Ford 7.3L Power Stroke (1999-2003) :: Battery Light Came On And Would Flicker
Dec 18, 2015
Battery light came on about two months ago it would flicker. So i had Auto zone check it out batteries were good just needed a charge. so i charged them no fix so i said alright ill do the Alternator did that and then beginning of this week it happened again so checked it went back got a replacement alternator since they said it tested bad. Put the new one on and didnt change anything. Check my batteries they were reading 10v each. I charged them and they wouldn't hold a charge. so i replacement both batteries.
So i have a new alternator and two new batteries light is still on. Contacted my tech (whose a friend) he said to check the wiring going to the alt he said both wires should read 12v on constant other when the key is turned on. Tested the constant it has 12v other reads 6-8v with key on.
He also said sometimes the wiring on the X pipe can short the alternator? i unhooked all the wiring from the Xpipe nothing changed per battery light being on or off. So what should i do.?
Also my dash lights don't work but that's been like that for awhile (bulbs are all good).. Forgot to mention sometimes the light goes off but seems to stay on 90% of the time.
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I bought a 7.3 f250 with 300k mi. It had a battery light on but didn't show any signs of trouble. Eventually started dropping volts a few days later and I replaced the alternator. The light is still on and flickers in time with the idle of the truck and sometimes goes out when I'm on the gas pedal. Some nights when the lights are on the voltage drops ever so slowly until its drained. Why the new alternator didn't fix the problem? NAPA's scanner says the truck has 12.4V at idle and 12.1V at idle with the lights on. Batteries are relatively new and test fine, dual Interstate Mega-tron Plus batteries-top of the line.
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New ghost in the machine.
Pulled out of the driveway two days ago to go trailer a wrecked car home. Got about half a mile up the road, and my electrical system started flickering. Engine died, dash went nuts, everything is clicking on and off real fast. This went on for a minute or two, then stopped. After a little internal debate, I decided to continue on.
Ran fine for another mile or so. Hitched up the trailer and checked the lights, everything A-OK. Started rolling down the lane and the truck went dark. Engine shut down, no sign of electrical power anywhere. It was as if my batteries had been suddenly abducted by aliens. Truck stayed dark for about 5 - 10 seconds, then like a switch was thrown all the electric came back on. Dropped the trailer and drove back to the house without incident. Not towing a car like this.
Checked the battery connections. Looked really good and tight. Pulled and cleaned them anyways.
Pulled the fuse box out from under the dash and looked for water damage. Absolutely no sign of moisture or corrosion anywhere on the box or anything else under the dash.
Started the truck and turned every electrical item I could think of on. Truck sat and idled for 15 minutes without a hiccup. Voltage at the batteries was normal. I wiggled wires everywhere with no effect.
Decided to quit for the night. Got into the truck to move it to it's parking spot and POOF, all went dark again. Engine died, heater blower, radio, headlights, interior lights, all dark. About 5 seconds later, everything came back online.
No CEL. No other symptoms. She was either running perfectly or had no juice at all.
I drove it last night to the mechanic I use. 7 miles, bumps, potholes, stop and go traffic, no issues.
Just spoke with the mechanic. They can't reproduce the problem. I told him I can't reproduce it on demand either. I asked that they put it up on the rack and check all the ground points.
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I have an odd issue, 2003 7.3L f250 ... My battery light flickers on and off, I had the alternator tested at a alt rebuild sale place here locally, I don't always trust the auto zone techs, also had the batteries tested at interstate batteries. both batteries good, alternator good.
I think my connector is bad on my alt, not the one that goes to the battery, output is 13.8 to 14.1 btw......there is another connector that is a PITA to get off. I think it is bad, I played with it and applied some dielectric grease had the light go out when I wiggled it.
Can just the connector be replaced?
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The past few weeks the dashboard warning light for my alternator/battery will occasionally light up while driving down the road. Whenever it does, my plug in voltage meter shows a healthy 14.x reading. It usually goes out after a few seconds, but will stay lit up for as much as thirty seconds. So other than voltage being too high or too low, what else will cause the dash trouble light to illuminate?
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External LED hooked to GPR
I have gone through around 7 alternators in the past 18 months. I currently have a new NAPA alt and new interstate batteries. Today I noticed that my battery light is on again. I also noticed that my yellow squiggly Glow Plug inrush dash light was on at the same time. However, I do not believe that my GPR was active BECAUSE... I have an external red LED that lights up any time my GPR is active. When my GP dash light came on my external light was off. I had just driven 26 miles and my truck is warm and the outside temp is around 70 Fahrenheit.
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My battery light come on this morning. The volt meter is sitting right where it always has though. I noticed that the battery light is kind of pulsating with rpm and at idle its very very dim.
E99 F-250 PSD ....
Where should I start?
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In the last couple of days my battery light comes on after about 30 mins of steady driving. I have no starting issues as of late. Batteries have been tested under load and checked out okay. Alternator is a few months old. Other than the battery light coming on there no other
problems, yet. Is my alternator over charging? A couple of month ago my truck would shut off when I turned a/c or heater on in the mornings. My alternator was over charging. After I replaced it I had no more problems. Could any of this be related to the life time led bulbs that I'm using?
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Alternator locked up in a parking lot. Replaced it and had to replace pigtail due to a loose wire in the harness. Now battery light comes on intermittently. New alternator is doing fine producing anywhere from 13.9v to. 14.4v. No output voltage correlation to battery light at all. The belt is still in great shape so I don't suspect slipping. Fortunately I caught the old one locking up almost immediately and had recently replaced the belt. Output voltage looks great. Are there any fuses for alternator?
Only thing I can think of that I did...when splicing in the pigtail that connects to the alternator, I briefly grounded whatever wire in the pigtail is hot. Was just a split second, but enough to see a spark and maybe enough to blow a fuse? I've seen people reference an "under hood" fuse box, but I don't seem to have one. My truck is a 2002 CC with just over 100k on the clock.
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I have a 99 f350 7.3l 4x4 and my battery light flickers randomly. I have checked the alternator and both battery's. All brand new and seems to be ok. They only are getting a charge when the battery light is flickering. I put both new batteries in on Thursday and on Sunday I needed a jump at the store.
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Bit of a confusing one as of late. Doesn't happen every time I drive, maybe 50% of the time. When I start the truck up, torque pro reads voltage at 13.9-14.1 consistent. After 30 minutes it usually drops to around 13.7/13.8. Sometimes, battery light comes on, voltage doesn't drop. I can drive the truck, park it, turn it off, restart, no side effects.
I notice if I stop, turn off the truck, and restart it, torq pro will begin to read a voltage of 12.8.13.0. Sometimes it won't budge for an hour, sometimes it climbs right back up to 13.8, sometimes the battery light goes off, sometimes it stays on.
Alternator was replaced a month ago, both batteries replaced a week ago, all terminals cleaned and secured at the time of replacement. Truck behaves perfectly normal, I'm almost at the point of putting a piece of tape over the light and ignoring it, but was curious before I go that route.
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Had a bad alternator, changed it, and now the battery lite stays on all the time..Changed the alternator again with a known good one, and the light is still on all the time..
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Battery light comes on when the truck is running at less than about 1200rpm, but I see zero movement on the needle. Weird thing is i charged the batteries and tested the alternator with my multimeter and it was reading 14.1-14.2 which is nominal. Run it for about 10 min then it reads 12.3-12.8
I'm thinking a bad cell in the battery or alternator is going out. Oh and all the connections are tight, wires look good. 2001 f250 4wd 7.3 intake exhaust basic tuner gauges. Could the constant heat be a factor?
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The brief information:
1. Stuck/non moving in traffic on the freeway for roughly 1 1/2. During that time the AC was running, but once I noticed my "battery light" on the dash turn on, I turned everything off.
2. Since then while on my way home from work the voltage meter only showed barely 12 volts at full throttle.
3. I charged my battteries, and started it up today to go into work. While going to work the voltage meter showed 14 at its high point, but shortly there after it dropped back down to 12. At which time the battery light came back on.
New battery or alternator?
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I have a 2003 F 350 Crewcab 6.0 liter SD. I was preparing my truck for the first haul of the Summer. I noticed that my batteries were on their way out after 2 years old. I replaced them and noticed I had an intermittent battery light coming on/off on/off. It seemed like only at lower RPMs. So the day of my trip, I ended up changing out the alternator.
The trip went fine, however, I noticed that pesky battery light came on and then off a few times. I also got a hot plastic type smell from the front of my truck.....you know that hot plastic smell Anyway, I got home just fine. Via Torque Pro, my battery volts were reading 12.2ish when my battery light came on, but then would quickly return to 13.9.
Since I"ve been home, I have read about fixing the grounding points for our trucks and also adding a second ground wire and a second hot wire from battery to battery. I can not find exactly where the ground's lead to. I still have that fricking battery light coming on .....more often that not. How to chase this problem.
First I need to find out where the ground wires go to. My volts of recent have been reading 11.5-12ish when the truck is running and the friggin battery light is on. I did search and found a few links to this problem, but where to find the grounding points.
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Is there a different battery box or better battery holder for the driver side without all the air filter housing stuff. I had an AFE Big boost filter and when I modified the stock battery box it still had the bottom section of the air filter compartment well after about 4-5 years I was cleaning the filter today and there was a hole rubbed in the filter from moving around and the pre filter is getting holes wore through it. So I cut the air box part off so now the filter will sit on the fiberglass stuff on the fender well. I ordered a couple of the new Blue Donaldsons from RiffRaff to replace the Big Boost filter. The modified filter box looks kinda like a hack job because all I had was a cut off wheel and the plastic got hot and now I have melted buggers all over it. I thought I saw somethin a long time ago about a battery holder out of a van that was just the bottom plate but can't find it anywhere now.
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I do run a small battery maintainer during the winter months plugged into a three way with the block heater. Alright after sitting out side for approx 9-10 hrs in 22 degree weather I did these checks. Battery voltages at 12.55V and 12.6V on batteries.
Voltage coming into for was also 12.5V. When glow plugs activated I am getting 11V on the other side of the gpr. After cycling glow plugs battery voltages drop to 9.6V during cranking and as soon as she starts back to 12.5V.
Do these numbers sounds right? In my opinion isn't the drop to 9.6V during cranking a little low or is that the normal?
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I was changing out the hydroboost and left the passenger battery connected, the positive terminal on the driver side sparked and now the trucks having a hard time starting? What should I check? Fuse or somthing else
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What gauge wires the battery cables are on these trucks? Son in law has some really corroded cables on the Excursion. I was going to pick up some welding cable and replace them, but a quick glance looks like different sizes for different cables.
Looking for a list of gauge and length for each one to save me a little time?
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Got new batteries installed yesterday and found that the passenger side battery has a nearly broken positive terminal. Had to handle it very gently.
Don't want to replace the entire battery cable just to get the terminal. Using bolt-on replacement terminals? What did you go with and where can it be found?
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One of my batteries on my van is on the frame rail. The box rusted out so I routed the battery into the back of the van for now. The van wouldn't start because the batteries were low. I charged the battery in the front engine bay overnight but it did not charge the 2nd battery, does that mean there's a disconnect between the two batteries? I thought they were in parallel.
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