Help Help Something fried and i dont know what HELP PLEASE !

[Madrican]

hi all hope someone here can help me some thing really messed up and i have no clue what here is what happened. for the last week or so i have been having a low current problem with my expo. and i made an appointment to have it looked atand the only day they had open was thursday ( i went in on monday) only thing is wed. night when i got home truck had been having low current problems all day but other wise was running fine. As soon as i parked the engine started sputtering ( only way to describe it is like when ur timing is way off and the engine is getting flooded)at first i thought maybe fuel filter was clogged and needed to be changed so i reved a lil to see what the result would be... and nothing it wouldnt go past 2000 rpm just sputtering to death. and all of a sudden a white cloud of smoke comes from underneath the truck in the mid fron section no real smell just a puff of white smoke . now im thinking great what the hell just happened? so i immediatly turned truck off as soon as i saw the smoke waited a couple of mins. and everything worked fine. so still puzzled i shrugged and went to bed. next day when im in truck i notice my gas gauge is totally wrong
i had a 1/4 tank and its saying i have 3/4 tank and my voltage meter is flickering when i put the truck in drive and hit the gas i rev just fine till the point where its gonna shift to second roughly 15 mph give or take a few and it seems to stall for a split second and then comes back to life also when u stop and hit gas tranny seems to slip for a second b4 u can go again. finally went took truck to shop and they traced what ever had happened to the battery a Opitma yellow top battery seems a cell was bad took it out and replaced with original . now seems the original wont hold a charge . the guages are back to normal ( i think) but still wont hold a charge. also i noticed is i hit a bump the trucks elect. system goes down for a split second and comes right back up.it never did this b4 and i have no clue at all what that big puff of smoke was i didnt notice any wierd, or burned electrical smell to the smoke but i know something fried just have no clue what. this is the only car i have and it is greatly needed . any help would be great . as for now only thing i can do 2morrow is get up early and take into a shop to have em do a diag. and we all know how $$$$$ that can be.... sigh unless someone here can point me in the right direction

 

[Madrican]

ohh and at the same time tranny shifts from 1st to second and i get that split second stall the abs light also comes on .. at this point im thinking computer fried .. but im not sure where its located 1994 expo. xlt

 

[88vert]

Check the connection for your computer,its on the passengers side kick panel.How is your altenator?

 

[Madrican]

alt checked out fine bat light never comes on at all even tho i have no juice in battery . also i noticed thursday morning that there was a slight gasoline smell and i traced to this small black box under the hood fron driver side right in front of the abs test box the hose was torn at the base i just clipped it and reinserted it not thinking . but now that i think about it ...... is there supposed to be gas smell comming from there? it looks like a vacuum hoses attached to it 2 of them

 

[mrboyle]

The "black box" is the evaporative canister for your fuel system. It will have a fuel smell to it. Does the battery hold a charge if it is disconnected? If so, you have a draw (short) in the electrical system. My first guess would be the alternator (the regulator actually, but it's more or less part of the alternator).

 

[Madrican]

well its noon sat. just finished replacing the alternator and wouldnt u know it everything seems fine ill kepp yall posted thanks for the help. btw... these dam alts. are a bit expensive eh hehe the stock one was 90 amps or so. the one i bought is 130 amps but everything seems good thanks again