93 ranger major electrical issues

[parisot]

I recently picked up a 93 ranger, extended cab, 4.0, automatic tranny, 4x4. And to say the least, it has electrical problems.

The truck starts up no problem, runs pretty healthy, but sometimes it will lose electrical power. The headlights will dim so much that cars flash their lights at me thinking that I don’t have any lights on. The radio, blower motor, gauge cluster will all lose power as well. Sometimes hitting a bump will cause everything to start working again.

A new alternator was put in 2 months ago when the battery stopped taking a charge and as an attempt to fix the problem, but apparently that wasn’t it (but it did fix the battery charging issue). Has anyone had similar problems to this or have any suggestions on how to start troubleshooting this?

Thanks

 

[strvger]

if hitting a bump gets it working, i'd be looking for a loose ground 1st. especially the ones from the battery and solenoid. then double check all the main power leads (again battery, solenoid, and alternator) making sure they are tight and not corroded.. hopefully, you'll find the problem there.

 

[Earl43P]

If you need ANY schematics for that year, send me a PM.

Should be helpful if you have a meter and a little electrical savvy.

 

[parisot]

if hitting a bump gets it working, i'd be looking for a loose ground 1st. especially the ones from the battery and solenoid. then double check all the main power leads (again battery, solenoid, and alternator) making sure they are tight and not corroded.. hopefully, you'll find the problem there.

ok, i will start there tomorrow when its light out. thanks for the idea, will let you know if that was it.

Also, Earl43P, i will take you up on those wiring schematics. PM Sent

Thanks for the help so far

 

[parisot]

well two days ago I had a brake line failure. So I spent yesterday replacing the one that broke. After I finished replacing it, I discovered that another was leaking.

Brakes are fixed now, now I can continue hunting for this electrical issue.

 

[alabamafrog]

My boy has a Ford T-bird and it started acting “really funny” as he described it. Long story short he had backed into a pole at school and apparently hit so hard that the battery pulled the ground wire loose from the frame. It was a small wire and the copper broke inside the insulation so it “looked” just fine but was not making connection. The engine ground strap was missing so that the battery was connected to the engine and the frame of the car was getting grounded through a worn motor mount. Anytime the motor would torque up and pull off the mount the computer and all other frame grounded stuff would loose power, thus killing the engine and letting it fall back down which caused it to reground and torque right back up again. That one was a fun one to sit and think about.
Anyways, just trying to say that grounds are important and to test them not just look at them.

 

[parisot]

Good news, I think I fixed it. This morning when I started the truck up, the voltage gauge in the truck was bouncing around and the dome light and head lights were flickering. I made up a wire with alligator clips on both ends and clipped one end to the negative batter terminal and began touching the other end on different grounds. Finally I touched it to the solenoid and it sparked.

I left the wire clipped on there for my drive in to work today and didn’t have any issues. Haven’t had a chance to inspect the wire that is supposed to be making the connection there, but apparently it has an intermittent short.

Thanks for your help