Here is one for you...........

97 F150. Came home last night, no problems. Truck ran fine, no indication of any problems. Go out this morning, truck wont start, and relays going crazy! Disconnect the battery for a few minutes, and things seem fine........until I put the key in to try to start it. It would go "click" and the relays would go crazy and again. Pull the battery again, wait a few minutes and things seem normal. Just for fun, put the key in, door open and the chimes come on, (normal). Rotate the key to Accs. position, everything again sounds and appears normal. rotate the key to off, remove it and everything is off. (again normal) Turn the key to on, and the panel lights up, (normal). Rotate to start, hear "click", and the relays go crazy again.

Any ideas on this one????????? BTW it is a bright sunny day, no rain in the past few so I don't suspect a GEM problem. But who knows.

 

Turn the light on and see if they shine bright with engine off, if they don't your battery is dead or dying. When the voltage gets low the relays will chatter and click.

 

horseman1 is right. The battery is dead and needs to be replace make sure you don't leave your keys in the truck because most on the time when you relays go crazy your doors will lock.

 

Nope. Not the battery. Have 14.5 at the posts. Have also put the battery in another vehicle, Getting full volts and amps.

Here is another piece of info....... The entire electrical now appears dead. Has chacked all the fuses and relays. If I disconnect the battery for 5 to 10 min. then hook it back up, as long as I do not put the key in the ignition switch the dome lights come on with the door open. As soon as the key is put in the relays start clicking and the dome light goes off, then abolutly nothing.

 

Found the problem. Not the battery, but a bad ground between the battery post and the main grounding point on the firewall.

Thanks for the help. Sometimes it helps just hearing about other possible alternatives.

 

Was it not tight or was the inside copper corroded? The inside strands can cause a major Pain.

 

I was reading this problem just now and was going to suggest a ground cable! I had the exact problem on my 85 F-150. Funny how problems can be the same in different trucks years apart. Glad you got it fixed!

-Matt

 

It was the inside copper. No external clues as to the corrosion. It always helps to have a good meter!!!!

 

I just bought a '74 f150. the guy told me the engine was toast, but I got it home (on the trailer) and had it running before I took it off the trailer! the negative battery terminal was (U guessed it) corroded inside! ! replaced cable and viola! running truck!
now to replace the tranny.........(big sigh) guess it wasn't the perfect truck! lol

 

i got a question for ya, my pickup's check engine light came on tonight on way to friends, got there pulled of neg battery cable and let it sit. Put it back on start back up and let run for 10-15 mins and everything is fine no light...fluid's are all good nothing wrong from that angle....so why would it come on, then fix when i reset it? is this common?

 

When you reset the computer it clears the code. It will not come back until you have the problem again. You need to get your codes read. Buy a code reader. Or wait until the light comes back on and AutoZone will read them for free.

-Matt

 

Drive it for two "driving cycles". If the fault that caused the orignal CEL is still there, it will come on by this time.

Steve

 

was driving today and about 35 miles into driving it came on again, but strangely 2-3 miles later it went off, and back on about another mile later, then flickered for a few seconds, and now its on again. its a yellow, which ford friend says is not a big deal, he thinks it may just be a sensor trying to go bad on me?

 

Best thing to do is to get the codes scanned. That will tell you exactly what it is.

-Matt

 

ok, that makes sense... but why is it that it won't come on again right after i reset the truck, takes 30-40 miles before it decides to?