electrical issues

stinger26 · January 5, 2007

So today my truck threw something new at me. I was out driving and came home. Shut the engine off and went to the ACC position and was listening to the stereo for awhile. I cut the key off and opened the door and noticed my dome light didn't come on. Thought it was the override, but it wasn't. I thought what the hell, so I put the key back in the ignition, went to turn, and nothing. Everything was dead. So I pop the hood and slam the door behind me and I notice like all the gauges on the dash reset, meaning the needles jump and went back into their positions. Well I now had lights and the truck started right up.

However, I noticed the dash lights were a little dim and the panel where it shows your transmission settings (P,R,N,D,etc.) was flickering a bit as well as the dome light. My radio clock was also reset. There was also a very audible whirring coming from the engine bay (alternator maybe). Putting accessories on like high beams and the rear defrost caused the voltage gauge to jump around quite a bit, more than I have ever noticed. Still puzzled, I cut the truck off again, and the same thing happened. Lost lights and power, but a few seconds later they came back on. So I started the truck up again, it came on, but died out about 3 seconds later. Started again, it came on and ran fine with no noticeable dimming or anything.

So still wondering what the hell might be going on, I came on here and did some searching. I found out about the positive battery post thing and the bolt maybe bottoming out. So I'm thinking this might be the problem. Cuz afterwards, I went and cranked the truck up and started pulling on the pos terminal right at the battery and I could see my hood light flickering around, and a few times it seems like the engine wanted to die. Or maybe the cable is corroded. I don't know, it was dark and cool out so I'm gonna leave it til tomorrow.

I bought the truck back in August, and the previous owner must have put a Wal-Mart battery on there (EverStart). When I was adding amps a few weeks after I bought it, I had to remove the pos terminal to hook my amps power wire up. I'm thinking maybe the lead washer if its on there got crushed and it finally started bottoming. I was hitting a lot of rough back roads before I came home today. So maybe something started hitting. Whenever I slammed the door or popped the hood, it seemed like I would either lose power or get it back.

I know this is a long post, but I just want to know if anybody has ever had this problem before. I'm thinking it might be the pos post, and I will mess with it tomorrow after work, but if anyone has any experiences with the post or anything that I have described, I would like to hear it. Thanks for reading.

kdm101 · January 5, 2007

Battery connection gone bad most likely. I had this happen too. The positive post on the battery was completely cracked and broke off with the cable (was also leaking acid too). If the cables are still in good shape, then the battery itself is damaged.

Rolandd · January 5, 2007

You most likely have a bad battery connection. However, be sure to check that the wire on the back of the alternator is tight and looks clean, that the alternator is bolted securely to the engine, that the battery connection to the engine block is clean and tight, and that there is a connection between the battery ground and the body (some trucks have a ground strap from the engine to the body, others have two wires to the neg terminal, one heavy and one smaller). You can also check to make sure that the frame-body ground strap is in good shape. On my '05 this connection is on the passenger side at about the back of the seat but under the truck.

Normally battery terminals are the only thing that needs service. However, if they are fine you can go crazy trying to track down an intermittent electrical issue. In general look for any connection that seems corroded or loose and clean and tighten it. If the connection looks good do not disturb it unless you are out of other ideas.