Electrical Issues - 84 F250

Well I knew this was going to happen and now that it's begun, I'm going to try to keep track of my progress and provide a place for all the members of this forum to give me advice and say "what the heck are you thinking?"

The story I got when I bought this truck was that one of the previous owners was a manager at a Napa store somewhere in Colorado, and he used his discounts to buy a bunch of gadgets. The cool part about it is the MSD ignition, timing control, gear vendors overdrive, airbag suspension, aux battery, trailer brakes; stuff that I do see as worthwhile upgrades, especially for how I intend to use the truck. The not-so-great part is the rats nest of wiring that was left when all these things were added on. But I knew this when I bought the truck. I knew i could figure it all out, besides, I thought, how complicated can the wiring be on a truck from 1984?

So I've done minor fixes to clean it up just so I can see whats going on under the hood and in the cab. One of the things I've found is that some of the gadgets were added and then removed but the wiring was left in place. For instance, I have wires that go to a holley ignition box that must have preceded the installation of the MSD. So there's dead-end wires all over the place. My first order of operations is to clean up and eliminate wiring and crimp in solid connections where necessary.  

Right now, I let the truck sit two weeks without starting and it wouldn't crank yesterday morning. I went to work, bought a new starter solenoid and got to poking around this morning and realized all the extra junk that was bolted onto the hot 12v stud on the old solenoid wouldnt fit the new one. There were 5 or 6 extra wires there. So I'm thinking of installing a fuse block behind the main battery somewhere but I don't know where most of these wires go, so I'm not sure what size fuses to install. Going through the Electrical diagram pdf now.

Then I realized both batteries were down around 8v. I've got them charging and they seem to be holding a charge so that's good news but I do need to find the short. The starter solenoid mounting screw is my first idea. But there's plenty of others. I also noticed that my ammeter stays above 1/2 charged even with the key out. Is this right?

So once again, I have another reason to further appreciate the resources in the Bullnose Bible. This website and the documentation here are priceless to me. I've mentioned this previously, but I'm not used to Ford's wiring style. It feels like I'm learning a new language.

I'm going to post any issues I have with the documentation pages, because I have found one bad link so far (ignition switch dropdown link). I'm doing this just to improve the site, not because I feel the need to criticize or prove I know how to use computers. Again, I can't stress enough how valuable this site has been for me.

I put this in the projects section because this is a weekend thing and will probably be taking me a while.

If you want to keep those things and not have them kill your battery I'm going to suggest you get another starter relay and add them to the triggered side of that.
Then use something that only has power while running (like the stator wire) to close that second relay.

But first I would take each of those 'extra' wires (not the stock fusible links) and use my meter to see how many Amps each draws.

Then I'd take a serious look at any that show a draw of more than -say a dozen- milliamps.

Thanks for the reply. I had one small draw I eliminated months ago and it hasn't drained the batteries since then but I will recheck these wires.

Are you saying to run a new wire from the stator up to an "accessory relay" or is there a pre-existing wire on the stator I should use?

Sam,

I'm not absolutely sure of your '84's wiring, but you can easily tap the choke wire (bk/w) to trigger the relay.

I think that is what Gary is doing for the voltmeter in Big Blue, so there may be a diagram there....

Just sub your 'extra' wires for his Rocketman Innovations voltmeter.

Do you have a good idea what all these wires are????

Thanks Jim,

Ill trace that choke wire down.

And to clarify youre previous post, is it safe to connect what looks like factory fusible links direct to battery positive terminal? I have 2 that were on the solenoid, and if so I could clean it up.

Im working on it.
 
The wires ziplocced together were on the solenoid

3 fusible links
1 starter trigger I installed to bypass key switch (bad column linkage). Fused yellow
1 aftermarket red wire that Ts and goes into the cab

Wow, that really is a bowl of electron spaghetti!  😳

Placing those links on the battery terminal is exactly the same (electrically) as having them connected to the relay with the + cable, so there's no problem with that.

That red wire is a dead end. White that Ts off it goes to aftermarket switch under steering column, with 1 Wb wire that goes into a big relay under pass side battery.
The other white wire in the switch dead ends at the same battery

That doesn't seem like it's doing anything (now)

Unless the "big relay" is a manually controlled battery isolator....

I'm late to the party, but have read the posts and see two things to address:

"(ignition switch dropdown link)": I can't find what is broken.  Can you give me a link to it?

Relay: I'm not using the stator output on the alternator to pull in a relay on Big Blue now, but I did previously.  The "S" terminal, for stator, puts out just enough juice to pull in a Bosch relay when the alternator comes on line.  That's the white/black wire.

Anything I missed?

White wires eliminated. Old fog light switch and relay.

I probably pulled 100 ft of wire today.

Ok,
Thanks Gary. I see what youre saying. Sounds like a neat trick for organizing your power.

I lost the trail on the ignition switch link, but it was somewhere in the main electrical dropdown menu.


Got the truck running again. Love the sound of that big block!

Sam needs to find what killed his batteries while sitting.
(It was NOT a malfunctioning battery tender)

I don't know yet what "accessories"
he has, or if any of them need constant power (clock, for example)

But whatever doesn't belong should be eliminated entirely.

What are your thoughts on the "big relay" beneath the starting battery???

Yeah, only one Battery Tender problem per year.  

I'm guessing that the "big relay" is to parallel the batteries since it has a switch in the cab.

💡 Maybe the switch was on, and that was the draw that killed both batteries????

I agree, that it is likely to isolate, or parallel the batteries.
But without seeing the actual circuit it's hard for me to reach conclusions.

That relay was for the fog lights. There were 2 wires with insulation rubbed off and 1 cut completely in the circuit. Its all been eliminated. Im thinking my draw was in this circuit but Ill verify that soon.

Ive almost got all the constant 12v wires figured out, except the fusible links. Each time I track something down, I find another dead end, or a wire that goes in one direction and splits from the one loom into another loom, or one wire that gets soldered into 3 wires. Like I said, Im getting used to how Ford ran wires.
But the engine bay is getting cleaned up.

I appreciate all the help on this, especially knowing its pretty much a guessing game with all the aftermarket circuits I have.

Glad you got it figured out.  But is there a question about fusible links?

Also, completely aside, have there been any discussions of which you are aware regarding relaxing the travel quarantine?  IOW, if you come in from out of state you have to quarantine for 14 days?  We were thinking about coming in October, but....

Sam, just the relay holding in could draw your batteries down.

Have you looked at the 1985 EVTM on this site?
That should tell you what fusible links there may be, what colour they are, and where they go.
Have a look under charge and power distribution.
The links are usually in the upper left corner.

Sounds like you're getting a better handle on it!  

Jim,
I have looked at the EVTM. I believe theres 5 fusible links?
I have 3, plus 1 that might have been converted to an inline glass fuse. So Im slowly sorting through the manual but at least 1 link has probably been eliminated. And as my weekend has officially ended, I have to wait 5 more days to continue.
I appreciate your help on it!


Gary,
Thanks for your help as well.
As far as the travel restriction, it seems like thats a big part of the Governors strategy to protect the state right now. I can tell you first hand there are a lot of people who dont quarantine or interpret this restriction very loosely. My wife says theyve closed state parks for camping but BLM land and National Parks are still open.
We had a friend visit this weekend, and they'd been recently tested and we basically tailgated at our property for the day.
So with that said, I think right now their focus is keeping numbers down with kids going back to school so I dont expect anything to change for a while.
Is this for your TransAmerica Trail ride?