Hello,

I've got a 1988 XLT Lariat 5.8 that's having progressive electrical problems. This is all over the span of 2 - 3 weeks.

First off, the Rear ABS and parking brake lights would come on first thing in the morning. A few taps on the brakes down the road would clear them.

Now the Rear ABS light stays on. But in case you think I'm in the wrong forum, the radio started to intermittently cut out (power). Now it's out all the way.

Both power windows and the wipers won't work either.

This morning, the truck cranked over fine, but it seemed like it was starved for fuel. My first thought was the fuel pumps. But I remember now that the guy before me installed a fuel cutoff switch underneath the dash that *may* have been flipped accidentally. I'll try that when I get home.

I haven't checked the fuses under the dash yet. But what would cause a progressive die-out of the windows/radio/wipers. Would these, the Rear ABS brake light (and now not starting) be related?

Thanks for any help.

EDIT: kill switch has no effect, so either its the fuses or something else.

 

Sounds like bad grounds if this is all happening at once.

 

x2

 

Interesting. Thanks.

So where would I check first? Ground at the battery posts?

 

The grounds for:

RABS(rear anti lock) and the wiper switch is G201 located at the bottom of the dash on the left side above where your left knee would be.

The power windows and the radio use G500 which is located on the drivers door next to the speaker.

Fuel pumps use G100 located on the left side of the radiator support.

G101/G102/G203 is located just in front of the battery negative post on the radiator support. There should be a connection from the negative battery post directly to this ground.

It's highly suspect that all these grounds could fail or go intermittent all at once but with these old trucks it's possible. Its more likely that you have a combination of different failures and the grounds are a good place to start.

 

it seems there could be a wiring problem or even a switch problem?

 

So did you take apart And clean / secure All those grounds? The way to do it is take them apart and clean them with scotch bright pads or light sand paper, including the mounting surface and put them back together securely. Start there And let us know what you find out Your priority should be the fuel pumps.