innervision
New Member
- Joined
- July 11, 2009
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Chicago
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1998 XLT
Hi all,
I'm a new member and this is my first post. Looks like a great site you have here.
So here's the deal... I believe I have a significant short somewhere in my electrical system. Any help will be GREATLY appreciated.
Symptoms:
When key is turned to "ON" position, dash lights go dim or off completely, then after about 5-10 seconds all normal electrical function comes back(I think that something is turning on at this point that is causing a massive drain or short on the electrical system.)
After the 5-10 seconds of frustrating darkness and flickering the juice comes back on I can turn on headlights, radio, interior lights, etc and all have full function.
When I turn key to start, juice is immediately drained completely and everything goes dark again.
If I pull the keys out and try again the exact same problem is repeated.
Battery is 100% good and no drain on the system when ignition is off.
Here's where it gets a little weirder....
I hooked my truck up to another vehicle to jump it and the motor would turn over VERRRY slowly but will not start. I've swapped batteries just to be certain it is not the issue and both that I have used are 100% (started other vehicles just fine and both were good on the tester).
So, maybe someone has had this before or has an idea...I've been messing with it for 3 days now and I'm at wits end. Like I said, I'm pretty sure its a short somewhere but I thought someone may have an idea of usual suspects to check out or a quick test I could run to narrow down where the problem is.
The truck has been pretty much trouble free its whole life (108,000 miles, regular maintenance) and no recent changes or repairs were made to anything. I parked it in my garage the other night and the next morning this problem appeared.
Sorry for the long post
Thanks in advance for any good advice, it is truly appreciated.
I'm a new member and this is my first post. Looks like a great site you have here.
So here's the deal... I believe I have a significant short somewhere in my electrical system. Any help will be GREATLY appreciated.
Symptoms:
When key is turned to "ON" position, dash lights go dim or off completely, then after about 5-10 seconds all normal electrical function comes back(I think that something is turning on at this point that is causing a massive drain or short on the electrical system.)
After the 5-10 seconds of frustrating darkness and flickering the juice comes back on I can turn on headlights, radio, interior lights, etc and all have full function.
When I turn key to start, juice is immediately drained completely and everything goes dark again.
If I pull the keys out and try again the exact same problem is repeated.
Battery is 100% good and no drain on the system when ignition is off.
Here's where it gets a little weirder....
I hooked my truck up to another vehicle to jump it and the motor would turn over VERRRY slowly but will not start. I've swapped batteries just to be certain it is not the issue and both that I have used are 100% (started other vehicles just fine and both were good on the tester).
So, maybe someone has had this before or has an idea...I've been messing with it for 3 days now and I'm at wits end. Like I said, I'm pretty sure its a short somewhere but I thought someone may have an idea of usual suspects to check out or a quick test I could run to narrow down where the problem is.
The truck has been pretty much trouble free its whole life (108,000 miles, regular maintenance) and no recent changes or repairs were made to anything. I parked it in my garage the other night and the next morning this problem appeared.
Sorry for the long post
Thanks in advance for any good advice, it is truly appreciated.
