2003 F150 Triton, 4.6L SOHC V8 with 146000 miles
So...about 4 days ago we noticed we were having an issue with the battery. Turns out it was bad and needed to be replaced. Did that with a Wal-Mart brand battery. Everything was great for 2 days. The second day, we were headed to a Christmas party in the evening. I was driving and told my husband that the headlights seemed a little dim. Just figured they were filthy. Then the ABS light came on, lights got dimmer, and dash went out. Ended up on side of road completely dead. We had family come. We jumped it and drove it till it died..did this a few more times. Made it to Auto Zone to find the alternator was testing bad "not putting out squat". Did the charge and drive thing a couple more times and limped it home. Next day (yesterday) got a re manufactured valuecraft 1 year warranty alternator from AutoZone and put it on. Everything fine. Now today we noticed that the windows would only work if we were stopped, the directional/temp gauge was off unless stopped, and the dash would go haywire on occasion. Still full power though. As we were driving back, now needing headlights, we noticed a bright blue flash. The lights seemed dim. When we got back we noticed that the drivers headlight was out (but worked on bright). A little later the hubs was heading to the store. Got about 1/2 miles down the road and the passenger headlight was a bright blue then gone. He tried brights, nothing. So obviously we have an electrical issue. Not sure if maybe a blown fuse or relay could be causing this or something more extensive. Is there maybe a way to reset the computer? Possibly something went crazy with the alternator issue? I will say, the drive belt is a 6 groove which is what we bought the alternator to fit. However the one we pulled off was to fit an 8 groove belt. Not sure if that matters. Any suggestions would be great. My van is going kaput and we just bought a house. The less we have to spend on the truck the better.