Ford F-150 - 1997-2003 :: Battery Maintainer In Cold Weather?
Mar 2, 2014
A problem with having a 12 volt battery maintainer hooked up to your truck when not being used for a few weeks? In this cold weather the new battery keeps drawing down while not in use and is slow to turn over after 1 1/2 weeks or so? I think the maintainers charge at about 1.5 amps. I wonder if that can keep up with all the parasitic draws: PCM, radio presets & clock, remote door lock system, and factory security system and keep the battery topped off as well?
Also, is there any problem with putting a charge on a battery when the cables are still hooked up to the trucks electrical system with either a maintainer or a full size charger, Example: screwing up the PCM?
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I have a 1999 Ford F-150 XLT, with the 5.4 and a 4spd auto. 172,XXX miles on the clock and i have owned it starting on April of 2014.
Tonight driving home from work, it took some time on the highway (4 miles) to shift into top gear. When you lift off the gas pedal after reaching the speed limit, normally the truck will shift from 3rd to 4th no problem. When I let off the pedal, there was no gear change.
It took sometime for it to shift up. When downshifting on the exit ramp, there was nothing abnormal. Where I live it is 19 Degrees Fahrenheit and this is the beginning of the cold snap that will last well into mid-January of next year.
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Have a 2001 F150 FX4x4 and since the weather changed and started having days below 40 the truck has started running rough for about the first 15-20 miles. When you first start it starts like normal for first 3-5 min and then it starts loping real bad like it has a cam in it!
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After checking out most of the many threads about battery maintenance etc. I couldn't find anyone mentioning how to keep the trunk closed and still hook up battery maintainer....would also be interested in specific model of small safe maintainer. Maybe removing the Ski bag and running out through one of the back windows ????? I don't drive the V8 Nar but about once a week for short trips in winter especially.
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Just bought a CTEK for the SC430 along with the 8ft extension cord. Car doesn't get much use during the snow/ice season.
How you did your install and routed the wiring? I would rather not keep the hood up during charging.
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My car is eating up battery power: only when outside is cold, below 10 C,something very strange, in summer days there is no battery draining, my climate stays adjusted at 19 C, but now is very cold and I make it 25 C,and then it is the mystery: the battery is draining for 2-3 hours below 10V?
I made some tricks:
-when the car i turned off while climate is set to 25C(or above 24C)-the battery is draining very fast, second battery relay switches on and I can turn the ignition on only with the key in!
-when the car is turned off while the climate is set to 18C(or below 24C) the battery drain is very small???
So does something turn on while the car is locked,or something is trying to keep any temperature inside? I double checked if AUX heating is off,and it is off,I don't have parking heater or anything. Another thing I notice is when I turn on the rear seats climatronic above 24C the voltmeter goes from 14V to 13V and stays there for a 5-10 min,if I turn off the rear seats climatronic or set it below 24V the voltmeter gets back to 14V?
Whats is happening with the car?
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I got a new Prius Plug-in 2012 and when the cold weather came this winter, which isn't that cold at 40F, the 12v battery seems to get discharged very often. This week, I must have jumpstarted the car twice already. The 12v battery seems to get drained when I park outside in the (not so) cold, or when I park underground for hours. I also notice that the traction battery gets filled up; it's as if the 12v battery drains into the traction battery.
(I leased a Prius 2010, not plug-in, for 3 years and this never happened even if I parked it for days in even colder weather.)
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I have an 1997 F150/4.2 V6/220,000 miles/4x2. During hot weather (over 90F) the engine slowly overheats. While driving on the interstate (from Indy to Fort Wayne), the coolant temperature shows normal on the gauge. Slowly the temperature gauge creeps up to close to the red area. I am running the A/C.
When I switch the heater on and the heater fan at max, the temperature gauge drops pretty quickly to a normal range. I switch off the heater and the A/C back on, then it takes 30 minutes for the temperature gauge to start rising again.
When I open the hood when the gauge shows close to the red area, the upper coolant hose has a lot of pressure (can not squeeze it), which would mean that the thermostat is open and the water pump is working. Also the fan is running fast.
The coolant was changed out a few weeks ago and the coolant level is at normal level when the engine is cold. At lower ambient temperatures, there is no overheating. I am puzzled what the problem can be. I am thinking of a restricted coolant flow.
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Does the 2002 7.3 have an automatic high idle in cold weather?When you start it after it runs for a few moments it goes into high idle until you hit the accelerator. I had a 96 powerstroke before this one,it didn't do this. Just wondering?
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Ok I've been getting a intermittent misfire on my truck for soem time now. It ran great all winter but now its getting hotter it intermittently misses. Last summer I replaced all the coils. And the coil inquestion now was replaced since last summer with Motor Craft Coil. I have red the check Engine Codes a d here is the freeze Fram data
DTC :P0351
Fuel System I : Closed Loop
Calculated Load: 71.37%
Engine Coolent temp: 199.4 F
Short Term Fuel Trim Bank 1 : 3.91%
Long Term Fuel Trim Bank 1: 0.78%
Short term Fuel Trim Bank 2: 6.25%
Long Term Fuel Trim Bank 2: 0.78%
Engine RPM :1613.25
Vehicle Speed Sensor: 4.35 MPH
What might be my problem? Since The Short Tem Fuel trim from bank 1 and Bank two are vastly different could that mean my fuel injector is not working correctly?
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I have the LED mod and several weeks ago, my LED stopped indicating and the truck would not start in cold weather unless I jumped the terminal on the relay. I replaced the relay and while I was tightening one of the small lugs, the one towards the nose of the truck, I felt it break.
The truck acted just like it had been for the weeks prior, if I didn't jump the relay, it wouldn't cold start, so I assumed, because I had broken that small lug, it wasn't getting the signal to turn them on.
So what now? obviously the GP's themselves are working, as the truck starts when I jump them. But for some reason no signal is getting to the relay. What do I need to check to see what is going on between the PCM and the relay?
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2001 F150! It does this weird little surge, burping and farting away...but only in ambient heat. The engine never gets hot, it never over heats. What have we done? A full tuneup with new plugs and boots, oil change, new air filter, gas filter. It did it again...took it back in and had the fuel pressure checked, fuel injectors are fine...it can't be the fuel pump, it runs great unless it is hot weather. It has twice blown the P0171 system lean bank 1 code and has gone away after the tuneup and again after the new o2 sensor. It runs great, except in hot weather, starts surging and losing power...
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I have an 1997 F150/4.2 V6/220,000 miles/4x2. During hot weather (over 90F) the engine slowly overheats. While driving on the interstate (from Indy to Fort Wayne), the coolant temperature shows normal on the gauge. Slowly the temperature gage creeps up to close to the red area. I am running the A/C.
When I switch the heater on and the heater fan at max, the temperature gauge drops pretty quickly to a normal range. I switch off the heater and the A/C back on, then it takes 30 minutes for the temperature gauge to start rising again.
When I open the hood when the gage shows close to the red area, the upper coolant hose has a lot of pressure (cannot squeeze it), which would mean that the thermostat is open and the waterpump is working. Also the fan is running fast. The coolant was changed out a few weeks ago and the coolant level is at normal level when the engine is cold. At lower ambient temperatures, there is no overheating. I am puzzled what the problem can be. I am thinking of a restricted coolant flow. Looking for solutions to my problem.
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I've got a 2001 F150 and lately, since the weather has warmed up, I've had a problem. After a few minutes on the road, the engine seems to be lacking power and is running hard. It also seems to shake a bit too. It's not overheating and the gauges don't show signs of high temp. My drive to work is 40 minutes and by the last 10 or 15 minutes it seems to be OK. ... A month or so ago when the weather was cold, I had problems keeping coolant due to leaks but that problem seems to have diminished. I don't know if any of that is connected to the original problem or not.
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I have a 1997 f-150, V-6 absolutely base model, a shade under 80,000 miles. I'm the second owner, and the truck was previously garaged most of the time but now sits out in the driveway. The truck has developed an issue where it will be increasingly hard to start (crank crank crank, intermittent cough) after it sits out in hot weather, which is a problem here in Southern California. When the problem is really bad, it can take all day to get it started (try, wait a bit, try again, etc.). When it does finally catch, it sometimes backfires, idles rough for a few seconds then runs like a champ. I can turn it off and restart it immediately, I can let it sit for an hour or three and restart it, but if it sits out in hot weather it gets increasingly hard to start.
I've scoured various forums, and I've tried every solution I can find. Cycling the key to get fuel in the rail, opening the hood to cool off the engine cavity, trying to start it before it gets hot outside, etc. The truck *is* throwing code p0443, and scouring other forums I think that's either the evap canister purge valve, which my last mechanic replaced, or possibly the charcoal canister, which has not been replaced, but I don't know if that could be contributing (the truck was throwing that code before the hard start developed).
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My 120,000 mile 2003 VW Jetta will not start in cold weather. It starts fine when the temperatures are in the 30s, sporadically in the 20s and not at all in the teens and single digits. When I turn the key, the engine does nothing; it does not crank. Three mechanics have not been able to figure out the problem.
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My 2003 Camry LE is normally parked in our garage in Southern California so we have no problems. We have gone a few times to Utah, Arizona and other areas in So. Calif when it was very cold and had our alarm go off in the middle of the night. We turn it off and then it keep going off until we start driving it. Dealer doesn't want to disconnect alarm.
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When the weather gets really cold (below 30) I intermittently smell a gas/exhaust smell in the cabin but also on the exterior. I have on two occasions had my mechanic check this and each time he has replaced an "old and cracked" hose.
He has to use the smoke tracer to find where it is leaking and replacing hose. On both occasions he urged me to make the repair immediately as it could be extremely dangerous. (Makes sense if I am smelling gas.)
I am wondering if this could be an exhaust/heating system problem. The car is 11 years old with 120K miles and I want to keep it running a few more years. I am due for front brakes and new tires soon...
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My 2003 VW Jetta TDI has a major problem. The engine has likely been damaged by an oil leak that was not discovered until the oil ran out. I now have much reduced compression (340lbs or less) and the car doesn't like to start in cold weather and when it does it smokes much. I need to know if it is worth rebuilding and, if so, where I might have this work done.
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Not mine, but the guy claims his trucks battery light and CEL are on with the key off??? He's battery goes dead (it is new) and only 12.3 volts running with it revved up. My inclination would be alternator, but how can those 2 light in the dash be on with the key off? He did replace the ignition switch.... nothing ...same condition.
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I have a 2003 F150. When the temperature is hot outside and I have the air conditioner on the Gauge will sweep and the ABS light and battery light will go on. The battery gauge will go to high charge. When RPM is dropped (idle) or when the RPMs are increased to pass a vehicle, everything returns to normal. Power windows will not work but all other functions due. It will boil my battery if ran to long like this. I have changed the alternation and battery. Only happens in the summer?
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