Hi everyone, i have a 99 ford ranger XLT 3.0L V6 that has, i'm assuming, electrical issues.
I was driving one day and the volt meter was pegged out(i think the voltage regulater was shorting out)...boiled the caps right off the battery, truck shuttered and died and hasn't started since. i replaced the alternator, battery, pcm, spark plugs, tons of relays and fuses. I have fuse 25 (GEM/instrument cluster) fuse that keeps popping, door chime/interior lights will come on for like 3 seconds and then fuse will pop...the white/yellow wire from the back of fuse 25 goes to the GEM terminal "battery" and to the PATS module and it has continuity to ground...i'm assuming that since it goes to the terminal "battery" that it shouldn't be a grounded wire...Also, if i ground the BLU/ORG wire from the starter relay under the PD box that goes to the PATS module i can get the truck to turn over with the key....making me think maybe the PATS module is fried...tonight i unplugged what i think is the ABS box (Behind dash, right side of radio, part number F59F-2C018-AA S) and my fuse 25 stopped popping and the wht/yellow wire no longer has continuity to ground, door chime and interior lights will now stay on..... Any input would be greatly appreciated, thank you :)

-Tony B

 

that is not the ABS box behind the radio...that is the GEM...that controls the dome lights, door chime, intermintent wipers, auto down for the drivers window and a few other functions

 

The GEM i believe is the box behind the radio to the left...it has four plugs going into it. with the box that i unplugged, the one to the right side of the dash behind the radio with only one plug on the top, out the door chime/lights/etc still work, looked up the part number and it says ABS... i appreciate the help very much.
-Tony B

 

i am thoroughly confused as to why unplugging the ABS would make my GEM fuse stop blowing, The gem has part number XL2T-14B205-AC and it is still plugged in, left side of dash behind radio, and the box i unplugged to the right of it behind radio with part number F59F-2C018-AA says its the ABS when i look it up .... i dont know how important the ABS circuit is to starting the truck....thoroughly confused by this. thanks again

 

The PCM and PATS are married the truck will not start if you swapped one of them.

 

what do you mean by married? so if i replaced the pcm does it need to be programmed or something to be compatible with the pats again? i did switch the pcm with a new one, my first thought was that the pcm wasnt telling my injectors to fire because i had fuel/spark just no starting...truck started on ether, so i replaced the PCM...
-Tony B

 

also..i do still have the old computer would it help to put that one back in maybe?

 

The pats and PCM are programmed to work together and read the chipped keys. You change out any one of those things the dealer needs to reprogram them.

You can try the old PCM to see if it works.

Have you checked the fuel pressure?

 

yes bought a fuel pressure tester and tested it at the rail 57 psi...put the old computer back in with no different results...still no starting, truck will turn over with key if i ground the blue/org wire from the starter relay in the pd box under the hood that goes to the PATS module, i believe i am bypassing the starter portion of the PATS circuit by doing that. another thing worth mentioning: before when fuse 25 would blow i had my theft light flashing when i plugged the fuse in...after unplugging the ABS box, which resulted in fuse 25(GEM/instrument cluster) no long blowing the theft light doesn't come on at all...not sure what this means but definitely seems pertinent to me. i've got my whole dash out and see no visible damage to wire. had smoke coming from fuse panel on drivers side of dash at time of incident when truck died, but can see no visible damage to wires in that vicinity. Thanks again for your input.
-Tony B

 

Im willing to bet pats is what fried, maybe some of the other electronics. Over voltage is bad for everything,

 

yea that was my thought as well was that the pats was fried...especially since i can get the truck to turn over with key by grounding out the starter relay wire that goes to the pats module...just can't find the pats....pretty sure its the box behind the passenger airbag with the green plug going into the back of it, can't tell how the hell to get to it though lol. and taking the ABS box out and having my GEM fuse stop blowing tells me that theres a short in that circuit somewhere, or the abs box was fried. additionally, fuse 2 is blowing as well (Passenger airbag deployment, blower motor relay) so probably have alot of fried wires in various places or all of that stuff is on once circuit?

 

Pull the pass airbag, drop the glove box unscrew the two bolts as you look up. The bag will fall out and there is your PATS box. Make sure the battery has been disconnected for at least 60 seconds before you pull the bag.

 

i borrowed my buddies actron elite autoscanner cp9185...did all the test available on it. On the diag mon test i get results under a bunch of labels like "$01, $03, $10, etc" and they look like this:
Test - $01
ID: 11
MAX: ----
MEAS: ---- 400
MIN: 200
STS: OK
MOD: $10

if you know how to translate these that would be awesomne, also under the "modules present" Test i got this message:
ID Protocols
$10 PWM* offline

any input would be great. thanks.
-Tony B

 

Also, The only code it pulled was P1000 which is system test did not complete which is because i changed the battery and it hasn't gone through the proper drive cycles to activate all my sensors. This is with the old computer in. going to put the new computer in and hook up the tool again and see what it does.