First the story from customer.

farmer took truck to field for harvest. left drivers window down and left for night leaving truck in field. over night it poured rain for three days with wind and all.

farmer came to truck three days later and truck will not start, engine cranks. dash needles jump all over the place, theft light flashing, all warning lights are flashing on both sides of instrument cluster. also odo flashes 888888 all in sync with each other.

truck was towed to us.

First I rehooked the battery up, good battery, good cables and connections. verified no start. Hooked solus to truck and found ecm p1000 only, gem fault for door contact, and one other random fault. the solus has an option for hybrid electric instrument cluster? no communication or not fitted. pats module= no communication or not fitted..... I have seen this on other vehicles some times the aftermarket scan tool shows options not fitted but not sure on this truck.

removed dash panels and inspected gem for water intrusion, found nothing but fine dust. all connections seem dry no corrosion. instrument cluster shows no signs of water only dust in everything.

when going through connectors if I unplug the P.A.T.S. trasciever on the steering column (4 pin connector) the dancing gauges almost stop what they are doing. Very similar to a buss problem I am used to.

so... Where is the Pats module some say behind the gem on fire wall, nope
some say above the gas pedal area, nope.
others have said its integrated in the instrument cluster, ????

I was expecting to find water damage to something but cannot find water damage only dust and dirt lint.

all fuses are good and I can measure 14.7 volts seen at the obd connection using scan tool while charger is hooked up.

anyone have any pointers for me?

 

there were a few trucks that had leaking windshields... rain leaked down and got into the GEM and shorted a few things out.. random electrical problems - no start - flashing lights- were common problems........... You might pull the GEM and look at internals.

 

when you turn the key to the "ON" position and not start, the theft light comes on for 3 seconds, the PATS recognizes the key and computer match, and the light goes out ( if not PATS problems exist).... If the light stays on, the truck is not going to start.... cant change out one, the key and computer have to MATCH.- for PATS to work

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...bout-pats.html

 

GEM wet discussion

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...n-a-while.html

 

Exactly what Steve said. I'd say GEM internals might be wet.

 

Like I said in the orginal post I could not find a gem problem. I could communicate and observe all functions of the gem using a scan tool. I however was not able to communicate with instrument cluster. and trying to put the cluster into a self test mode proved a no go. we replaced cluster with a salvage yard unit and surprise...... communication and all cluster functions were restored. so sent truck and two keys to ford to have its paramaters and pats reset.

will get truck back on Monday.