I'm at the point where I honestly want to now get rid of it and get something else. Got the ranger back in 2010 (it's a 2001 XLT) Previous owner looked like he took care of it, it's nice looking and didn't really have any problems. I use it as my DD. I've replaced misc things like the blower motor, resistor..etc. Small stuff



Just a couple weeks ago I started hearing a high pitched electrical noise and my speedo would bounce... Replaced the negative terminal on the cable and the bounce went away and I also cleaned all the ground points in the engine bay.



While I did that I changed the tensioner, and put a new serpentine belt along with replacing the ac compressor and evap. Finally had working AC and it was nice.. but I then noticed that the oil pressure guage would jitter a little bit when the AC was on... read another thread and someone said that's the voltage drop. Ok fine... a couple days go by and I see my temp gauge start rising. I plug in my OBDII sensor and start reading the data and the coolant is reaching 270 degree's way too hot...

On top of that my battery gauge is low and below the battery icon sometimes almost barely above the low mark...



I get the following: New alt, new motorcraft thermostat, motorcraft water pump, and new upper and lower rad hoses and new front fan clutch. I completely flush the entire system including heatercore. I don't have any blockage as water goes in and out perfectly fine. Cleaned everything and then start to bleed the system. Have the heater on high and hot so it gets the air out of the heater core. Cold air for a while then it starts heating up.



My oil pressure gauge is still flickering, my temp gauge is still going up to H even though it's 230' degrees, and my battery gauge is low.



WTF is happening!?!? I'm almost ready to take it to the dealer and get raped by them as long as someone can fix this problem.



It almost seems like it is HIT or miss. If I shut the truck off, then start it back up sometimes it's fine and the battery voltage from the alternator is reading 13v... other time the batter is just at 12v's...



When I shut it off then tried to start it back up it just clicked, did this a couple times then it started. Mind you the battery is brand new.





Could it be a starter seloniod or starter issue? I even swapped gauge clusters and it's still doing the crap it was before.



My truck has been perfectly fine up until 3 weeks ago... I find it odd that all this is happeneing AFTER I got the truck aligned...



When I drive there is no hesitation or stuttering at alll I just really don't know what is going on with the electrical system?



ANY help would greatly be appreciated because at this point I truly don't know what to do but take it in and have them say welp, your entire eletctrical system needs re-done?



Could the loose negative terminal possible screwed the ECU computer in the truck or GEM..??



It's like I get 3 different results by shutting the truck off, and starting it and doing the same thing over in the garage, truck isn't moving so not sure why sometimes it's perfectly fine and other times it just acts like something isn't right...





Thanks,

-Nigel

 

I do not know but I do know that if the voltage is not up to the required 13.8 volts a lot of weird stuff happens.

Although the alternator is new does it put out, under load, the correct voltage, same for the battery ?
What about inside of the vehicle, what is the voltage reading ?

Just thinking out loud.

 

Where would I check inside the voltage of the cabin? At the power/cig adaptor?

Thanks,
-Nigel

 

So I checked with my car battery and it's doing the same thing.

I checked all grounds inside the engine and even made sure it was touching bare metal.

Depending on when I start the truck sometimes I get 12v's somtimes i get 13..etc.

I took a video and posted it below:

3 different times starting the truck and getting weird stuff... I'm lost honestly. Not sure what's going on......... :-(


Thanks,
-Nigel

 

have you by any chance tried a different gauge cluster? It wouldnt have anything to do with the truck just clicking but the cluster itself may be bad who knows.

 

There and as close to each component giving you trouble.

 

You may want to look at the voltage regulator/alternator fuse under the hood in the fuse box and see if its good.

 

there are 2 possibilities

1 / the wiring harness that runs from the battery to the engine , it loops under the battery and down underneath against the driver side inner fenderwell , look for scraped off wire insulation

( i had that problem with my 07 fx4 )

2 / did you check / replace the ground strap that connects the engine block to the cabin firewall

those engine to firewall ground straps are the 1st to fail because of engine heat transfer , plus water gets in there and corrodes the ground strap

 

I always put extra ground wires on. I put one from the battery to the engine and one from the engine to the body.
I would look at the large connectors on the firewall also. You may have a bad connection there.
If you know how to use a multimeter, you can check the resistance between the engine and the body, the engine and the battery and battery and frame. Checking the negative side....This verifies the condition of the ground cables.