[ridgerunner57]

I have a 2005 LE 4WD, V6, with the blue paint that falls off. The other day I started it up and had lots of dash lights come on, battery, 4wd, SES, and others intermittently. Different ones would come on when I shut down and restarted the truck. It would not accelerate sometimes too, then when it would accelerate, the dash lights, gauges and LCD info panels would die. Code reader said C1109, P0615, P1148 and P507. After clearing them and restarting, a couple times they did not come back. I cleaned grounds for the battery connector, and the two on the passenger side fender wall near the battery and the one on the drivers side near the abs unit. I've driven the truck twice now with no more lights coming on or other weirdness. ABS working fine.

Now though, my battery dies overnight. Had it checked, it's good. I have a current draw of around 120 to 150 mA, which I believe is too much, should be more like 50 mA I think. Pulled fuses, relays (the ones I could get out at least) and noticed no difference. Then I disconnected the three wire plug from the alternator, no change. Then I disconnected the large wire that's secured with a nut (ground?). The current dropped to about 60 Ma. Hooking things back up, it would return to the 120 to 150 mA draw. I did this several times and it was consistent except that it would sometimes only drop to 90 to 100 mA when disconnected. The alternator doesn't seem noisy to me and charges at over 14v at idle even with lights, fog lights, blower fan and A/C on.
I am stumped as to whether the alternator is really defective or not. Any opinions or suggestions on what else I might check are greatly appreciated.
Thank you
James

 

[GotToGo]

No alternator experts here?

 

[Undercover Brother]

No alternator experts here?

I was gonna comment yesterday but decided not too but since you ask, the charging circuit for these trucks have a lot going on and not being able to put eyes on the problem is wild *** guessing unless the OP wants to shoot the parts cannon at it. Could be the alternator, current sensor, wiring between the ECM and IPDM that controls the varying output of the alternator based on load among the slew of other possibilities.

Also, even by the OP's own admission, he has not pulled all the fuses to further isolate the parasitic current draw so the troubleshooting he has done is incomplete.

 

[ridgerunner57]

@GotToGo, thanks for the bump.

Something definitely was killing the battery, but all is well for the time being.

I was checking current draw too soon. Needed to wait 30 minutes then check, which resulted in a 30 or so mA draw. Not sure what goes to sleep in exactly 30 minutes on the truck but it is consistent.

Whatever it is, it or something else was malfunctioning and killing the battery. The ground wire near the battery pan was corroded somewhat; maybe part of the problem. Hoping for the best.

Thanks for the replies.
James

Well after doing all the aforementioned things and pulling and inspecting all relays fusible links and grounds. the truck has behaved well until now, 19 months later.
It has now gone back to the original problem, including killing the battery overnight, but with no ses light or codes. Battery light and parking brake light on, also 4wd light. Other gauges come on when starting then quit. Engine will not accelerate above idle. Alternator charging at 17.2 volts at idle. (!!).

Voltage regulator in alternator bad?

This thread is old but I thought I'd try here anyway rather than making a new post.

Thanks

James
This post