Danimals
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2020
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 1
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Vehicle Year
- 2003
- Make / Model
- Ford Ranger
- Transmission
- Manual
Hello All,
I have a 2003 Ford Ranger xlt 4.0 with a manual transmission. Yesterday I started the truck up, drove 5 minutes down the road to the store, went to start it back up and nothing but clicks, dim dash lights, and dim dome lights when attempting to start. If you wait ~40 seconds after trying to start the truck without doing anything else, the dash lights and dome lights will return to their usual brightness, the battery light will light up, as well as the check gauge light. If you try to start the truck again, the lights will dim, and it (the starter I think) clicks.
This has happened before and it wound up being corrosion on the ground terminal lead on the battery. I cleaned all terminals, no luck. I Figured it must have just been a dead battery, had a friend try to jump the truck, no luck. Got the truck towed home and started trouble shooting. Removed the starter and had it bench tested, works mint (it should its only a few months old). Grabbed an ignition switch as well as a new cable to replace the old ground going from the battery to the starter. New cable, new starter switch, working starter, truck still wont start. Put the battery on a charger, says its charged. To rule out possibly dead cells or a bad battery Tried to use to the battery chargers "start mode" (75amps) to start the truck connected directly to the leads while they were disconnected from the battery, same result, truck wont start. However, while the battery charger is attached the speedometer, tachometer will bounce like crazy, the odometer at one point started adding miles to the truck (just my luck). Had my dad pull out the multi meter and we got to testing.
I will preface this by saying I have idea what I am doing when it comes to this electrical nonsense, that is my dads wheel house. I will try to explain what we did as best I can. The battery reads ~12 volts, power to the starter reads ~12 volts (cheapo meter cant determine how much current the starter is getting). When trying to start the voltage will drop to ~ 4 - 5 volts then goes back up to 12 volts. We then disconnected both leads to the battery, the power lead on the starter, and the power lead on the alternator, and the lead that goes into the distribution box. After some testing (I believe he was testing resistance / determining if there was something leaking power) , pops determined that there was some kind of leak coming from the distribution box. With the distribution box connected we pulled each fuse/relay to see if it would stop the leak.
Well we got to the last fuse in slot #1, which is apparently for the "I/P fuse panel" located inside the truck, and after removing it, the meter leak would go away. Tested the fuse in slot #1, not blown. Repeated previous test by removing each fuse in the I/P fuse panel to see what was causing the leak. We tried all the fuses, but it made no difference. We are stumped. Any suggestions? Let me know if there is anything else I can add or elaborate on.
I have a 2003 Ford Ranger xlt 4.0 with a manual transmission. Yesterday I started the truck up, drove 5 minutes down the road to the store, went to start it back up and nothing but clicks, dim dash lights, and dim dome lights when attempting to start. If you wait ~40 seconds after trying to start the truck without doing anything else, the dash lights and dome lights will return to their usual brightness, the battery light will light up, as well as the check gauge light. If you try to start the truck again, the lights will dim, and it (the starter I think) clicks.
This has happened before and it wound up being corrosion on the ground terminal lead on the battery. I cleaned all terminals, no luck. I Figured it must have just been a dead battery, had a friend try to jump the truck, no luck. Got the truck towed home and started trouble shooting. Removed the starter and had it bench tested, works mint (it should its only a few months old). Grabbed an ignition switch as well as a new cable to replace the old ground going from the battery to the starter. New cable, new starter switch, working starter, truck still wont start. Put the battery on a charger, says its charged. To rule out possibly dead cells or a bad battery Tried to use to the battery chargers "start mode" (75amps) to start the truck connected directly to the leads while they were disconnected from the battery, same result, truck wont start. However, while the battery charger is attached the speedometer, tachometer will bounce like crazy, the odometer at one point started adding miles to the truck (just my luck). Had my dad pull out the multi meter and we got to testing.
I will preface this by saying I have idea what I am doing when it comes to this electrical nonsense, that is my dads wheel house. I will try to explain what we did as best I can. The battery reads ~12 volts, power to the starter reads ~12 volts (cheapo meter cant determine how much current the starter is getting). When trying to start the voltage will drop to ~ 4 - 5 volts then goes back up to 12 volts. We then disconnected both leads to the battery, the power lead on the starter, and the power lead on the alternator, and the lead that goes into the distribution box. After some testing (I believe he was testing resistance / determining if there was something leaking power) , pops determined that there was some kind of leak coming from the distribution box. With the distribution box connected we pulled each fuse/relay to see if it would stop the leak.
Well we got to the last fuse in slot #1, which is apparently for the "I/P fuse panel" located inside the truck, and after removing it, the meter leak would go away. Tested the fuse in slot #1, not blown. Repeated previous test by removing each fuse in the I/P fuse panel to see what was causing the leak. We tried all the fuses, but it made no difference. We are stumped. Any suggestions? Let me know if there is anything else I can add or elaborate on.
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