Electrical Issue
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Junior User
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 95
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From: Cedar Park, Texas
Electrical Issue
I purchased an 2004 Ford F-250 5.4 with 80k miles back in December. When I went thru the glovebox, I found out that the truck belonged to an pipeline company, Devon. There was an recept for an service work done on an electrical problem that came up back in October. I was quite surprised to see that the work was done by an Chevy dealership! What were the company thinking!?!
To get to the gist of this, the problem was the fuse for the brake/tail light kept blowing. The Chevy techs went ahead and replaced the fuse box and the wiring harness. It seemed to have resolved the problem. I looked at the work. It looked like it was done quite professionally. I did not have any problems with the electrical system until the winter storm from last week down in Central Texas.
As soon as the ice started to thaw and I was able to go out, the same fuse for brake/tail light started blowing again. I figured there could be an open connection somewhere (grounding issue?) I went thru the entire truck removing lamps from sockets and checking all wiring. I did not find anything wrong. I unplugged the connections under the truck that feeds the tail lights and proceeded to trouble shoot. I removed all the lamps from the sockets and connections. The fuse stopped blowing, but the left turn signal was low and slow blinking, not the fast as it should without the lamp.
I did not find anything wrong with the wirings. I decided to take an look at that automatic rear mirror that appeared to be an aftermarket install. I traced the wirings for that mirror. I found the problem to be the temperature probe connector. Apparently someone did an number on the wiring at the connector tearing the wiring apart. That person just taped the wirings back together with electrical tape which I found water inside. I fixed the wiring by cutting and using crimp connectors to join seperated or barely seperated wiring together. I ensured it was water proof by using heat shrink tubing and black tape.
That apparently corrected the problem with the fuse blowing. All the componments are now operating normally. The headlights and the lighting appears more brighter. I realized that the automatic mirror had the temperature reading for exterior with compass when I only was getting the compass with an "OC" under the compass.
So, just that one simple add on aftermarket item can cause electrical issues if you do not put it to an isolated or fused ciruit. The mirrior was connected to an non-fused switched hot wiring from the steering.
To get to the gist of this, the problem was the fuse for the brake/tail light kept blowing. The Chevy techs went ahead and replaced the fuse box and the wiring harness. It seemed to have resolved the problem. I looked at the work. It looked like it was done quite professionally. I did not have any problems with the electrical system until the winter storm from last week down in Central Texas.
As soon as the ice started to thaw and I was able to go out, the same fuse for brake/tail light started blowing again. I figured there could be an open connection somewhere (grounding issue?) I went thru the entire truck removing lamps from sockets and checking all wiring. I did not find anything wrong. I unplugged the connections under the truck that feeds the tail lights and proceeded to trouble shoot. I removed all the lamps from the sockets and connections. The fuse stopped blowing, but the left turn signal was low and slow blinking, not the fast as it should without the lamp.
I did not find anything wrong with the wirings. I decided to take an look at that automatic rear mirror that appeared to be an aftermarket install. I traced the wirings for that mirror. I found the problem to be the temperature probe connector. Apparently someone did an number on the wiring at the connector tearing the wiring apart. That person just taped the wirings back together with electrical tape which I found water inside. I fixed the wiring by cutting and using crimp connectors to join seperated or barely seperated wiring together. I ensured it was water proof by using heat shrink tubing and black tape.
That apparently corrected the problem with the fuse blowing. All the componments are now operating normally. The headlights and the lighting appears more brighter. I realized that the automatic mirror had the temperature reading for exterior with compass when I only was getting the compass with an "OC" under the compass.
So, just that one simple add on aftermarket item can cause electrical issues if you do not put it to an isolated or fused ciruit. The mirrior was connected to an non-fused switched hot wiring from the steering.
