i crossed a wire on my trailer harness and now truck is at 7volts

[youngbuckwithapickuptruck]

i had my headlights on and i was cleaning my 4pin trailer light wire harness with a wire brush and crossed the ground to running lights and saw a little spark. now my trucks voltage at the battery sits at 7volts. but when i switch the headlights off, the battery voltage jumps back to 12volts.

i visually examined all my fuses in the cab and under the hood and they all look fine, what is the next step for troubleshooting?

do i need to be weary of starting my truck up with head lights off and then switching the headlights on while truck is running?

 

[RobbieD]

It might just be that your battery has a low charge. Start the truck and let it run to charge the battery. While it's running then test all of the light systems, head, parking, turn, backup, for proper operation. I can think of no reason to be wary of from turning on the headlights while the truck is running.

 

[Uncle Gump]

One would think the park lamp fuse would have blown. Do the park lamps still work?

I agree with it sounds like your battery is low... and what you're saying makes no logical sense

 

[youngbuckwithapickuptruck]

update:

i left battery plugged in and headlights on for about 60-90minutes while i asked the internet what happened. in that time it drained the battery down to 7volts. seems like truck was pulling a lot of power in those 90minutes and im worried i may have caused more damage... im gonna pedal the battery to autozone so they can charge it for me

 

[RobbieD]

Don't trust anybody from the Government.

Don't trust anybody over 30.

Don't trust the internet.


You probably just ran the battery down.

Most likely- the wire brush didn't provide enough of an electrical contact to create a dead short, so it didn't blow any fuses.

Headlights are a major current draw- the battery ran down with them on for that long without the engine running.

Get the battery charged, then check your light systems. You're probably worrying about problems that simply aren't there.

Once that's done, if something don't work, THEN we can start troubleshooting.


Take a deep breath; it'll be OK. Good luck!