Thoughts on cranking problems

[essendon22]

Bare with me here... In July I had my new radio and alarm installed by the Geek Squad at Best Buy. In August a shrill noise started coming through the speakers after you cut the truck off. The radio and all power is off, but it sounds like a ringing in your ear. Within a week of this happening my truck wouldn't crank. I took it back to Best Buy thinking somehow the power was being drained by this noise. BTW I have the factory Pioneer system that comes with an amp and sub. They just tied the new radio into that. They looked everything over and said it was okay, that the noise was coming from a loose connection that they soldered back together. They suggested going to have my battery tested. I went to Auto Zone and they said the battery was bad. Being that it was 4 years old I bought a new one. Gel style that is supposed to be better. That was 3 weeks ago. This week the ringing is back and the truck would barely crank today. Took it back to Auto Zone and the new battery that is supposed to have 800 cold cranking amps is reading 1040. He checked the alernator but it seems okay. He said it should be reading 14 and it's a little lower in the 13 range. He said it could be going in and out or creating a ripple effect though (whatever that is)? He also said that something drawing on the battery could also cause the problem.

Some other things that may or may not be related or help diagnose:
When I first crank the truck and the A/C is on, the compressor cuts out. It won't kick back in until the truck starts moving and the RPM's increase.
When I have this trouble cranking and it first starts up, all the gauges all point to the lowest point and click rapidly for about 10 seconds.

I don't trust taking it to the dealer so my question is/are..
Is it more likely that there is something with the amp that is not shutting off and causing a drain? Or because I have so many electrical things that the alternator could be going bad? The truck on has 55K miles on it, but I understand it is still 6 years old. I've read on some threads that a lot of you have installed larger alternators. Any recommendations on brand or part I need?

I know it's pretty vague, but any ideas would be appreciated!

 

[waskly]

When I first crank the truck and the A/C is on, the compressor cuts out. It won't kick back in until the truck starts moving and the RPM's increase.
When I have this trouble cranking and it first starts up, all the gauges all point to the lowest point and click rapidly for about 10 seconds.

normal. dont bother with this.

your problem is some how they most likely ####ed up and the system is not powering down correctly. my best guess would be a bad trigger (amp on wire) or they ####ed up wiring the head unit to the ford system which is very possible. the best thing i can tell you is do a draw test on the truck.

 

[OffTrac]

I find it odd that you trust Best Buy to touch your truck but not a dealership. My bet is that Best Buy's short-timer "audio experts" screwed something up.

I'd almost bet it has something to do with the alarm. For some reason, people seem to have problems with aftermarket alarms on our vehicles.

 

[waskly]

I find it odd that you trust Best Buy to touch your truck but not a dealership.

but best buy geek squad is pro's bro. ever seen the vans they drive around in.

 

[OffTrac]

but best buy geek squad is pro's bro. ever seen the vans they drive around in.

Vans? They drive VW Bugs in my area.

 

[essendon22]

LoL oh I didn't mean to sound like I trusted them either. They were the first problem that popped in my mind. Just don't know where else to go. Forgive my ignorance but what is a draw test and who performs them?

 

[TGtrac05]

I'd almost bet it has something to do with the alarm. For some reason, people seem to have problems with aftermarket alarms on our vehicles.

I have to agree with that. The alarm that was in my truck screwed with everything so much (drained battery mostly), so I payed to get it taken out

 

[Markaprice73]

Don't know about the ringing sounds you are hearing. But, get a multimeter and try these easy tests. Battery/charging issues can cause all sorts of strange gremlins in our Tracs. Good luck
Parasitic draw test http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF1gijj03_0
Alternator diagnosis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTGz0PKIl84&feature=relmfu

 

[05dakotatrac]

if they had a loose solder terminal gareenteed there are more. how did they rewire the factory sub? did they use a cut up RCA terminal or did they source it from a high freq. source (tapped into rear speaker). did they use a 20 pin adapter? there can be pin issues on an adapter. did they hardwire to the factory 20 pin good chance the "quasy" pro "not-so Best buy" installer probably choice the wrong wires

 

[essendon22]

normal. dont bother with this.

Good to know, thanks.

Thanks for the link Mark. Just went and bought a meter and going to do the draw test at lunch.

 

[waskly]

LoL oh I didn't mean to sound like I trusted them either. They were the first problem that popped in my mind. Just don't know where else to go. Forgive my ignorance but what is a draw test and who performs them?

you need a dvom ( meter) that can do amps, most will do 10amps.

what you do is disconnect the negative battery terminal, you then run a wire from the terminal to the battery. wait about an hr, then on the battery you connect one lead from the meter, and on the terminal the other. once the meter is on, on 10amp setting, and correct, you remove the wire you installed so all the current goes through the meter.

then tell us what it is reading.

 

[essendon22]

Ok so I just got done and got the same reading when the alarm was off and when it was set. The reading is around 0.50. This doesn't seem like a lot to me, but there are days when I don't crank or drive the truck at all, so maybe it's enough? Of course now the noise isn't coming from the speakers so maybe that would affect it more. Do you think that reading is enough for me to start pulling fuses and see if I can get it to zero?

 

[waskly]

did you let the car goto sleep?

.5 will drain the battery i think about 2-3 days.

 

[essendon22]

It hadn't been cranked for 3 hours, so I would think so. I'll try to pull the fuses in a bit and see if that changes anything.

 

[waskly]

It hadn't been cranked for 3 hours, so I would think so. I'll try to pull the fuses in a bit and see if that changes anything.

you ran a wire from the neg battery cable to the post then took that off, after the meter was on. this is important if you do this wrong the vehicle wakes up.

 

[essendon22]

No I did it the exact way he showed in the video. I clamped the meter to the neg cable and the post and started pulling fuses. When I got to #25 which was a 7.5 amp fuse, when I pulled it the meter dropped from the .5 to like .01 so I think I've found it. On the table it shows that fuse is supposed to run a "generic electronic module (GEM), PATS Module, and the speedometer. When I pulled it the things I noticed that didn't work were the windows, the info cluster panel including the tripometer, the airbag, and the seatbelt chime, and surprise the radio went out! From the diagram I have the radio is supposed to be in slot #29 right underneath that and is supposed to have a 25 amp fuse. I'm taking it back to Best Buy tomorrow. I have a feeling it is something to do with the factory amp and they way they have wired into the fuse box. Probably where the ringing in the speakers is coming from as well. Stupid geeks. I guess I'll just buy an aftermarket amp and spend more money installing it to hopefully fix the prob.

BTW thanks so much for the draw test video! I would still be scratching my head without it. At least I know what to tell those fools.

 

[waskly]

No I did it the exact way he showed in the video. I clamped the meter to the neg cable and the post and started pulling fuses. When I got to #25 which was a 7.5 amp fuse, when I pulled it the meter dropped from the .5 to like .01 so I think I've found it. On the table it shows that fuse is supposed to run a "generic electronic module (GEM), PATS Module, and the speedometer. When I pulled it the things I noticed that didn't work were the windows, the info cluster panel including the tripometer, the airbag, and the seatbelt chime, and surprise the radio went out! From the diagram I have the radio is supposed to be in slot #29 right underneath that and is supposed to have a 25 amp fuse. I'm taking it back to Best Buy tomorrow. I have a feeling it is something to do with the factory amp and they way they have wired into the fuse box. Probably where the ringing in the speakers is coming from as well. Stupid geeks. I guess I'll just buy an aftermarket amp and spend more money installing it to hopefully fix the prob.

BTW thanks so much for the draw test video! I would still be scratching my head without it. At least I know what to tell those fools.

all i have to say is you did it wrong.

 

[Markaprice73]

You're welcome I've performed this test exactly as shown in the video and found a draw on my old mans ST. The video explains the test perfectly and really helped me out. GL

 

[essendon22]

Yeah, took it to Best Buy this morning and they said that was a correct way of doing it. Looks like the amp isn't shutting off for some reason. I have an old Alpine V12 that I'm going to have them put in and replacing the sub with a Kicker so it doesn't blow the factory one. Hopefully after they re-wire it the draw will be gone. Thanks again!