Wow, Crazy Electrical Problem
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Elder User
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 630
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From: Central PA
Wow, Crazy Electrical Problem
Last night my lovely wife told me that while driving her 98 EB 5.4, the low fuel, oil, battery lights came on, and the motor started to stall. She gave it some gas to keep it running, then pulled over. She put it in park and the door locks all engaged (I think they were already locked though). Today I checked the battery and alternator. They both had 14.8v when running, 13.1v when off. The battery is about 3 years old, alternator is about 2 years old (from Pep Boys). Belt is nice and tight. I'm hoping its the alt/voltage reg or even the battery. What else could it be? Maybe computer is going bad? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!!
Posting Guru
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 2,209
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From: Louisville, Kentucky
Your GEM is located behind the fuse panel under the dash in the drivers foot well. A windshield leak can cause a multitude of electrical gremlins to show up. In general however it will not cause the symptoms that you mention. This is more likely to be caused by what alloro said, a loose or corroded battery cable. What eallanboggs was eluding to is a proven method of finding electrical trouble in wiring and connections.
A corroded wiring connection will eat up or drop voltage across the connection. This results in less voltage further up the circuit and can get severe enough to cause catastrophic failure like your wife experienced. A voltmeter can be used to illustrate the voltage loss. A very simple voltage drop test is when a voltmeter is connected between the positive and negative post of the battery. The meter will indicate the voltage level of the battery. Let's say that it measures 12.8 Volts DC. If the meter probes are moved from the battery posts to the battery cable connectors and the voltage is measured there instead, if the connections are good there will be no change. On the other hand, there could be a significant difference is corrosion or loose cables are involved. Let's say that the meter now reads 11.0 Volts DC. That is a 1.8 Volt drop.
Now to identify where the voltage drop is exactly, move the negative probe back to the negative battery post. If the meter again shows 12.8 Volts, then the voltage drop or bad connection is at the negative battery cable connection to the post. If the voltage remains at 11.0 Volts, then the bad connection is at the positive battery cable connection.
Another way of doing this is to use the voltmeter to illustrate the voltage drop directly. Let's say that the bad connection is at the positive battery cable connection to the battery post. Connecting the positive meter probe to the positive battery post and the negative meter probe to the positive battery clamp. The meter would then show the total voltage drop of 1.8 Volts DC in our example. A normal or good connection here would show at most, 0.1 Volts DC.
Sorry that this had been so long but, I hope that it helps you find your trouble. Good luck!
A corroded wiring connection will eat up or drop voltage across the connection. This results in less voltage further up the circuit and can get severe enough to cause catastrophic failure like your wife experienced. A voltmeter can be used to illustrate the voltage loss. A very simple voltage drop test is when a voltmeter is connected between the positive and negative post of the battery. The meter will indicate the voltage level of the battery. Let's say that it measures 12.8 Volts DC. If the meter probes are moved from the battery posts to the battery cable connectors and the voltage is measured there instead, if the connections are good there will be no change. On the other hand, there could be a significant difference is corrosion or loose cables are involved. Let's say that the meter now reads 11.0 Volts DC. That is a 1.8 Volt drop.
Now to identify where the voltage drop is exactly, move the negative probe back to the negative battery post. If the meter again shows 12.8 Volts, then the voltage drop or bad connection is at the negative battery cable connection to the post. If the voltage remains at 11.0 Volts, then the bad connection is at the positive battery cable connection.
Another way of doing this is to use the voltmeter to illustrate the voltage drop directly. Let's say that the bad connection is at the positive battery cable connection to the battery post. Connecting the positive meter probe to the positive battery post and the negative meter probe to the positive battery clamp. The meter would then show the total voltage drop of 1.8 Volts DC in our example. A normal or good connection here would show at most, 0.1 Volts DC.
Sorry that this had been so long but, I hope that it helps you find your trouble. Good luck!
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