Hi guys ,

So I was driving aropund with the old girl yesterday and she went dead on me as I turned the corner. good thing caaa is 24/7. When i poped the hood I My first response was to check my positive battery terminal as I had no power inside my cab. Checked the positive terminal had a solid good connection I moved on to the negative. As soon as i touched the terminal it arked , flashed and sprayed sparks all over the engine bay. I also noticed a flash down at the exhaust manifold on the second most rear spark plug. This is a 5.0L by the way. I took the boot off and tried it again this time the terminal tried to weld itself to the post and the and the area right of the spark plug started to glow red hot! I mmmediatley took of the leads and called caa any thoughts?

 

The negative cable bolts to the block at the front. If you were dealing with a cable near the rear of the motor, that is your positive lead to the starter. Is your battery hooked up backwards?

 

battery is not hooked up backwards have bin driving the truck for 4 years with no issues until yesterday. the sparks and glowing shoot from cylinder number 3 . The battery terminals are in greeat shape and also the ground strap from the block to the fender is also in good working order. There is no power inside the cab at all , no lights , no gauges , no door chime nothing. its like i turned the corner and the truck just died. A bit of a sputter / fart type backfire and then dead.

 

Sounds like the exhaust manifold heat has burned through the insulation and the large POS (+) cable and has shorted to the exhaust manifold or block or cable support.

That ground strap from the block to the fender (firewall) is for the radio and not meant to carry current.

 

Thanks for the info, will def take a look at it and post back .

 

2x on that, been there, done it. Just make sure the starter power cable is not hitting the hot exhaust manifold.