I drove the truck 2 days ago and everything worked as it should. Yesterday I had to hook up my dump trailer to move it out of the way of rollup door in the back of my building. Got in and it started like normal but nothing on the dash came on, nor the backup camera. I went ahead and hooked the trailer up and moved it out of the way. I got out the owner's manual thinking it may be a fuse but there was no mention about dashboard lights or function. The climate control system, windows, locks work but I have no radio. I didn't have time to mess with it because I needed to be somewhere else but what I'm wondering if it will do any harm driving it this way. I need to take it to the shop so they can put brakes on it.
One thing to note, the last time I drove it I had the rear windows cracked slightly and forgot to close them when I got out. The next day we had a fairly good rain and on the driver's side some rain did manage to get in and wet the inside of the door panel and the end of the rear seat. When I got in to move the truck, I did notice there was a little fog on the inside of the windshield. What have I done to my truck?

 

Well just for your information. I went out yesterday to check out a few things. I found that plugin back at the spare tire and pulled it apart to take a look. Everything there was nice and clean, so I sprayed it good with LPS 3 and plugged it back in. Didn't help so I decided to do a hard reset, I disconnected the right-side battery then went over the the other side and disconnected that one also. While I was there, I gave the battery terminals a good cleaning. There was a tiny bit of corrosion on the left side battery, but it cleaned up nicely. I checked each battery with my meter and before cleaning It read 12.21 v. After cleaning I was looking at 12.34v. Once everything was cleaned up, I hooked them back up and turned the key and to my surprise everything came back alive. Thanks guys!

 

Glad it came back! I was going to suggest unhooking batteries. All this computerized stuff seems to just need a reboot from time to time.

 

Yes, I learned a new one on this problem.

 

Could have been some internal overload or other protection means that turned off a module/power. Could be trailer wiring related or just the window and moisture, but glad you found a solution.

 

Glad you got it back but why did you spray an electrical connection with something like a rust inhibitor, it's not an electrical insulating grease like 100% silicon, it may actually conduct electricity(idk) and you do not want that in your connectors.

 

I've used LPS3 for electrical connections before in a pinch. I never had any problems that I know of using it, I've used it on battery terminals before and it does a really good job at that. I normally have dielectric grease for stuff like that but when my shop burned down, I lost all of that type of stuff and haven't gotten around to replacing it all. It's on my list now.

 

I had a similar problem - the dash lights would die, radio, everything, while driving. Sometimes relays would click. It was intermittent, but definitely seemed like something was loose. I opened the hood and saw little rodent paw prints in the dirt! I reseated every connector I could, and finally took it to a dealer. They found ONE bad wire in a bundle (didn't tell me which one) and did a wire overlay to fix it.

 

Every few months, my truck will do something odd. One time the A/C controls wouldn't work, but they worked OK on the screen. Another time the radio locked up, none of the *****, buttons or touch screen controls would work. Another time the screen went totally black. I also recall something was missing from the gauge cluster, coolant temp gauge if I recall correctly.

Anyway, all issues were usually corrected on the next restart. Sometimes I think former Microsoft Windows Vista developers were involved in the Ford software development.

 

 

I keep a wrench in my console to disconnect my battery when my radio freezes. Once it would not turn off.
It’s a 13 but it is a Microsoft product none the less. The whole stink system is just awful.

 

I mean... Wasn't Microsoft behind Sync for many years? (Maybe even now? Genuinely don't know) My Lincoln proudly has a Microsoft logo right next to the shifter.