Hey guys, I have a 98 F-150 5.4 V8 with 150k miles on it. Looks great. Runs great. This morning though, it had trouble turning over. I figured since I was low on gas that maybe I was almost on fumes. So I drove down to the gas station, filled up and when i went to turn it on again, same deal. It barely turned over. I paused to see if it would shut off, it didn't. On my way to work, which is about 24 miles one-way, it started doing funny things. First, my stereo would turn off and on so i shut it off completely. Then a little while later all of my gauges went dead. They read as if I had no charge in my battery or no pressure in my oil. Then there was this slight kick in the engine. So slowed down and got in the slow lane, just in case. Then about 5-7 minutes later my speedometer dropped to zero! Then slowly my rpm's started dropping, yet i was atleast driving 55-60 mph. So I thought this was really strange. Soon after, I had no power. My truck just shut off. So I pulled over as quick as I could. When I came to a stop, my truck was completely turned off. So I put it into park and "turned it off". I was roughly about 3-4 miles from my office. So the tow truck comes, we try jumpstarting it........nothing.
It's got to be something electrical right? I just bought the battery in January. Although, i'm being told that it also might be a short. Any ideas?

 

Certainly sounds like a battery/charging issue but, the short suggestion may not be far off base. You may have a windshield leak that is draining down and into the fuse panel. Causes shorting out of circuits in the panel and the GEM. All kinds of wierd problems show up then. Good luck!

 

I'd guess GEM or the connections are bad on the battery.

 

I have had almost the same exact thing you descripe happen to me with a Buick LeSabre. The electrical system went haywire, the lights went on and off, the speedometer would peg far left, than go to zero, etc.

Turned out it was a bad alternator.

 

I have had almost the same exact thing you descripe happen to me with a Buick LeSabre. The electrical system went haywire, the lights went on and off, the speedometer would peg far right, than go to zero, etc.

Turned out it was a bad alternator.

 

Just an update to the earlier post. I went down to Pep Boys to test my battery, which was only 5 months old. They pretty much told me it was no good, it was completely dead and needed to be recharged. They tried but their machine gave them a response that said the battery was too hot. For whatever reason it was not holding a charge. So I don't know if there was a short that drained that one or if that particular battery was a dud. Regardless, I got a replacement, dropped it into my truck and everything seems fine now. I cranked it and it turned over just fine. Although, I am leaving it unplugged until i need to go home, so that if there is a short somewhere, atleast it wont drain my battery between now and when i have to go home. But, if it is the alternator, am i better off getting it rebuilt or going with something brand new?

 

Brand new, they are too cheap to bother with a rebuild. When the Alt. starts to go the Battery light should start coming on.

 

another update, last week i bought a new battery, was working fine.....until today. it started hesitating again at startup. Leads me to believe that it's the alternator. My question is, how do i go about finding out what the amps are on it? 95 or 130? And what about brand, which should i go with?

 

You can take it to any local auto parts store like Autozone...Advance...Checker or Kragen and they should be able to test the alternator for you. Dont go with the cheapest one that you can find...but dont spend bookoo bucks either...I usually stick with the one right in the middle when it comes to parts as far as price goes.
-Chris

 

If you get Auto Zone to check it and its bad, and you buy the auto zone alternator it will have a life time warranty on it. I am almost 100% positive they are fairly cheap for our trucks. I don't want to say a number and steer you wrong but their not a huge expense.