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Comments
That's a 25 amp fuse that's blowing. That suggests a pretty obvious dead short somewhere---a live wire directly to ground.
hope this helps
Cliff
Thanks
Now check to see what other acc are on that same fuse, it may not be a PW problem.
hope this helps
Cliff
Hope this helps
Cliff
If battery and all cables are clean & tight, I would starting looking at the IGN switch, located on the lower half of your steering column.
Make SURE you have a GOOD body ground. If in doubt, run a new 10GA wire from battery ground post to a clean metal (SCRAPE PAINT) on body sheet metal on firewall.
Let me know what you find.
Cliff
To prevent a breakdown, I had previously tested the original battery on the 45K mi/31//2yr-old car and found it to be "weak', so I replaced it. Then 3mos later the alternator "burned up" while driving. The car started normally that morn, but then 2 blocks down the street, the engine died and could not be restarted. The above symptoms were evident. Now, we have had maybe as many as 4 alternators put on it in 2 different trips to the repair shop. 3 times that I know of, the alternator has "burned up". These are supposedly remanufactured genuine "Ford" alternators.
There are just 2 wiring connections with no chance of error when reconnecting. The first replacement alternator lasted some 20K mi/1yr. But during that replacement, the shop needed 2 additional alternators to get the car "out the door". 1 was deemed to be "bad", the other was "incorrect", the 3rd one worked for a year. Then the other day the same symptoms - batt light on, ABS light on, slow wipers, then dead batt/no restart. We towed it in and when I went to start it to leave after the batt was charged/checked, and the alternator was replaced - a strange whirring noise followed by noxious smoke arising from the alternator area. The tech pulled the car back in and told me the alternator was again 'burned up". We bought the car new, and it has never been wrecked. The wiring at the alternator looks good, and checks good with an ohmeter, and cannot really be "crossed". There are no odd owner-installed add-ons to tax the electrical system. I can find no other posts with this type of problem. Other than this electrical problem the car has been without faults since July '04/64K mi. Can anyone out there offer me any insight as to what may be the source of this frustrating problem? Please?
1.st. I would find an Advance Auto Parts. 2. I would buy a NEW alt which has a
LIFETIME warranty. 3. buy a cheap digital volt/amp meter. 4. have your battery charged and load tested with carbon pile tester. apply 2 times the cold cranking amps to the battery while reading battery voltage. It must hold 9.6 volts for 15 sec.if not replace the battery. 5. Moniter battery voltage while running, at NO time should it exceed 14.2 volts.
If your voltage goes over this for any time it can cook the battery and cause all kinds of havic. Hopefully it did not cook your inst. cluster.
Get this dine and let me know what you found out
Cliff
The alternator on my daughter's car mounts directly to the engine block. There is a ground strap from the engine to the R-H frame rail. I checked it for tightness, corrosion, and a good, clean ground. The battery grounds at the other-side-of-the-car ( L-H ) frame rail. It checks out good as well. I still think there is a faulty ground somewhere. Thank you for your help. I am an old M-B mech.
After you find out voltage when running, let me know.
ALSO - You can load test the ground circuit and pos. cable with a carbon pile load tester. You should NOT have over 1/2 volt drop in ground side or 1/2 volt drop in pos. battery cable.
Stay in touch
Cliff
I've been scrawling through loads of the answers & suggestions to the problem on here but have yet to find one that was a CONFIRMED repairer of the problem!!!
The battery is perfect, fuses are good, earths are fine & even after the car recently got laid up for over 3wks in an airport carpark, it still started first time so am presuming alternator has to be charging the battery sufficiently!!!
Any help or advice that HAS succeeded to date would be much appreciated????
to dash, lower down column, the ign sw wiring is held to the sw w/an 8mm bolt. the sw is mounted to yhe column w/2 10 or 11mm nuts. Lift switch up and pay attention to where the rod from the key goes into sw. Your problem is most likely the switch.
Good Luck;
Cliff
Much appreciated, Hugh.
Cliff
Recently I replaced my altenator/battery to discover the original alt was fine. Lights began flickering, instrument panel, headlights, etc. So I did some digging around the altenator area and determined same as described earlier, corroded red wire off the pig tail.
Here's the kicker, I replaced the pigtail, not trimming the wires, just leaving them as is, hooked them up one-by-one to the corresponding wires matched on pins 1, 2 and 3. It solved the flickering, however, now, the lights surge, or pulsate rather and it's quite annoying. I took it to the dealership and they cannot seem to figure out what it is.
Basically, at idle, even driving at a steady RPM, you can see the all of the lights, instrument, headlights and all, kind of pulsate like a heartbeat. Dim/Bright/Dim/Bright. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
I am having the problem that you had i.e. the trunk on my station wagon opens when I start the car and press the brake. It first occurred last Friday night; then went away later that night. I had a Ford dealer look at it Saturday and they could not find a problem.
Today, Sunday, it has reoccurred. How did you get the problem resolved?
Sincerely,
weg
Cliff
I went to a breakers yard looking for a 2nd hand alternator & was told by the manager to bring the car to a mate of his......it took him 1hr & he charged me 45euros. He simply replaced the wiring into the alternator, the three smaller wires inside the one larger cable had partially corroded inside without any visible signs on the outside of the wire casing. The car's electrics are ALL now back running perfectly & I saved a small fortune not having to replace a perfectly good alternator. Hope this helps.
James
Let me Know what you find out.
clifford20@comcast.net
"I don't know if you found any of my posts about a similar issue that I have yet to resolve. My car is a 2005 Focus SE. OverDrive light flashes some, I have a check engine light on. Transmission is rough when I start up and it has a hard time going into drive when I first start. The code on the engine light shows a grounding problem with the speed sensor for the trans (this has been "repaired" several times and keeps popping back up).
I have had numerous wierd problems over the past two years with this car. Mysterious dead battery; blown anti-theft fuse; alternator shot, new alternator gone bad before the car even left the repair shop; alternator just tested bad diodes, even though battery had just tested 104%; turn and brake lights gone out, although they came back when the engine codes were cleared. I had a new trans put in a year-and-a-half ago. Problems started before that.
The repairman who drove it when the brake lights went out said he had someone else run codes and it showed the GEM was bad. I took the car to another shop for another opinon and they said they didn't think that was the problem. They found no code showing anything wrong with GEM (actually, two places have told me that). The tranny people say the car has an electrical problem. The auto electic guy I went to this summer says it needs to go back to the transmission shop.
I have a feeling I may try to find a new GEM and have that put in and see if it takes care of the problem. I heard they used to only be available through a dealer, but they may now be available aftermarket. I guess I could also find one in a junk yard. Anyone have an idea on the cost of a GEM? "