (built by Exide- whom sucks) crapped itself. They said there was a parasitic drain on the battery because every time you would reconnect the battery the terminal would spark.
I tried to explain that when you have a 1 Farad capacitor on your stereo system, it will charge when you connect the battery. He could not grasp this concept. I showed him myself that after the cap charges, there was only approx. 40 milliamp of drain and he still said the stereo was draining the battery. If this guy is the dealer "lead electrical tech", then they better get some kid from the local vo-tech to replace him. After a new batter was installed (with a fight), it's amazing how the parasitic drain went away. Hmmm.

elkbow · Post by **elkbow** » Sun Apr 20, 2003 8:37 am

I know exactly what you mean. Especially on warranty repairs, because they do make less money and can't put on the invoice that they did 'this and that' because the manufacturer will question it. This is the exact reason why I was pissed when they said they pulled apart my turbo to look at the turbo fan blades, BS!!! Its not on the paperwork that they did that and like I said, I looked at the dust/dirt on the nuts/bolts, still dirty, they didn't pull crap apart and wouldn't because they weren't making any money to do so when they only had to replace my alternator and clean my air filter since they said it was dirty.

I went out yesterday and pulled the cover off the air filter, there is no way in hell the filter could let air by it, BS again.
dave