2003 Mountaineer Strange Electrical Problem

[K7EDA]

Thanks in advance for any help .... New to site!

My son drove his '03 Mountaineer (6cyl, 4WD, 160K mi.) home for Christmas break and experienced a strange electrical problem yesterday ... The problem persists today!

He says the car was driving normally when the problem starts with the radio shutting down, followed by gauges reading zero, then the instrument display turns off, then headlights dim and shut down. Engine, steering and brakes continued to function, so he got home OK and after a few hours off, it will start up OK, run for a while but then the cycle repeats.

He just replaced the brake light switch (without issue) a day before this started and replaced the main battery exactly one year ago.

We would both appreciate any insights or help, my son needs to return to school in a couple of weeks. Thanks

 

[Rick]

K7EDA de AB7FH

Welcome to the forum

I did a quick search here and found a slew of weird electrical problems with '02s and '03s, but nothing that really matched your situation well.

 

[swetrid]

Alternator is going bad

 

[1Aauto]

Welcome to the site.

 

[K7EDA]

You're right SWETRID

Thanks for the quick reply, it was the alternator ..... Read in as BAD from a computer at the service center. Having it replaced today.

BTW, my mom was from Reading .... Is the Pagoda still there?