OK, truck died on the way home. Lost power but all the warning lights came on and truck turned over. After it started again the ABS and brake lights would come on periodically and the service 4WD light stays on and I cannot change the 4wd selection at all. It only stays in 2wd now. Also noticed that the blinker lights in the dash are faintly on. I checked what I could for now and don't have a clue as to what it is. I'm thinking it could be a ground?? I also noticed now that the headlights are dimming and going brighter while I drive. It has a new Interstate battery and I checked the connections and they look good. Any help would be great.

 

Could very well be a bad ground. Clean the battery and the post very good and check all of the grounds. Don't forget the one on the driverside rear of the engine block.

 

Definitely sounds like a grounding issue. When I had a loose ground, both of my blinker lights in the dash came on and the speakers were popping intermittently.

 

So tonight after work I drove home about 3 miles-had no issues. This morning when I went to work the lights came on(ABS, Brake, and service 4 wd and the blinker lights were faintly on). So when I got home I went out and loosened all the ground wires from the front drivers side of the block, the back of the block and battery negative, and the small ground from the battery to the radiator support and the ground from the back of the engine to the firewall all loose and re tightened them all. I took it for a drive and nothing happened. I did notice that the blinker lights were coming on very faintly when I stepped on the brakes or turned the fog lights on. I do have aftermarket fog lights. Any other grounds or is there grounds on the brakes or taillights or something i am missing?? Any more help would be great. Thanks.

 

Check the wiring on anything aftermarket and make sure there are no shorts. Did you clean the grounds any or just loosen and tighten? Did they look dirty?
Also check the PCM to make sure the bolts didn't back out on the wires some how. Take the alternator in to be tested.

 

Yes I cleaned the grounds and everything looked good. Its weird, when it warms up all the way I have no issues. Now yesterday it was 17 degrees out and let it warm up to 170ish and started driving down the road and it quit. I started it up again and it took a bit then died again. It seemed as though it wasn't getting any fuel. Again, the ABS lights, brake lights, service 4wd lights were on again. My next step tonight is to add another ground from the block to the frame and check the ECM to make sure it is tight. This is really starting to PMO!!!!!! I also checked the connections to the fog lights which I soldered together are good. Any other ideas would be great. Thanks

 

I'm pretty stumped. if i think of anything I'll post up.


Bump.

 

You said the headlights get brigther as you drive , it might be the alternator

 

yeh, that's a tale tale sign of an alternator. None of the other crap makes sense, but checking your alternator is free at one of the autoparts stores.

 

I wouldn't say it gets brighter, it gets dimmer and the volt meter gauge shows a drop in voltage to around 14. Normally it is a bit above 14 while I am driving. Has not acted up since Monday. I hope it was just the ground wires. I also noticed that when it did it on Monday the fuel pressure dropped big time and was making it run like sh*t. I will let you know if I find anything else and if anyone has any other ideas, that would be great. Thanks