Hi everyone! Last week I was doing some running around and stopped at several places. When i went to start thw truck i had no issues at all. I then stopped for gas and left my door open. I hopped in and hit the key "CLICK". Then nothing! And i mean absolutely nothing! No interior lights, no fan, no power at all! I jiggled the key and got out and shut the door, opened it again and "hey interior lights are on!" Tried again and CLICK! Completely dead again. I had the wife bring me my tool kit and some jumpers just in case (new battery and alternator) I popped the hood and jiggled the battery cables and found that the neg terminal was loose. I tightened it up and the lights came on again! Went in and CLICK dead again! I went and pulled the positive terminal and noticed no real sparking. I undid the clamp and found there was corrosion. I smacked the wires together and flapped them a little and put it back together. I told the wife to go try so i could see where the click was coming from. VROOM! It fired right up! Awesome! I went home and cut the tips off and put it back together. Worked fine. However, Tuesday i was on my way into work and my head lights would dim and my fan would drop down then pick up again! Drrrr! I had the wife bring my obd reader to work and i ran it on the way home. My battery voltage was reading about 15, then as I'm driving it would drop down around 11.5! Then kick back up again. All of a sudden it dropped and didn't pick up again, and if course I'm behind someone doing 10 under and constantly braking for no reason. Smh. I made it home (10mi) and figured it was the 4mo old alternator. Took the alt and battery in and they both tested "great". I pulled the positive terminal apart again and cut the wire casing a little further back and beat them around again and fired it up. Nice and steady reading! Took it for a 30min ride, no issues! I took it to work today and it did fine on the way in and the majority of the way home then all of a sudden lights dimmed, battery light came on then it booted up again! It did it 3 more times! Argh! Sorry for the super long rant, but the only thing I can think is maybe the corrosion in the battery cable? Anyone have this problem before?

 

Is this a Ford? Shoot us a pic if your confused.

 

Oops crap! Lol! Yes its a 1998 f150 off road edition with the 4.6

 

I did replace the main wire today and went for a half hour ride with no problems. Hopefully that fixed it. Time will tell

 

Welp it did it one time today. Drrrrrrrrrr

 

Check your ground connections at the battery AND the chassis.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Ill check them

 

You have a connection loose somewhere. Check all grounds and the hots at the starter and alt and also the solenoid connections.

 

Ill try to get to looking more into it tomorrow. Hopefully I'll find something loose

 

Ok so a little bit of an update on the truck! I was out running around today and the battery light came on again! Argh! I was near advance auto so I pulled in to have them do a charging test in truck. Amazingly the test showed the alt wasn't pushing any charge! (When I had it tested the other day they said it was charging great) Needless to say, I borrowed some tools and swapped it out in their parking lot! Did a decent amount of driving and no light! I guess it must've been getting hot and stopping charging, but reading fine when cold. Smh! Time will tell