well. it's 16*, i think, perhaps i am being generous. anyhow, i limped the truck home yesterday and began diagnosis today. alas, it is too cold to really do much, but i have narrowed it down to an electrical ground issue that is interfering with the ignition. the problem took 2 days to completely rear its ugly face. just wanting to get some ideas while i let it sit outside and think about what it has done.

truck runs great, starts easy, even in very cold weather. everything is hunky dorey until anything electrical is put in use. brake lights, head lights, blower motor etc. then the truck loses its **** and begins misfiring and such. video provided. ideas?


also - yes, i'm aware it has an exhaust leak. carry on.

edit - 88 f250 4x4 5.8 zf5

 

What does your volts gauge show when you turn the fan on as you did in the video? I would be guessing you have a bad alternator.

 

volt gauge is inop. my multimeter says it's charging 13.8-14.1v and the battery is static 12.5ish. i have driven the truck with that condition (less frequent at the time) over a span of 3 weeks. it sat all week then fired up instantly in single digit weather. i am going to ground the fuse box tomorrow possibly and see if it changes anything. i spent 45 min outside today verifying fuel/spark upset i couldnt recreate the issue as it ran perfect. i hopped in it and kicked on the heat to warm up and about **** a brick.

edit: i couldn't monitor the volts while it was acting up. i'm by myself and the meter i have is small and difficult to read unless you're right on top of it.

 

conclusion: i hunter around the engine bay and found a random broken ground wire going back into the firewall. i repaired it and wallah, back to normal. ill delve into that soon. on a positive note; the truck sat untouched in the driveway since that video was shot and fired up instantly last sunday. ill report back the origination of said ground wire.