Ok, so here's my story. Im a 23 year old refrigeration a/c mechanic. Im the extremely proud owner of a 2006 supercrew fx4(pics to come). Ive owned it for a year and a half know, and I am in love. I will never drive another type of vehicle the rest of my life. I consider myself an excellent mechanic, I know tools well. I service and repair massive air handlers, roof top units, refrigeration systems etc. My hangup is I dont know vehicles that well. Im not a complete noob, I change my oil and brakepads, the basics. Im really good with electrical, with a little help from avic411.com I installed a pioneer avic-x910bt deck, with the parking brake bypass, vss sensor, etc. I learn from seeing and doing. I have no doubt that in a couple years from now ill be posting on here helping people out. As for now, i'm at the mercy of you! I noticed there is two other popular, and pretty large f150 forums out there, but this one seemed the most inviting.

So my first question, is there any repair manuals out there with really good pictures and clear instructions? Ive owned haynes manuals for some of my previous vehicles, and I am not really a big fan. I know there has got to be some better ones out there.

Now for the real problems. I live in this ****ty city, and we experienced a lot of rain this last week. All of our drainage backed up and there was literally lakes all over our roads. There was no way to avoid them either, I had to go through about 5 just to get to the store. I ended up going through this one that had to be a good 3 to 3 and a half feet deep. It definately swamped part of my engine. Plus it probably washed and dried out some parts.

The first problem I found is that my horn no longer works. I checked the fuse today and it was still good. The only thing I hear when I try to hit the horn is a clicking. It almost sounds like a relay coming from the fuse box area. I was checking the fuse/relay table in the manual and didn't see any relays that relate to the horn. It just seems odd to me that I hear the clicking, I shouldnt be able to hear a relay that clearly. But I suppose I wouldn't notice it if the horn was working properly. Anyways I'm going to check the harness from the horn tomorrow and see if its putting out 12v when I press the horn button. I just want some opinions could it be anything else?

My next issue is Today I put on the e-brake when I was parked in my garage. I was trying to do that rediculous procedure to disable the seatbelt alert. However, after I released it and went to drive it felt like there was some resistance. It didn't feel as though the parking brake was still on though. So I went for a little ride around the block to see if I could figure out what was going on. It wouldn't disengage. When I got back, i checked all the brakes and the rear driver side was really hot. The rest of them seem normal. Do you think it's just the cable to that brake? Any other ideas?

The last thing I noticed is that my subwoofer seems to be getting a constant feedback noise. I should also probably mention that I have the premium audio package, with the stock sub and amp. When I installed the deck, I was getting a popping noise in the sub when the head unit would turn on. I read up on it and found some other f150s had the same issue, They told me to put a 1.5k ohm resistor inline on the remote wire. I did that, and I thought it solved the problem. Then I realised that it still makes it on occasion. It never makes the noise if the unit hasnt ran in awhile. But if I stop and start my truck again within probably an hour or so, then it makes the pop noise. Whenever I start it up cold it never happens. The noise it was making today wasnt normal at all though, there was a constant static noise and it would pulsate when the ignition was in different positions. Im just wondering if this is related somehow or if its just a coincidence.

Any feedback, suggestions or help is MUCH appreciated. Thanks,

Mcniz

 

1. Look at the horn and see if there is water in side it, you may have to take it loose to shake it or roll it around. Try to dry it out as best you can.

2. Your emergency brake is sticking, use the search on here, look for emergency brake sticking and there is tons of info on it. It's a common problem.

3. I am guessing from my previous stereo adventures you have a grounding problem some where along the line of the stereo. I have had noise in a system before and some times they are hard to find but like a said before check your grounds.

 

Well I just got home from work and im headin out into the garage to look at it now. I tied all of my stereo grounds into the chassis ground on the harness. Do you know where the chassis ground is located? Maybe I got it corroded and rusted driving through those lakes! Thanks.

 

All issues resolved! I finally took a night off from moonlighting, and looked at everything. The brake cable was fine, but the lever that the cable pulls on to lock the brakes in position was seized up. I just soaked it with KB88 (the best penetrant i have ever come across) and worked it back and forth, gave it a couple good whacks with my trusty crescent and she loosened right up. I took the wiring harness off the horn and found out it was corroded, so I just cleaned it up with some contact cleaner, now she works like a charm. I figured out that my retarded blackberry and its bluetooth was having a pairing issue with the deck, causing some kind of feedback. The faint popping noise still occurs from time to time but I guess I can live with it. It reminds me of the noise when I turned on my old fender amp. Im going to try a different type of resistor inline on the remote wire. I just used a cheap crappy ceramic one from radioshack. Ill figure it out eventually.

I also got around to changing my outside mirror. Someone hit the passenger side in a parking lot somewhere recently, and broke the plastic mirror housing. I found a slightly used but mint condition oem one on ebay for 60 bucks. Getting the door panel off can be a real PITA, but it went pretty flawlessly this time.