I bought my 2001 f250 5.4 a few weeks ago. It had a blown plug but other than that everything worked fine no codes. I fixed the plug yesterday finally had time, tried to crank it and battery was dead. So I charged the battery up and tried to crank and engine wouldn't turn over just a click like battery was dead even tried battery off my explorer same thing. I tried arcing the solenoid on started it arced but engine didn't turn over. Tried cranking again and started having crazy electrical problem. The #1 relay for the interior lights was making a repeated click click click and int lights would flash in sync with the clicks. I then realized my headlights,blinkers,stereo wouldn't work but when I would cut headlights or hazard lights on the blinking int interior light would stop until I turned headlights off. I have an obd link sx with enhanced ford diagnostics software so I plugged it in, and I had 12 B codes all of them was relays that "supposedly" went bad at exact same time and there was two C codes that were raps related. My initial thinking is the gem but if it was bad why would it throw 12 bcm codes and two chassis codes. Could it be the raps and if so I wonder why it would throw 12 faulty relay codes. I guess my question is where would I start gem,bcm,raps or is it something totally different then that. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

Can you manually rotate the engine (transmission in neutral , belt off ) ?

How did you repair the blown spark plug ( Time-Sert , Calvan, Helicoil,etc)? Did you do it yourself ?

 

Thanks for the reply and I haven't tried manually rotating. If this rain stops today I will go try, and against my better judgement, and everybody else's on this forum I used the heli coil sav a thread. I was kinda pressed for cash at moment. I generally try to do all my own repairs, but not be mistaken I'm not a mechanic. But when it comes to the electrical system I really have no idea where to begin, and as I mentioned I'm pressed for cash, so trying to make sure I head down the right path. Also as it is raining today and also rained almost all last week I did notice a small puddle on driver side floor mat, coming from the dreaded window leak. Gem and fuse box both feel dry to the touch. Does this sound like gem/ fuse box got wet like I've read this particular truck is notorious for? When the rain slacks up I will do some more diagnostics and hopefully give you enough information to diagnose my problem. Thanks again and happy Easter.

 

You may also try 5.4 forum which has more specific expertise (just ask moderator to be moved to 5.4 Forum)
Good luck and Happy Easter to you too.

 

Thank you I will try that out.

 

If the problem persists with a "known good" battery, there has to be a bad connection somewhere. Check for loose or corroded connection, oddly bulging wires or bad insulation. With the battery disconnected, start by checking the battery terminals and cables and go from there with a visual and physical inspection. Probably a corroded battery cable or a nut has backed off the starter relay on the positive side or a big ground on the negative side.
My best guess is that the clicking and blinking weirdness is due to this bad connection. There is not enough current getting where it needs to be to run everything and the large number of codes is due to so many things being underpowered. You could be dealing with multiple problems.

 

Got you I am in the process of that now already got the negative cable that runs to the chassis/engine block. It had a quite a bit of corrosion at least 5 inches down each end of cable. I honestly didn't think that would throw codes, but that makes since and gives me some hope that it ain't anything major. Thanks for the reply soon as rain stops I will put the new negative on and check positive.

 

Problem fixed. It was starter solenoid. I guess it was preventing relays from getting needed power and causing the electrical havoc. But thanks for input everybody.