help

[Cj Ford]

Ok here goes sorry its a long post but it has me stumped

Keep in mind it was down to 7F all night Saturday..Today (Sunday) I went out to start my truck, it was outside not plugged in (my kid thought it didn't matter that the cord was not plugged into the outlet on the house after he knocked it out with his hockey stick)


Anyway here's what happened I turned the key to cycle the glow plugs the wait to start light didn't come on but the battery and parking brake light did... I waited for a few seconds maybe 30-40 seconds cranked it up it started but ran rough rolled the smoke (as expected and understood due to cold) but I know the glow plugs had to have cycled or it wouldn't have started it was still 9F out

This is where it gets weird, here's the issue the stereo wouldn't turn on the gauges were not working at all fuel, tach, oil pressure, all sitting at the bottom touched the throttle nothing at all.. shut it off tried again same thing... Well I let it run for a few minutes and then I had throttle still no gauges or stereo.. drove about a mile and a half to work no speedo either, no turn signals... I left it running at work for about 10 more minutes after I got to work. I walked out opened the door stereo is on, gauges are all working fine.. I shut it down and left it outside for 6 hrs and it was fine when I left work tonight.. how could the cold make this stuff not work??? It seemed as soon as the truck ran for a little while everything worked fine.....

[orangesbc383]

boy oh boy, I dont know I guess it could.......................Im sure some one with some more knowlege will be here soon to help ya..............bump

[Strõkër~X]

have you plugged it in since? then tried to start it?

maybe be a glow plug relay, but that does not make sense about the rest of problems...

[mschn99]

sounds like you could have a battery...or maybe a connection issue...

Generally the cold doesnt affect things like that....thats my best guess. Where the wait to start light didnt work im wondering if the PCM wasnt seing VREF..... (voltage)

[Cj Ford]

Im not sure .. I know the glow plugs had to have cycled .. there is no way it would have started in this cold without them... it has me totally stumped

[Cj Ford]

Originally Posted by Strõkër~X

have you plugged it in since? then tried to start it?

maybe be a glow plug relay, but that does not make sense about the rest of problems...

its plugged in right now.. its still 11F Im gunna try it again later tonight to see what it does when plugged in.. the whole electrical not working gauges stereo and wait to start light has me baffled... could this be a bad battery and it running so long gave it enough voltage to make everything work again.. only thing i can think of is voltage issue.. both batterys have clean connections they are about 2 years old.. but they are interstates(i have had bad luck with them in past cars but they were in the truck when i bought it)


guess ill be doin load test on both batteries at work Monday

[mschn99]

only thing i can think is you do have a weak battery...and it took all it had to start it and you did get enough voltage built back up letting it run.....you might also want to check altenator output to be safe...

[Cj Ford]

Originally Posted by Marc

only thing i can think is you do have a weak battery...and it took all it had to start it and you did get enough voltage built back up letting it run.....you might also want to check altenator output to be safe...

Thanks Marc .. I will load test both batteries Monday alternator was replaced the week befor Christmas

when it rains it pours...

[D-man]

Originally Posted by Cj Ford

Ok here goes sorry its a long post but it has me stumped

Keep in mind it was down to 7F all night Saturday..Today (Sunday) I went out to start my truck, it was outside not plugged in (my kid thought it didn't matter that the cord was not plugged into the outlet on the house after he knocked it out with his hockey stick)


Anyway here's what happened I turned the key to cycle the glow plugs the wait to start light didn't come on but the battery and parking brake light did... I waited for a few seconds maybe 30-40 seconds cranked it up it started but ran rough rolled the smoke (as expected and understood due to cold) but I know the glow plugs had to have cycled or it wouldn't have started it was still 9F out

This is where it gets weird, here's the issue the stereo wouldn't turn on the gauges were not working at all fuel, tach, oil pressure, all sitting at the bottom touched the throttle nothing at all.. shut it off tried again same thing... Well I let it run for a few minutes and then I had throttle still no gauges or stereo.. drove about a mile and a half to work no speedo either, no turn signals... I left it running at work for about 10 more minutes after I got to work. I walked out opened the door stereo is on, gauges are all working fine.. I shut it down and left it outside for 6 hrs and it was fine when I left work tonight.. how could the cold make this stuff not work??? It seemed as soon as the truck ran for a little while everything worked fine.....

You are right that it would not start if the GPR wasn't working so, eliminate that as a problem. The problem isn't limited to just your instrument cluster because the radio didn't work either. I believe you have a poor ground connection for your dash. Look for ground straps and the such that might connect from the dash to your firewall. I don't know where the connection is, maybe someone elso could come on with that info. Poor ground connections always give weird problems.

[D-man]

Originally Posted by Cj Ford

Thanks Marc .. I will load test both batteries Monday alternator was replaced the week befor Christmas

when it rains it pours...

Eliminate your batteries because you said you were able to crank a 7.3 over at 7 degrees after cycling your glow plugs. That was your load test.