electrical issues, need help quick
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electrical issues, need help quick
i have an 08 5.4 f150 lariat. i am in the process of installing a cb radio. i ran my hot wire and connected it to the postive terminal of the battery. to accomplish this i had to remove the nut on the postive terminal, which disconnected the battery. i ran the negative wire to a screw under the hood that was attached to metal for the ground. i ran my wires through the firewall and i have yet to complete the install.
i started up my truck and the clock was wrong, which i attributed to the fact that i had disconnected the battery. i also noticed that my back up camera is now inoperable. i drove the truck about 2 miles. when i got in the truck the info center indicated that i has 75 miles left before empty. during my trip i realized that my mileage was extremely poor and when i checked to see what kind of mileage the computer was showing, it indicated that i was only getting 6 mpg. i also noticed that during this short trip my fuel gauge went from just under 1/4 full to almost empty.
typically this short of a trip would barely move the needle if any.
did i screw up by wiring my cb this way? i have installed numerous cb's in my previous vehicles and never had any issues doing it this way. is this normal when you disconnect the battery???? any thoughts or opinions will be greatly appreciated. i am planning on leaving for a hunting trip in a few days and if my truck is only gettikng 6 mpg, this will be a problem. also the truck seems to be running fine. no loss of power or rough idle.
i started up my truck and the clock was wrong, which i attributed to the fact that i had disconnected the battery. i also noticed that my back up camera is now inoperable. i drove the truck about 2 miles. when i got in the truck the info center indicated that i has 75 miles left before empty. during my trip i realized that my mileage was extremely poor and when i checked to see what kind of mileage the computer was showing, it indicated that i was only getting 6 mpg. i also noticed that during this short trip my fuel gauge went from just under 1/4 full to almost empty.
typically this short of a trip would barely move the needle if any.
did i screw up by wiring my cb this way? i have installed numerous cb's in my previous vehicles and never had any issues doing it this way. is this normal when you disconnect the battery???? any thoughts or opinions will be greatly appreciated. i am planning on leaving for a hunting trip in a few days and if my truck is only gettikng 6 mpg, this will be a problem. also the truck seems to be running fine. no loss of power or rough idle.
Hotshot
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 11,537
Likes: 27
From: Long Beach, Ms.
Running the power for the CB through a fuse from the positive post is acceptable.
Do another disconnect.
Reconnect the battery after 30 minutes.
The computer in the truck is drunk due to the power interruption earlier.
It will need to relearn your driving parameters.
You need to drive a varied mix of urban, rural & interstate routes for the computer to reset.
These conditions should be met in one trip.
Also the mpg counter has zeroed. Your mpg should improve as you drive longer at a steady speed.
You are probably seeing the result of a couple of short trips of the type that kills mpg.
This is the reason for using a form of power maintenance when doing a battery swap.
Using a jump box to supply power is one way to handle this problem.
Do another disconnect.
Reconnect the battery after 30 minutes.
The computer in the truck is drunk due to the power interruption earlier.
It will need to relearn your driving parameters.
You need to drive a varied mix of urban, rural & interstate routes for the computer to reset.
These conditions should be met in one trip.
Also the mpg counter has zeroed. Your mpg should improve as you drive longer at a steady speed.
You are probably seeing the result of a couple of short trips of the type that kills mpg.
This is the reason for using a form of power maintenance when doing a battery swap.
Using a jump box to supply power is one way to handle this problem.
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