I have a Ford E450 chassis, drove it just yesterday. This morning I out the key in, it dings like normal. I turn it, there’s a click, then all the lights turn off.
What puzzles me is the battery gauge says the batteries (I have two) are fine. also, the battery and fuel gauges are stuck after the power gets cut. Any ideas?
Your battery cables have issues. Either positive or ground… I suspect the ground connection… I ALWAYS suspect the ground connections first.
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Is tracking that down as tedious as it sounds? Just following cables looking for exposed wire?
Begin with inspecting the battery terminals, that is where the cables attach to the battery.
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The gauge is only picking up how many max volts are showing, the battery’s are run in parallel and one can be bad and the other good and the gauge doesn’t know the difference…
You need to get a DVOM and check voltage at the battery’s and then see if the voltage drops when cranking and how low it goes… You can remove the neg terminal at one battery and check the battery voltage drop and then do the same to the other battery so you are checking each battery individually…
Now my daughter called me when her car wouldn’t start the other night and she said everything worked but the engine just clicked… I got there and checked the voltage and it showed 12.4 volts, so with the DVOM still hooked up I told her to start the vehicle, the voltage dropped to about 4 volts… So I jump started it and got her home. (she must have left a light on or something cause it is still starting days later), but next LOF I will replace the battery just cause it is hers and the battery is OE from 2017…
If your battery’s check out and the battery terminals are all very tight (can’t twist them any) and no signs of corrosion then you can start doing a voltage drop test following the cables and checking voltage at every connection…
An old school way of load testing your battery’s (one at a time is best) is to turn the head lights on for about 20 minutes and check to see if and how much the voltage dropped, you should be able to leave your head lights on for about 30 minutes and still have enough juice to start the vehicle…
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I would not look for exposed wires. I would remove the cables from the battery clean the posts and the inside of the cables with a battery brush, then remove and clean the ground connection from the ground cable of the battery to the chassis. Also check for and clean a ground strap from the engine block to the chassis.
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Dave, what is LOF?
I think I have seen that acronym before, but my brain is not coming up with the meaning.
Lube oil & filter, of course not to many get lubed anymore… lol
Wow, yes, back in the day I would say that myself. I must be getting old🤪
I remember LOF being on the windows of Chrysler products. It stood for Libby Owens Ford, which was Chrysler’s glass supplier.
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