Electrical mystery.

[mbrown29]

It started with the alarm going off several times for no reason when my wife was sitting in the truck waiting for me with the accessory switch on. Then the door ajar warning would come on for no reason. Now in addition to the door ajar, the radio is holding my cd's hostage (radio works), the auto dim feature on the rear view mirror is on at startup, and backup warning switch is off at startup. Also from time to time, while I'm starting it up just before it turns over it quits and all my gauges zip all the way to the right and then slowly go back to zero and I can then start the car. We recently changed the battery but today it is dead adn the car will not stay running after it is jumped. Somewhere something is putting a major strain on the battery. We are assuming it is a short somewhere given all the previous mysterious symptoms. The problem is where!! Does anyone have a clue where we should start? Bad radio? Back window latch rattles - bad sensor? Security system? It's possessed? Please HELP!!

 

[henkzilla]

The battery issues sound possibly like a loose ground? I spent a couple hours trying to figure out what was wrong the battery on my focus and it was just the ground wire wasn't tight to the negative terminal harness. When I would try to jump it, it would run until i pulled the jumper cables off. just a thought!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your thread to the stock 2002-2005 section.

 

[mbrown29]

Last month we replaced the battery and now it doesn't have enough juice to operate the lights! We double checked the connections and they are good. Also had the alternator checked and they said it was fine.

Thanks for the input and help.

 

[teek]

I'd have your battery tested for voltage and cca, to make sure you replaced it correctly, and to ensure it is operating at or close to its listed specs. If it is way under then I would start to look into electrical gremlins, and I'd start by pulling fuses to see if you can narrow it down. Guessing at random parts of the system would probably take two or three lifetimes.

 

[mbrown29]

The new battery is actually a little higher than the old. Electrical issues existed before and after new battery. Before the car completely died yesterday, my daughter drove it approx. 6 miles, pulled into the drive, turned it off and tried to start it back up. It would not start without being jumped. What would cause the battery to drain like that? We checked all the fuses under the hood and all seemed well there (pull, inspected and replaced). Another thread mentioned the main ignition relay was his intermittant electrical gremlin. Does this make sense for me with the battery pull we are experiencing?

 

[mudmonger]

Sounds like a short to ground. You need to get that battery charged back up and check it before you reconnect. If after you reconnect the voltage starts dropping you either have an accessory on or a ground short. The ignition relay in my case didn't leave anything on and should not cause a ground short. I am not sure if a bad relay would allow a voltage drain. I would check that all lights are going off within 20 seconds of exiting the vehicle. I don't know how to test relays, but that could be a good thing to do as well. I'm sure someone on here can explain it. The ignition relay should be the only dark gray one in the junction box. Does anything not work at all? Like wipers, AC, or other major accessories?

DMC

 

[therealblinky]

Before you do all this, Make sure your battery connections are all Clean and have a good connection. Mine would do the same thing, then i cleaned the connections and it was alot better

 

[jp450]

Another angel: Check the cables to ensure they are not corroded on the inside preventing the battery from charging properly. Also check the "Big" fuse, I think it is a 110 Amp, that looks like a small black box. Ensure that it is not blown.

 

[CmdrPopNFresh]

sounds to me like youve just got a bad alternator......low voltage can wreak havoc on a vehicles electrical system. have your charging system tested while under a load....lights on etc. i worked on a new fusion a few days ago that had a weird issue like this....all kinds of module communication fault codes, flashing lights, going through batteries once every 2 months.....when you checked the charging system it would check fine...but if you put the alternator under load by turning on the lights or turning up the stereo the voltage would bounce from 11 to 18 volts.....slapped a new alternator in it and it ran great.

 

[mbrown29]

Thanks for all the good advise. We tried them all and ended up replacing the alternator. We had this checked earlier while it was still on the vehicle and it tested fine but after removing it and having it bench tested found this was the issue. All the demons went away!

I truly appreciate all your help.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Thanks for the update!

 

[D Hook]

Thanks for coming back to update. Sure helps other owners.