RevRico
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2019
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 1
- Location
- 15601
- Make / Model
- 02 Ranger FX4
- Transmission
- Manual
I thought I joined this forum when I bought my ranger, but I guess I didn't.
I have an 02 Ranger FX4, manual, with 208k miles on it, Kenwood aftermarket stereo. I use it sparingly, like bought it Feb 2018 and only put 2,000 miles on it sparingly. The entire time I've owned it, the door ajar light has stayed on while the truck is running. I pulled the bulb for the domelight when WD40 on the latch only worked until you opened the passenger door again. There are no lights or noises in the truck when it is parked, other than the blinky "theft" light on the dash.
Around November, I started coming out to a dead truck after it sat for a few days. Most times I could just roll start it, but a few times it was totally dead. Went and got a replacement battery in February when I got sick of dealing with the charger or roll starting it every morning.
About a week after I got the new battery, I went out to leave, got about half a crank and then absolutely nothing. No signs of life, no noise, nothing. Jiggling the battery cables, then jumping it, worked to get it started. I replaced the terminals and cut off some nasty bits at the end of the battery cables when I did that, then promptly let the truck sit for a week because it blew a brake line and i hate brake lines.
This brings us to yesterday. I put the truck on the charger for an hour or so, got it started, then drove it around for an hour and parked it. After 30 minutes, it started fine. 4 hours later it started fine. another 2 hours and it started fine. Cool, cleaning up the cables fixed it, everything is working. Wrong. This morning, it didn't have enough charge left to start, but I was able to catch it in gear and start it up. This morning when it wouldn't start, i saw 12.05 volts across the battery. I tried doing a parastitic drain test with my DMM, but I don't have enough hands to do it by myself, and the positive terminal is a real PITA to get on since I cut corrosion off the wires.
I am now in the camp of something is causing a massive drain on my system. Could it be tied to the door ajar light never going off, and if so, why did it wait until winter to show its ugly head? Or is it more likely the GEM/Battery saver relay that everyone else seems to have problems with?
I have an 02 Ranger FX4, manual, with 208k miles on it, Kenwood aftermarket stereo. I use it sparingly, like bought it Feb 2018 and only put 2,000 miles on it sparingly. The entire time I've owned it, the door ajar light has stayed on while the truck is running. I pulled the bulb for the domelight when WD40 on the latch only worked until you opened the passenger door again. There are no lights or noises in the truck when it is parked, other than the blinky "theft" light on the dash.
Around November, I started coming out to a dead truck after it sat for a few days. Most times I could just roll start it, but a few times it was totally dead. Went and got a replacement battery in February when I got sick of dealing with the charger or roll starting it every morning.
About a week after I got the new battery, I went out to leave, got about half a crank and then absolutely nothing. No signs of life, no noise, nothing. Jiggling the battery cables, then jumping it, worked to get it started. I replaced the terminals and cut off some nasty bits at the end of the battery cables when I did that, then promptly let the truck sit for a week because it blew a brake line and i hate brake lines.
This brings us to yesterday. I put the truck on the charger for an hour or so, got it started, then drove it around for an hour and parked it. After 30 minutes, it started fine. 4 hours later it started fine. another 2 hours and it started fine. Cool, cleaning up the cables fixed it, everything is working. Wrong. This morning, it didn't have enough charge left to start, but I was able to catch it in gear and start it up. This morning when it wouldn't start, i saw 12.05 volts across the battery. I tried doing a parastitic drain test with my DMM, but I don't have enough hands to do it by myself, and the positive terminal is a real PITA to get on since I cut corrosion off the wires.
I am now in the camp of something is causing a massive drain on my system. Could it be tied to the door ajar light never going off, and if so, why did it wait until winter to show its ugly head? Or is it more likely the GEM/Battery saver relay that everyone else seems to have problems with?