Driving to store and noticed battery indicater was moving to "L", headed back home and by then, the battery was completely dead. The battery was charged and the truck cranks good but there is no sign of any firing. Turn key on and try to start, all panel indicaters become active and correct but the battery indicater pegs out to "L". I'll be tracing all circuits for a blown fuse, only idea right now. Suggestions will be appreciated.

 

I'd pull the alternator and battery and get them tested.

 

There are five dash functions fed by a solid state chip.
I doubt you will find a fuse problem that would be common to all these functions.
Better to see if the charge circuit has an issue first.
Use a voltmeter to check at the battery terminals to see if the charge system is functioning.
After cranking the voltage should read close to 15 volts with engine running, depending on the state of charge of the battery.
After the battery has recovered its charge, the voltage should reduce to about 14 volts.
If this does not happen you have a charge system fault.
If ok the dash system has a fault.
It's not a simple system like the old days.
The dash is largely electronic as ford was changing the design for more electronic control in later years such as Theft system etc.

 

If the engine isn't running, it's completely normal for the battery gauge to read low.

Charge the battery with an external charger and test the alternator. It sounds like the alternator isn't working.

 

I'd get the battery and alternator tested.

I'm leaning more towards the battery, but you won't know until you get it tested.

 

My assumption was that driving in a hurry because the battery was rapidly going down and the car was running off the alternator. After your
suggestion, I began thinking that maybe the reverse was happening. The truck kept running off the battery and the alternator was not working draining the battery. The battery is ok because I charged it up and it is keeping the charge, unless it collapses under load. I will have the alternator checked (but where?).

 

Any chain parts store can load test alternators and batteries.

 

Check the charge system.
Look at my reply #3 where I explained how to do it.

 

Gotta get it started first, post #1 says it won't start.

 

glc: you are correct, truck won't start. Another clue is why did the Truck keep running allowing me to get back home but won't start after battery was completely recharged. The battery is good. It ran good enough to get me on the road, it started and then I noticed the battery pointer was gradually moving to "L" and was almost there when I decided I had better head back home. starting system cranks really good but no engine firing. There is a high current mega fuse 175a in the circuit and inline mini fuse 20a coming off alternator. I'll check these out too.

 

You now have a newly induced problem unrelated to the original.

You need to switch your focus to solving the immediate problem first.

 

projectSH089..you need to read them again, I just repeated what was said earlier...

 

If your engine will not start, that problem takes priority over whatever the battery gauge was doing.

 

precisely...that's why I have already asked this question "will any vehicle start with a fully charged battery and cranks really good IF the alternator is bad, running off the battery?". The Truck continued to run if the alternator went bad, driving 10 miles off the battery getting us back home, why wouldn't it start with a fully charged battery and cranked really well NO indication of firing. I am trying to determine if the alternator went bad or not or was it something else. Another thing, the battery indicator should show a fully charged battery but does not, it still pegs out when turning the key on.

 

Ignore both the alternator and the gauge, focus on getting the engine starting. The alternator will not cause a "crank, no start" issue whether good or bad. When the engine is not running, the gauge is pretty much irrelevant. Put all that stuff on the back burner for now.