Hi, I have a2002 F250 extended cab, 4x4, with a 5.4 engine. It currently has around 88kmiles on it and has been a great truck. Last week I took it in for an oilchange. I made three stops with the truck after the oil change with no problem.As I am driving down my street to return home the truck shuts off. As if thekey was turned off. The gauges, radio, engine, and etc. all turned off. I didnot give it much thought and shifted it into neutral and restarted the truckand finished my trip home. The next morning I get into the truck to go to workand I notice no dome light. But, as I am sitting there with the door open Istart to hear to relays making noise and power very slowly starts to come back.I start the truck and it ran for a few seconds and then shuts off just likewhen I was driving. Messed with truck yesterday and now it will not even start.The power is still slow to come back. Also, now when I turn the ignition on thegauges will just turn on and off. They keep resetting or sweeping. Not sure thecorrect term. The battery is only a few months old and my volt meter say it hasover 12 volts. Any ideas what could be causing this? Thanks in advance for yourhelp.

 

Sounds like a dead/non-charging battery or a bad battery/ground connection.

Measure the battery voltage with a real meter and see what it reads.

 

Go for the ground cables/straps. The best tool for chasing electrical issues such as this is the Digital Volt Ohm Meter and the electrical diagram to find the ground mounts.

Remove the ground cable (battery and frame/engine end), set the DVOM to Ohms and measure the resistance. It shouldn't have a high number (more than five) nor should the meter screen say OL. Either condition is a bad cable. While you have it out, look at the terminals for corrosion/junk and clean them.

BEFORE putting the cable back in -with the meter still set to Ohms- touch the engine/frame mount point with a lead and the engine/frame (whichever end is NOT the mount point) with the other. If there is a bad strap, you'll get either an OL or high number reading as the engine mounts contain rubber which is an insulator.

Repeat the cable test on the positive cable once the ground has been cleared, just to be certain the issue is not doubled up there.

If the cables pass and the problem persists, now it's time to clean/check the ground mounts in the engine bay.

Oh, one rather major caution: don't use the DVOM to measure AMPs on the battery! The internal fuse is only rated at 11 AMP, and trying such with a 600 or so Cold Cranking Amp battery will pop it. The fuses are not cheap either, going for something like twenty bucks a piece last I heard.

 

Thanks for all the help. I checked out most of what you guys mentioned. But, still did not have any luck. I ended up taking my truck to Marv's Auto Electric Repair in Shelby Township, MI. If your having any electrical problems this is the place to take your vehicle if you live in the area. He ended up replacing a piece of wiring harness under the hood by the drivers side wheel well. Good to go now! Thanks again for the help.