I own a 2000 Ford F-150 4 wheel drive extended cab with a 5.4L V-8 engine. I went to get the truck the other day from our friends house as we just got the tags to be able to drive it. Drove it about 5 miles to get it home.

The next day, I went to Albertson’s which is literally 2 blocks from my apartment. As I am leaving the parking lot the radio starts to turn off and on. By the time I get to the intersection I realize I have no turn signals. No hazard lights, the dash and all the gauges(dead) like the truck is off.

I drove it the block and a half and parked in my apartment complex. Shut off the truck and tried to start it back up, but I just got a click, click, click. Couldn't roll up the power windows and the headlights didn't work

Went upstairs and came right back down. Cargo light and interior light on. Could not get then to turn off. I even put the key in and

Was able to get the windows rolled up. It would go about 2 seconds then - click and it would stop. After about 3-5 seconds, another click and it would work again for about 2 seconds and so on.

Got test light and multimeter. battery voltage = 11.45. volts. - - - Connected test light clip to the negative cable and touched the other end to the negative battery post. Bing, light goes on. Ok, got a short somewhere.

Checked fuses in power distribution box, under the hood, and when I get to fuse 103(Junction Block Battery Feed). Bam - the light goes out. No idea what that goes to or does. Only found one other blown fuse (#5 - Trailer Tow Backup/Park Lamps) . Replaced it. Issues persist.

Passenger compartment fuse panel. Found 1 blown fuse(#8 - Radio, Remote Entry Module, GEM Module). Replaced it. Breaker still repeatedly being tripped. I can hear it under the hood on the same side as the battery, like behind it somewhere.

I know the primary battery fuses are behind the battery somewhere and there's engine block fuses directly behind the distribution box. Haven't gotten to that point yet.

Checked relays in the passenger compartment fuse box which are not easy to get out. I got relay 1 & 2 out and just by looking at them I could tell that one of them wasn't right. I thought I broke it trying to get it out. I tested both of them and relay 1 was bad. Haven't checked relays 3 & 4. Didn't want to break another one. Haven't had a chance to replace the relay yet.

Checked Owners Manual: Relay 1 - Interior Lamp Relay

That is everything I have done so far. There are a few things I could/should test, just not sure what order they need to go in. I have some questions before I continue:

QUESTIONS:
1. - What is Fuse 103 (Junction Block Battery Feed)?
- What does it do or where does it go?

2. - What is the best/easiest way to get a relay out?

3. - If relay 1 quit working, and depending on when it quit, what position (Open or closed), couldn't that cause the breaker to continually reset?
- Where are these breakers located?

4. - Where are primary battery fuses?
. - Are they breakers, relays, or fuses?
- Could that be what keeps resetting?
- What do primary battery fuses do?

5. - Where are the engine fuse block fuses located?
- Could it have anything to do with this?

6. - Fuse 8 (Radio, Remote Entry Module, GEM Module)
- What exactly is a GEM Module?
- What does it do?


8. - Should I do a continuity check? Or no?
- Got any good links that would show me?

9. - What other tests can I do with my multimeter?


10. - Is it possible that all the stuff that is happening to the truck is caused by one thing?
- Could the Passenger Compartment Fuse Box be bad?

So, either Mr truck is possessed, or there is a logical answer to this problem. I'm shooting for logical answer.

I want to thank everyone in advance for all the information you can give me.

Thank you. Thank You Very Much.
Loony2n

 

Your battery is almost dead. Charge it. The electroniucs in these trucks will go brain-stupid when they don't have enough power.
Was the connector still on the post or not? If not, you have a simple bad connection at the post/terminal, not a "short".
Probably not. If you did, you'd have smoke or blown fuses which would then remove the path for current.

It sounds like you may have gone down a rabbit hole due to misinterpreting symptoms.

There are no circuit breakers anywhere in the truck. Nor are there any "primary battery fuses" (well, there are fusible links in the cable between the starter relay and the battery) behind the battery nor are there any "engine block fuses directly behind the distribution box".

Fuse F103 supplies the CJB.

1. Resolve the discharged battery first (charge it).
2. Resolve the question regarding how you made that check at the battery's negative post. Clean/repair terminal as/if needed to correct.
3. If, after resolving BOTH of those issues, you're still hearing the clicking, locate the source and explicitly identify it.

Good luck!

 

The first thing to do is inspect/repair/replace the battery terminals, as the captions in this photo album explain:


(phone app link)

If they're bad, the battery won't take a charge. And bad terminals CAN cause all your symptoms.

 

I knew the battery was drained That was my point when I put it in the post. Charging the battery wouldn't resolve the issue. Whatever happened, drained my battery in less than 15 minutes. Charged, it does the same thing.

The negative cable was disconnected from the battery. Test light clip was connected to the negative cable. Test light touching negative post. Doors all shut. No key in ignition. Power off. Removed hood light. If test light comes on, then there is a drain on your battery.

Passenger compartment fuse panel .
1. Fuse # 8 (radio, remote entry module, GEM module) .
2. Relay 1 (interior lamp relay)

Power distribution box:
1. Fuse 8 (power door locks)

All were blown. Beginning to sound like a short?

I don't know what repair manual you looked at, but according to Chilton Repair Manual - Ford Pickups 1997 - 2003:

" The electrical circuits of the vehicle are protected by a combination of fuses, circuit breakers and cartridge type fusible links. All models covered in this manual have four fuse blocks: the passenger compartment fuse block is located under the instrument panel on the left or right side of the dashboard, a second fuse block called the power distribution box is located under the hood, on the left inner fender well (2009 and earlier) or at the front of the engine compartment (2010 and later); a third fuse block called the engine fuse block is mounted just behind the power distribution box; a fourth fuse block is located next to the battery and contains the primary battery fuses."

and

" On some models the circuit breaker resets itself automatically, so an electrical overload in a circuit breaker protected system will cause the circuit to fail momentarily, then come back on)

The click sound that I hear is something that is being tripped, and then three to four seconds later it is resetting. Then it repeats. I have tracked the sound down to somewhere behind the battery. Thereby being the reason I asked a question about the primary battery fuses .

Seriously, what you are telling me is elementary school stuff and/or incorrect. I have been working on cars since I was a kid. We can skip the basics. As for rabbit holes, I do not believe I misinterpreted the symptoms.

The fuses that were blown makes sense as the first thing that happened was that the radio started going on and off. Fuse 8 - Radio, Remote Entry, GEM.
Interior lights would not turn off. Relay 1- - bad, which is why I asked about it the relay went bad in the open position it it could cause a breaker to keep resetting.

The only thing I didn't get was when you put ---------------Fuse 103 supplies the CJB. Well, that doesn't tell me what it does and I don't know what CJB stands for, but I will look it up.

Thank you for your input.

 

Uh, no. I've been doing this for over forty years. I know my way around electrical systems in my sleep. What I don't know my way around are posts that are incomplete or have vague or ambiguous statements or descriptions. That I why I cover things that,to another expert, would be obvious but are often missed by the novice. Your incomplete descriptions indicated a strong probability of incorrect procedures leading to incorrect conclusions on your part.

MEASURE the quiescent current draw between the battery negative post and the disconnected negative cable. Using a test lamp, even in a normally functioning system, will light up for 35-45 minutes due to the programmed timeout interval of the battery saver relay in the GEM module. Failure to follow the correct procedure will always result in a perceived failure.

Find the source of the clicking exactly so you can accurately identify the source. That may be a needed piece of information or it may be a red herring. Don't know until you've found it.

FWIW, I haven't wasted my time with any Chiltons in over 20 years, the information is usually too vague as demonstrated by the generic description you quoted.. I rely solely on the factory service documentation, the same stuff that dealership techs use.

"CJB" is the abbreviation for Central Junction Box, the correct term for the name of the in-cabin under dash fuse/relay panel.

 

I am by no means an expert, nor do I have as much experience as you seem to have, that being the reason I posted my problem in the first place. Neither am I a novice. I was as detailed as I could be about the issue. Nor do I have access to, or know how to find the information that experts use. I only have a manual to go by, which up until now, has always been right.
And for the record, it would have been nice if you could have told me whether or not a bad relay could be the cause, part of the cause, or even may have been caused by whatever happened. The last thing I wanted to do was get into a pissing contest with someone online. This being my first time posting in any forum.

Thank you for your input.

 

If you want help, follow up on what you were advised to do and post the results and observations.