Mysterious electrical problem, I need help

[davidschaffer]

My 96 F350 cc, 4x4, lb with a V3 has been acting strange. It mostly started today. while driving, all of the sudden, no throttle response, then okay, then no, then okay. Next time the battery light came on, no throttle response, no rpms. Then another time, just no rpms, another time a crackle in the speakers, battery meter bouncing a lot with blinker on, no throttle response. I would think it was the TPS or the pedal sensor or idle positioning switch. A few weeks ago and 5,000 miles ago, the ips fuse blew. After replacing it, the truck ran fine for a bit, then the pedal sensor and or ips were giving me issues. I thought I had this solved but maybe not. The problem is the symptoms are very different this time. When the ips fuse blew, I had not throttle response but that was all, everything else was working as it should. Whats wrong with my truck, could it be a bad ground? I have to drive 4,500 miles hauling boats soon and need to have this resolved. All help is appreciated.

David

[Turbostang500]

Sounds like a bad ground to me.
Usually unexplainable or very random things are cuased by a ground. This causes the power to back feed through other circuits to find a ground. This back feed can cause weird things to happen.

Or, there is a loose connection sonewhere that is moving while driving and losing contact.

Neither are any fun to try and diagnose.

Check all body grounds and do a wiggle test to try and duplicate symptons.

[davidschaffer]

Thanks, I appreciate the reply. I'll start digging around tomorrow and see what I can find. The battery gauge needle bouncing makes me think its a ground as well. Hopefully its just the main.

[davidschaffer]

Thought I had it fixed with a new alternator. Ran fine for 100+ miles and then the battery gauge acted up, all the gauges went crazy and the truck shut off. I was able to start it back up while still rolling. What's going on with my truck? I am going to try adding another ground to the battery and see if this helps. Any suggestions?

[zROCK]

Have you checked your grounds using a ohm meter? you may have a cable failing

[Chop]

I had similar symptoms as yours ,The ground cable to the left battery had a poor connection to the block . pulled the bolt and put a lock washer in .
The test that led me to it was connecting a jumper cable to that post and the other end to the ac bracket ,gauges calmed down and you could hear the difference in the engine .