Smoking vent?
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From: unfortunately in the wonderful city of norfolk
Smoking vent?
Smells like burning plastic.... it's coming from the driver's window defroster vent and it's smoking... going to look in the dash but I'm checking to see if anyone else has had this problem. Any ideas?
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From: unfortunately in the wonderful city of norfolk
Smoking vent?
alright, so there was smoke that smells like burning plastic coming from your driver vent? good thing to check I guess.... and since the volt meter is registering ~17 VDC all the time... probably bad regulator or something to that effect.... maybe?
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trukgrl
Even if thats not where the smoke is coming from thats too much charge. Yes the regulator would be stuck in the alternator. It will be boiling the battery too, with that much voltage going into it constantly.
Even if thats not where the smoke is coming from thats too much charge. Yes the regulator would be stuck in the alternator. It will be boiling the battery too, with that much voltage going into it constantly.
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From: Western PA
Smoking vent
I had a similar problem when I had the 1989 F-150.
Problem was that the headlight switch was toast and melted the connector. The smell came out of the drivers vent just like you are experiencing
This may be the result of having 17 volts from the charging system.
Problem was that the headlight switch was toast and melted the connector. The smell came out of the drivers vent just like you are experiencing
This may be the result of having 17 volts from the charging system.
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From: unfortunately in the wonderful city of norfolk
problem found... pretty simple actually.... the truck decided not to even start today... therefore it's the ignition switch... heh... yeah, I'm having the alt rebuilt down here asap... bring that baby down to 15 volts max 
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From: Indiana
I don't know what year your truck is. But there was a recall on ignition switches in about every Ford truck and van made through the late 80's to the mid or so 90's. Or close to that on the years.
I had the ignition switch fixed under a recall in my 94 Aerostar and a full size 90 Bronco I used to own. My brother in law had a early 90's model pickup burn up setting still not even running from the ignition switch shorting out somehow. It burnt the cab out inside.
I had the ignition switch fixed under a recall in my 94 Aerostar and a full size 90 Bronco I used to own. My brother in law had a early 90's model pickup burn up setting still not even running from the ignition switch shorting out somehow. It burnt the cab out inside.
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From: unfortunately in the wonderful city of norfolk
Well, i checked all the recalls and my 92 isn't involved in any regarding an ignition switch. Anyhow, i finally got my alternator rebuilt after nagging my hubby about it. . . lol! He didn't think it was very important at this time till he started reading the replies you guys were leaving. Right now the truck is at a mechanics getting all that **** taken care of, i don't like to mess around with wires and all that crap. . . electricity is not really my friend, been zapped too many times to count. I let other people do that for me, more qualified folks. So, I should get it back today, i know they put in a new tumbler into the steering column which needed to be done and they should be working on it as i type this. Thanks for your input everyone. I'll let you know what happens.
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From: unfortunately in the wonderful city of norfolk
rebuilt alternator, new headlamp switch and harness, still drawing too many amps.
Okay, had the alternator rebuilt to 75 amps which is stock for my truck. . . i don't run any kind of amplifiers or anything in my truck, everything is pretty much stock. Checked all of my fuses and replaced a 15 with a 10 which is what should have been in that position in the first place, i'm still drawing high amps it's a little lower about a 15 or 16 now but what else could be wrong for it to be drawing high amps like that??