weird wires... :)

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i love my ole 93 bro 5.0 but she actin weird... she has pulled a kupple weird head lites / blinker / brake lites b 4 but kinda cleared up on its own... well she pulled another 1 last nite... she been acting kinda weird tryin to start... spins over good and starts sometimes... but if it dont catch and i gotta try again it drags like a dead battery or sluggish starter... anyway, i started her yesterday and let her run cause i was gonna take her to the auto store to have them stick her on their battery / alt / starter tester... they all came back good... they couldnt read codes cause their stuff was too new for a old girl, so i didnt get any codes... anyway... when i went to leave i pulled on the headlites and she immediately died and the rite blinker indicator came on... i turned the lites off, waited a minute and fired her up again... pulled head lites, she died again... started her again, pulled on runnin lites... all good... tried blinkers... left blinked fast, rite blinked fast... after limpin her to the parts store and getting her tested i pulled the lites and all was good... head / blinker / etc... if yer still readin, well, thank ye... im assuming wiring but where to start looking... im thinking looking at the starter cables and i guess going from there... checking grounds for loose and or corroded fittings... maybe shoot all my grounds with wd-40... any ideas... thanks guys, steve
 

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miesk5

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Yo Steve,
Voltage; "...a normal battery that is fully charged produces 12.6 volts, not just 12.0 V. (Remember, when measuring battery voltage, everything in the car should be off, or the battery should be disconnected. Voltage measurements are always "no load" measurements unless the battery is being tested for it's performance under load)..." by Gordon

Check both battery posts, cables, connectors & major GROUND cables for looseness and corrosion. If you see corrosion on a cables' wires strands between connectors or lugs and leading into the insulation, peel back the insulation to see how far back it reaches.
Battery_cable_Corrosion_1.jpg by El Kabong @
"Cheesy clamp on end. Do not use for a long term repair. Only to get you home when nothing else is available. If you have one of these, suspect it before anything else" El Kabong @ Common Replies to FAQs

Check starter relay for looseness or rust to the inner fender. It's ground is through its body to the inner fender.
Check that starter is mounted securely and connectors are clean and tight

CHECK GROUND CABLES to frame, block etc.
Slow Cranking or a Grinding Noise; "... Problems with the negative battery cable is a major cause of starting problems in Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles. Bad battery cables can cause slow cranking or a grinding noise when trying to start an engine. ..,the wire connection inside the battery terminal connector corrodes easily. This will cause a voltage drop in the cable and result in low voltage being supplied to the starter. You can check for voltage drop in the cable using a digital voltmeter. Connect the negative probe of the voltmeter to the negative battery post (not the battery terminal connector). Then connect the positive probe to the starter case and crank the engine. The voltage reading should be less than .5 volts. A higher reading means there is resistance in the cable or the battery terminal connector. Clean the cable end and the battery terminal connector and test again. If the voltage reading is still higher than .5 volts, replace the cable and the battery terminal connector..."
Source: by genco1.com

Voltage; "...a normal battery that is fully charged produces 12.6 volts, not just 12.0 V. (Remember, when measuring battery voltage, everything in the car should be off, or the battery should be disconnected. Voltage measurements are always "no load" measurements unless the battery is being tested for it's performance under load)..."
Source: by Gordon

"Long crank times may be traced to a sticking Idle Air Control (IAC) valve (TSB 97-9-5, April '97); "...After a 1-4 hour engine soak time, long crank times and/or long crank to start followed by a stall may occur on some vehicles. No further stalling or rough idle will occur after the engine is running. The long crank and/or stall may be due to the Idle Air Control (IAC) Valve sticking. Replace the IAC Valve with a revised IAC Valve if no Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) are present."
Ford Motorcraft units are best."

Idle Air Control (IAC) Sludge; Poor Idle TSB 91-25-07 for 85-92 Bronco & F Series & many others; "...That is an adjustable idle plate....aka....idle air metering block...aka idle-fixer. You can get it from your Ford dealer. Last one I bought for a customer's truck was about $85 and it came with new mounting screws. made my own (fixed-orfice) plate by cutting a piece of 1/8" flat bar to the shape of my IAC Valve gasket and drilling the passage holes 3/32". I started with 1/16" holes but that weren't quite large enough for my particular engine. Point there is that different engines may require their own orfice size....hence the two adjustments on the Ford (factory) version. These things have been in use for 15 years that I know of, maybe more.....which tells me that Ford has known all along that they had a design glitch in their EFI idle air valve system..."
Source: by DGW1949 at FSB

URL="http://broncozone.com/topic/14269-code-reader/?pid=74587&mode=threaded"]Try a Self Test for Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC)s[/URL] by my pal, BroncoJoe19 ☆
 
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There's likely a body grounding issue here. Headlights and blower motor are the largest power consumers connected to the body. If turning on the headlights (or blower) causes most electronics to "Brown out' (turn signals quit working, radio, dash lights go dim etc) than i'd reckon a body/chassis grounding issue is going on here. Double check that you have a good (atleast 8AWG wire from neg battery terminal to body, and from engine block to body. if possible, ad one between neg battery terminal and frame as well if it does not already exist.

Agree with above post too, if the body grounding terminates to a crummy battery terminal connection, it can cause this to happen. those clamp onto bare wire style, aftermarket connectors are trash. if this perhaps is the issue, i'd replace with more suitable connections.
 

Tiha

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The right blinker indicator coming on is an indication of a bad ground.
Just not sure which one.

But probably battery to body somewhere. Might just run some new ones.
 
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dawggg (steve)
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i did this on my mustang kause i had a 'issue' with her... dont remember the issue but it was some electrical deal... i bought a battery ground cable and made a new ground from the engine to the firewall... im thinking about doing this with the bro... but shud i go from battery ground to body / frame or just body / frame to engine... ???
 

Tiha

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If it is turning over I would go from battery to body.

I have used jumper cables as a temp ground to trouble shoot. Works good as long as you know you have a good connection on the body.
 
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dawggg (steve)
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If it is turning over I would go from battery to body.

I have used jumper cables as a temp ground to trouble shoot. Works good as long as you know you have a good connection on the body.
it turns over, runs, i am 'assuming' it is getting moisture somewhere causing the electrical stuff to act up... im thinking maybe running a ground from the battery or the solenoid to the frame... i didnt realize till i posted this i did the almost same post a year or more ago... it almost has to be ground issues... im 'assuming'...
 

Tiha

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You don't have to run just one ground and they don't have to be very big either.

Run one to the frame and one to the body. I would even run it to the firewall, not just the fender near the battery .
 

Tiha

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Well in theory not really. You have a steel frame. The body is mounted with rubber body mounts. The engine and transmission are mounted with rubber body mounts. When it is brand new. Nope should be insulated.

Now there is usually some transference with things like steering column and shifter linkage but don't count on it.

Also with age there is corrosion between such items, even like where the fender is bolted to the firewall so I went straight to the firewall where supposedly the gauges would be grounded.
 
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dawggg (steve)
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Well in theory not really. You have a steel frame. The body is mounted with rubber body mounts. The engine and transmission are mounted with rubber body mounts. When it is brand new. Nope should be insulated.

Now there is usually some transference with things like steering column and shifter linkage but don't count on it.

Also with age there is corrosion between such items, even like where the fender is bolted to the firewall so I went straight to the firewall where supposedly the gauges would be grounded.
i may run 1 from batt to body and 1 from body to frame... :)
 
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dawggg (steve)
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++++UPDATE... !!! i got 1 ground mounted from batt to the original body grounding spot... i did find out the ground terminal wires were loose in the terminal, got a new terminal on the way... i cleaned the 1 on there, tightened it down and seems to be doing okay until the new 1 gets here... been too cold to mount the frame to body ground... SECONDLY... the sluggish starting / no start issue i think has been fixed... (i think), i was going to buy a distributor wrench and was checking the diameter of the hold down clamp bolt... i was trying to put my 1/2 inch socket on it to be sure of the size and the whole freekin distributor moved... i tightened down the bolt and it seems to be doing fine... wish me luck... :)
 

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