Hello guys,

My battery light has been flickering on and off. When I wiggle the wire closest to the passenger side on the pigtail the light goes out. I have looked for a new pigtail at Auto Zone, O' Reilly's, and NAPA without luck. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

Checked with the dealer? Or just make your own if you have the facilities.

 

This may be the part # you need wpt119 http://catalog.powerstrokeshop.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=searchCatalogOEM&siteid=214083
Check this link or go to powerstrokeshop.com and search wpt119. Not 100% sure this is the one you want but it sounds like it is.

 

does it seem the wire itself is loose IN the connector (look closely!) or that the connector is loose? If not, go to your local parts store or radio shack and get some "Electrical Contact Point Cleaner", aka carbon tetrachloride. with the connectors apart, spray all connections down liberally, brush, spray again to rinse, blow dry...

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try to clean it up first and maybe use some dielictic (sp?) grease. If she still flashes, I'll got to the dealer. Thanks again.

 

No problem... I have had the same issue with several of ours, and even at the last place I work, so I know it's common.

 

I did this to my truck to offload the charge circuit.

 

How did you accomplish that?

 

I built it myself with supplies that I bought from Interstate Battery.
I did this a lot a few years ago at my business. VW/Audi used a very poor quality metal in the wiring for the charge system. The older ones used aluminum for the conductor. Lot's of dead batteries after a long drive in bad weather with wipers, heater, rear window and heated mirrors on. The alternator was able to keep up with demand but the wire between it and the battery would eat a volt and the battery would slowly go dead. The solution was as easy as you see in the picture. Make a positive cable from the alternator output to the positive on the battery and a ground cable from the body of the alternator to the negative post on the battery. I use heavy brass connectors, crimp them, solder them as well and then put some heat shrink insulation on them.
Once that was done you could turn everything on on the car and the charge voltage would be the same at the battery as at the alternator.
.0000001 voltage drop.
And no more dead batteries in the morning.

 

That is so cool.... all these years I just assumed everything HAD to be the way it was... but quite obviously, the genious is in the simplicity! Now, will a questionable armature cause a draw-down with this setup, and does your in-cab voltmeter still operate this way?

 

Everything functions normally. A bad alternator will draw down the battery with or without those wires there, the alt is wired directly to the battery from the factory. The extra wires are there mostly for the internally mounted voltage regulator to have an exact reading of the charge level of the battery. It's one of the easiest mods to do and absolutely cures the burned wire syndrome that happens with these trucks.
It's simply piggybacked onto the alternator post along with the factory wiring harness. Nothing has been removed, just the extra wires added.

 

Kwik, did you add anything to the ground side of things as well? i.e. Cab to frame, frame to engine.

 

I've done so on previous trucks and it made a difference in how well it runs. 1995 460 gasser E4OD F-250 4x4. I heard that some bearing in the rear of the transmission would end up burning up due to poor grounding in the tailshaft and the power would find the easiest path to ground and it ended up being that bearing. Might have been a rumor, but whatever the reason it motivated me to run a ground cable from the back of the transfer case to the frame. Then up front I ran another cable from the frame to the battery and was pleasantly surprised at how much more responsive the throttle was. A bit less pedal required to maintain speed.

So now I'm thinking that I need to do the same to this truck.
Add another project to the list.

 

Dan is the man. I would be very interested in the final overall schematic of this when you do it.

Edit: Not to hijack or anything, I noticed it was cold up there last week with the Seahawk game. How is the intank pump working?

 

Flawlessly.
I have the healthiest sounding Powerstroke on the planet. Can't say the same for the Seahawks.
I'll start a new thread on the "Grounding mods" when it happens.
Most likely sometime after Christmas. After I get my turbo up-pipes and clutch done.
Dang the list gets LONG!!!!