Hi all,

I purchased a 01 f250 7.3 6 speed ext cab short bed with 199k about a year ago and like any 20 year old truck it had its issues. I managed to fix alot of the electrical bugs after learning about the common water on the GEM issue, such as my lights turning on by themselves, power locks freaking out, radio not turning off etc.

However, one problem the eludes me and I cannot find anyone else with the issue, is that whenever I use my windshield wipers, randomly it will cause my headunit to restart and sometimes causing it to reset. at first I thought it was because of the gem and whenever it rained (the only time I used the wipers) this problem would happen. I have sealed the leak and none of the previous issues happen anymore but this one still does. It is not due to water because when I use the windshield washer spray, it will cause the same issue. The windshield wipers work without a problem, and the stereo has no issues without the windshield wipers going. Could this be that the fuse box caused a short between the two circuits after having water in the GEM/fuse box over however many years this was an issue for the PO?

I saw on a forum for a diferent vehicle that the wiper motors could have been causing an electrecial interference that causes the stereo to restart. I'd hate to just throw parts at it and hope for the best without testing it. Hopefully some of ya'll have some ideas on what is causing this or how to test it.

 

I would look into the fuse box. Mine was having all sorts of problems until I replaced it. Water had been leaking into mine and I still haven't sorted out all my gremlins. Mine would leave the blower motor operational weather the key was off or on. Wipers and turn signals also worked all the time. It would also drain the battery over a day or two even though everything was off. The last gremlin I'm trying to figure out is whenever I hit my brakes the left turn signal comes on constantly(doesn't blink). If you have the fuse box off I usually look at the connection terminals for any kind of corrosion and try to look inside the box. You can drill out the back bolt holes to be able to pull the box apart slightly to look for any corrosion inside. I ordered one off ebay and got a water damaged one and ended up having to order another one.

 

Possibly CPS or bad ground for the wiper motor. Should run OK with wipers on full time, issue is with intermittent operation. Here's a LINK to more info.