kjmclark
Member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2009
- Messages
- 38
- Reaction score
- 4
- Points
- 8
- Location
- Ann Arbor, MI
- Vehicle Year
- 96
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 4.0L V6
- Transmission
- Manual
A demon has possessed my Ranger. At least that's my first guess.
So my poor new-driver daughter took our 96 supercab to some school thing, and forgot to turn off the lights. Oops. She gives us a call when it won't start, and we come over and jump it. I connect hot on our Subaru to hot on the Ranger's battery, negative on the Subie to the radiator top support on the Ranger. I get some spark on that, so I think I'm OK.
I get in the truck, have my wife rev the car, and it's just not enough juice to move the starter. Barely revving at all. I decide to just leave it for a sec to put a little juice in the battery.
Then I see a little wisp of white smoke coming from between the dash and the steering wheel. Oh crap. Not good. I try to start it again - nothing, but the smoke is getting a bit thicker. So I shut off the truck (had the ignition 'on' between start attempts), and open the doors to air it out. The smoke stops coming out.
So I try to start it again (still weak), and I notice that the smoke comes out again when I have the ignition to 'on' or 'start'. So I leave it off. The jumping is just not working right, so I go move the negative. Different place, still have sparks, still no joy. It really should be working by now, so I move it to the ground point on the radiator support, just in front of the battery. Starts right up on the first try.
So I know the smoke was bad, but everything seems OK. Truck runs, dome light works, headlights work, no problems. A couple of days later I go to drive the truck in the dark, and realize I have no dash gauges light. And the ABS light keeps coming on. WTF? I look online and find some fuses to check, but they're all fine. I go back and check some more, and find that #3 on the inside box - Parking lights - is blown. I plug in a spare and it blows right away. Aha.
But this morning I'm driving my son to school (just found the blown fuse late last night), the truck stalls at a stop (it's a stick, I just didn't rev it enough), I restart it - And the freaking theft alarm goes off! WTF?!? And I can't get the stupid thing to shut off. And I just put a LOUD horn on the truck last spring. Of course, my middle-schooler now wants *nothing to do with me* as my possessed truck is screaming for all to hear that his dad is a complete clown. I stopped in a church parking lot next to the school and he high-tails it away from me as I'm trying to shut the stupid truck up. I finally pulled the negative from the battery (three times! - a little longer each time) and the stupid thing gave up. Drove it home with no problems.
So, I'm going to start digging around tonight. I figure there's most likely a bare wire under the dash somewhere, or the dimmer module, or the headlight switch is cooked. But the theft alarm thing has me wondering if we didn't blow something more important. I have the Haynes and Ford 96 Ranger 'Electrical and Vacuum Troubleshooting Manual' but I figured I'd check with the experts first. Any suggestions what to look for?
So my poor new-driver daughter took our 96 supercab to some school thing, and forgot to turn off the lights. Oops. She gives us a call when it won't start, and we come over and jump it. I connect hot on our Subaru to hot on the Ranger's battery, negative on the Subie to the radiator top support on the Ranger. I get some spark on that, so I think I'm OK.
I get in the truck, have my wife rev the car, and it's just not enough juice to move the starter. Barely revving at all. I decide to just leave it for a sec to put a little juice in the battery.
Then I see a little wisp of white smoke coming from between the dash and the steering wheel. Oh crap. Not good. I try to start it again - nothing, but the smoke is getting a bit thicker. So I shut off the truck (had the ignition 'on' between start attempts), and open the doors to air it out. The smoke stops coming out.
So I try to start it again (still weak), and I notice that the smoke comes out again when I have the ignition to 'on' or 'start'. So I leave it off. The jumping is just not working right, so I go move the negative. Different place, still have sparks, still no joy. It really should be working by now, so I move it to the ground point on the radiator support, just in front of the battery. Starts right up on the first try.
So I know the smoke was bad, but everything seems OK. Truck runs, dome light works, headlights work, no problems. A couple of days later I go to drive the truck in the dark, and realize I have no dash gauges light. And the ABS light keeps coming on. WTF? I look online and find some fuses to check, but they're all fine. I go back and check some more, and find that #3 on the inside box - Parking lights - is blown. I plug in a spare and it blows right away. Aha.
But this morning I'm driving my son to school (just found the blown fuse late last night), the truck stalls at a stop (it's a stick, I just didn't rev it enough), I restart it - And the freaking theft alarm goes off! WTF?!? And I can't get the stupid thing to shut off. And I just put a LOUD horn on the truck last spring. Of course, my middle-schooler now wants *nothing to do with me* as my possessed truck is screaming for all to hear that his dad is a complete clown. I stopped in a church parking lot next to the school and he high-tails it away from me as I'm trying to shut the stupid truck up. I finally pulled the negative from the battery (three times! - a little longer each time) and the stupid thing gave up. Drove it home with no problems.
So, I'm going to start digging around tonight. I figure there's most likely a bare wire under the dash somewhere, or the dimmer module, or the headlight switch is cooked. But the theft alarm thing has me wondering if we didn't blow something more important. I have the Haynes and Ford 96 Ranger 'Electrical and Vacuum Troubleshooting Manual' but I figured I'd check with the experts first. Any suggestions what to look for?