bgrunner

2008 F-150 XLT. Just got a new battery and I live in New England where winters can get pretty cold. I drive my truck infrequently because I work from home.
I moved it in the driveway - ran it for about 20 seconds or so and turned it off. It sat there for ten days and the next time I tried to start it, the battery was dead.
I used a multimeter and the battery registered less than 2 volts.
I used a NOCO Boost Plus 1000A jump started kit. I had to put it in override mode because the battery had less than 2 volts and could not be detected.
The jump starter worked and the truck started.
Let it idle for about 45 minutes to charge the battery up.
Got ready to drive it and saw that the wrench icon was lit up on the instrument panel.
Stepped on the gas and the engine didn't respond much - little dip and little rev, but the tach didn't go over 1500, I think.
Pretty erratic and low response to the accelerator.
Turned it off for 30 seconds and back on and same result.
Remove the negative lead to the battery for a minute and put it back on.
Put the key in and turned it to on position for about 10 seconds, then started the truck. Same result with the throttle.
Wrench icon is still on.

Seems almost certainly electric, but I'm not sure where to start looking. Any ideas from the community here? Thanks!

bgrunner

I’m going to try to clean the throttle body today, but is there some way to reset any circuits or controls or sensors to get it back to baseline?

digitaltrucker

laterongc

1) test battery and alternator

2) pull codes.

bgrunner

MISTER WIZARD.... thanks a million! Just went through this and there's no wrench icon, truck seems to be re-learning everything. Much appreciated! I'll update with results later today.

redfishtd

Engines in cold climates that sit and do not get get adequate run time to remove condensate from crank will develop bad sludge . It will look like chocolate frosting in valve train ,very thick- ruining engine .
You must change the oil often and use motor flush plus put some drive time in regardless of miles or time frame .
I do a motor flush every other oil change in florida , some guys do it each time . Since this engine uses dirty engine oil thru small passages to hydraulically operate cams it cant take sludge .
But if you see pictures of those valve trains you will see no way for oil to flow. really scary stuff .
I have wondered about the spike from these jump boxes damaging electronics .

bgrunner

I spoke too soon... I let reset the throttle body calibration and let the engine sit and idle to learn, then I shut the truck off because I had to run. When I came back, the truck started up just fine and made it about fifteen feet with no problems, then the erratic throttle started again and I had to head back home in limp mode.

Should I calibrate everything (idle and driving) without turning the engine off in between? Doesn't seem like that should matter, but what do I know?

If calibration isn't fixing it, do I need to clean my throttle body?

digitaltrucker

If the throttle body is dirty, yes clean it. Sounds like it has gone bad, if it if the TB.

bgrunner

Well, I started pulling everything apart to get to the throttle body and I discovered that some little critter had made a nest in the air box. I cleaned it out and replaced it and that did the trick. Time to search how to keep critters out of the engine bay during the winter!