Electrical gremlin
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From: Raleigh Nc.
Electrical gremlin
Hi all, I have a 1999 f250 SD with 5.4 , suddenly the other day I lost all electrical power except for the cigarette lighter when I went to start the engine, the power did eventually come back but goes off if you try to start it in any way.
Has anyone else had this happen?
Has anyone else had this happen?
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From: Raleigh Nc.
I have swapped it out the day it happened with no change, checked the battery, ground wires, and wire harness.
It's just so odd that after it decides to reset the power all is good until I try to start it, I have tried roll starting it since it has a manual trans. as well as jumping the post on the starter solenoid, nothing works.
It's just so odd that after it decides to reset the power all is good until I try to start it, I have tried roll starting it since it has a manual trans. as well as jumping the post on the starter solenoid, nothing works.
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From: St Louis
Those are symptoms commonly seen with a bad battery, battery cable or battery connection or a primary power feed or ground circuit.
Get your voltmeter out and start looking for where the power is lost.
Get your voltmeter out and start looking for where the power is lost.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jan 2016
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Yes, this. I had a similar issue with my '04 and it was a ground wire from battery to frame at the frame. Chances are it is the battery connection at the battery itself since this is the most abused point in the electrical system.
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From: Raleigh Nc.
Well, seems as though it's a problem with the GEM , I would have never guessed that Ford would have something like that built in but they do, I'm not sure if the previous posters, except alloro, will bother to read this since they failed to read what I had already tested, but at least I am finally on the right track to getting it back running.
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From: St Louis
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Fleet Mechanic
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You posted that everything went dead except the cigar lighter. Does that mean interior, dash, headlights? Everything? If so I still would be looking at a bad ground or battery connection. You can have voltage without decent current. Those other things won't come on if the connection isn't good enough to pass current. I can understand the GEM having with some components but not everything in the truck.
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There is a relay that can go bad under the hood and do that. If it happens again look at the odometer. If it shows all dashes then it's a relay under the hood. Google it including the issue about the dashes and it will tell you.
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From: Raleigh Nc.
I have been meaning to come back and let you all know that I finally found the problem, and it made me feel like a dummy, I got the GEM back from a friend who had repaired some bad circuits and a few other components that were bad on the board, reinstalled it and I was still having the same issue but it was resetting much faster which was a huge help. I had had the battery disconnected several times while I had it on trickle charge , and so I could remove a few items and test them and so on and to make on the battery were clean and clamping well . but even so the positive battery cables connection was the problem, not sure if it was just a bad crimp that had worked loose over time or what but as soon as I found that it was iffy I redid all the connections on the positive side and the problem was gone!
So thanks for everyone's suggestions.
So thanks for everyone's suggestions.
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