2013 F250 4WD gas V8, auto, stripped basic truck, 72500 miles.

I'm driving back to the shop today, chimes start going off, Service Advancetrac comes up where the odometer is & starts flashing. More chimes, airbag, battery, seatbelt & a couple of other lights start flashing, & coming off & on at random. Check Brakes starts flashing where the odometer is. This gets worse & worse, more & more noise, but the truck runs fine, starts & stops fine. Ford saw fit to not put a volt meter in, so I don't know what the battery was doing. This went on for at least 5 minutes. I finally was able to push the button to turn off the Traction Control in the split second when all the lights went out. With Traction shut off, all the noise & flashing went away. I parked it when I got back to the shop & am wondering what I should expect tomorrow when I head back out. Has anyone had this happen to them??

 

Hi scottscott,

I'd get these misbehaving lights into the hands of your dealership; I know they'd be happy to get this sorted out for you. Once you've had them look things over, let me know if you need my assistance. I'll keep an eye on this thread to see when you have any news.

Crystal

 

Give the main power connections a look...eg...battery cables both ends and all the grounds.
Look for rodent damage too.

 

I've had the advancetrac go nuts on me a few times when I was slowly driving thru smooth parking lots in the middle of summer. Turned it off each time to clear it. That was a few years ago, and it hasn't done it since then (2011 F350 6.2l 4wd).

Modern electronics and gizmos......

 

Only put about 7 miles on it today, no issues. Hopefully it was a one time thing.

 

Check threads by douginga and my thread re. what ,ugh be a similar issue.

Hector

 

Well, after almost a month & 3000 miles with no issues, its back with a vengeance.

Even more lights on this time, along with all the gauges except fuel are dead. And the AC stops working, even though all the lights for it are still on. If the truck is shut off, it takes anywhere from 4 to 20 turns of the key before it will crank over. Then after a few minutes everything goes crazy again. So, its going to the dealer to see what they can do. I expect little to nothing out of them if past experience is any indication.

More fun electrical problems this truck has: Wipers start without touching the switch at random. Sometimes the wipers move an inch at random. When cruise is engaged, it will suddenly floor the throttle & not let up until you shut the cruise off or hit the brake pedal. I chicken out at 85 MPH & shut it off, who knows how fast it would try to go. Sometimes you press the set button for cruise & it takes off the same way. Key in ignition & lights on chime dings at random, usually doesn't work at all.

Truck is a 2013, just over 2 years in service, 74,500 miles.

 

If you haven't already done so, make a video with your phone of the stuff while it's happening to show the dealer in case everything works fine when you bring it in.

 

Very good idea seville!!!!!!

 

Forget the Stealership.
Most likely it's your instrument cluster.
Ford should have recalled these instrument clusters years ago, they know that the crap instrument clusters they put in are just that cheap crap electronics. They just don't want to make it right, I had mine repaired and so far it works. There is a whole industry that has sprung up that fixes the crap electronics that Ford installs, I guess it's back to the old (F)ix, (O)r, (R)epair, (D)aily days. Ford truck are not worth the money they charge for them, they are built from cheap crap that brakes down all the time.

here are some of the problems cause by a faulty Instrument cluster, Gauge problems and a myriad of other problems all originate from the instrument cluster, they can include, Issues with, Dome light, Radio, TCB, VVS, Odometer/ Speedometer, FALSE Error codes, Drain batteries, Damage your FICM. You will not get error codes with a faulty instrument cluster.
Search for instrument cluster repair and talk to those folks

 

How frustrating, scottscott. PM me your details; I want to make sure this gets pushed up the line to your regional customer service manager. Be sure to include your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, current mileage, and servicing dealership.

Crystal

 

You're most likely correct DJRAAL.

Personally, I'd just drive the thing without the gauges & whatnot until it won't start anymore, or it burns to the ground, whichever comes first. But, I'm not going to drive it without AC, & the chimes going on & off at random would get on my nerves. I have a few numbers for the gauge repair places, they will get a call next.

After not being driveable yesterday, & not wanting to crank over without 20 tries, it ran without incident for 150 miles & 4.5 hours today. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Crystal, the truck is out of warranty (74500 miles) so I don't expect much from Ford. If it continues to act up, & goes to the dealer, I will be in touch. Thanks!

 

Scott, I just dealt with this issue a week ago. My 13 started this a couple of months ago exactly how you described it. It would go nuts running through "service advance trac, low oil pressure, coolant temp high, etc....." and all the gauges and the blower motor would go dead. I would drive a few miles and it would come back. This happened two times and then went away for a couple of months. Then it came back and wouldn't start at all.

I had the truck towed to the dealer and he replaced a piece of wiring harness and also replaced the ignition switch. He stated he could jiggle the key and get the truck to throw random codes. If I get time tonight I will try and copy the tech's notes of what connector he replaced. The truck has run great now for the past week with no issues.

 

It would be great if you could post that information here ciscofreak. It seems all of our dealers are throwing whatever they can think of at the problem since they often can't pinpoint a cause and Momma Ford is no help to them.

Hopefully, somebody is going to trip over the answer eventually

 

Cisco, that would be a help if you could post what was done to hopefully fix your truck. I know this problem isn't going to disappear on mine.