Help Needed Dash went crazy & no power!!

W4RLR

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Would this also cause the drastic loss of power?? (no accelleration) It runs smooth, but has no power... mash the pedal & it hardly wants to accelerate.
The injector control module will not properly fire the injectors with low voltage. The van the wife and I used to own for our dog grooming business did the same thing. Bad cables were the culprit, replacing the ground cables fixed it.
 

VinceJE

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Had batts tested in isolation and the alt tested at 2 different places this afternoon. All tested fine, so this is really frustrating. I have been through 4 alternators and 3 sets of batteries overall. I have no confidence in this truck until I can find some concrete evidence of the causes & get it fixed.
 

snicklas

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I agree, it is a power supply problem.

I was having alternator/batter issues on mine. I was going to drive it to work one day, and it had been on the charger after an alternator replacement. Drove to the gas station a mile or so from home, and left it run when I went inside. When I came back out, the truck was running, but when I got in, I noticed the indicator lights were off, I.E. - The Parking Brake indicator light. Once that caught my attention, I noticed all the gauges were at their "Zero" mark. At the time, since I was having trouble, I bought a cheap, plug into the cigarette lighter plug volt meter. Not a perfect solution, but better than nothing. I looked at the meter and I was at ~9.0 Volts!!!!!! Had the "Oh S**T! thought and drove straight home. On the trip home the alt would come to life a little and the gauges would start working, then die, then work..... Replaced the alternator, again (Was a defective replacement), and all the issues cleared. I am not sure if/how the performance was affected since I was still in town, and I was babying it home.... However, during this same time frame, while I was having the alt. trouble , I did have the voltage get to a point it turned the battery light on, it was still in the 12v range at that point, but it still ran correctly, had the expected power and instruments still worked. I would say someting is affecting you power supply to the engine/instruments.....
 

Dogman

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What brand alt. are you running? I had and problem like that for days running rebuilt alt. I put 3 alt on and still had the same problem. I had USA alt. on there and it was the problem. I put a motorcraft on and the problem went away. It's the way they test rebuilt alt. I think the rebuilds have a surging problem. :dunno
 
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snicklas

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Dogman,

I have had a total of 5 alternators on my truck....

The one that was on it when I bought it - I assume it was the factory one
2 Rebuilt NAPA Lifetime Alternators - I think the longest on lasted a month
1 Brand New NAPA Lifetime Alternator - Lasted about a year and an half
1 - Currently - A Bosch Reman - It seem to work the best of all the replacements I've had......

Next one will be a Motorcraft...... if/when I need it.....
 

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