weird ingition thing today
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weird ingition thing today
1995 F-150 XLT 351W E4OD 4x4 w/ vortec supercharger
Today, after leaving work, when I turned the key to to start, the truck seemed to just shut down. All the dash lights and electric gauges went out and the interior light went real dim like there was a huge load on the battery, except the starter was not operating either. Nothing in the truck worked, when this was happening, not even the power locks! There was also this weird clicking sound from underneith the dash. It sounded like two or more electric relays switching open and closed. I took the negative cable off the battery, and after reapplying, it seemed to go away. The lights worked again, and the truck fired right up. Throughout the day, it has done this two more times, and had to disconnect the battery both times. I did a visual inspection of everything underneith the lower dash panel, and no visible problems. This problem is intermittent, and doesn't happen everytime. Any ideas?
Today, after leaving work, when I turned the key to to start, the truck seemed to just shut down. All the dash lights and electric gauges went out and the interior light went real dim like there was a huge load on the battery, except the starter was not operating either. Nothing in the truck worked, when this was happening, not even the power locks! There was also this weird clicking sound from underneith the dash. It sounded like two or more electric relays switching open and closed. I took the negative cable off the battery, and after reapplying, it seemed to go away. The lights worked again, and the truck fired right up. Throughout the day, it has done this two more times, and had to disconnect the battery both times. I did a visual inspection of everything underneith the lower dash panel, and no visible problems. This problem is intermittent, and doesn't happen everytime. Any ideas?
Posting Guru
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 1,394
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From: Des Plaines, Illinois
Check your fusible links. If they're old or damaged, they could be opening up and causing poor connections. I had this exact problem in my 1990.
Also make sure you have good ground and your cables aren't all corroded.
Also make sure you have good ground and your cables aren't all corroded.
Postmaster
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 4,635
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From: The Wilderness
My 95 does the same thing everyonce in a while. Take off your battery cables and take a wire brush to them and the posts on the battery. Its not making a good enough connection to send enough juice when you turn the key. Since I am to lazy to clean up my contacts, I usually just turn the leads a little bit so they make better contact, then they are good for a while.
It could be other things, but this is a good place to start.
It could be other things, but this is a good place to start.
Junior User
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 52
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Years ago I had a similar sounding problem with my 92 f150 - and it always seemed to do it when I was away from home and had very few tools with me so I would do the battery cable twist and jiggle which was usually just enough to get me home. I dealt with it for months before I finially got fed up. We ended up replacing the cables and never had a problem after that although I'm not sure exactly where the connection issue was. This was back when my hubby could still work on our vehicles.
Liz
Liz
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