I posted this last night in the electrical forum, but as I tossed and turned in bed last night thinking about it, maybe it's more of a tuner problem?

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This question relates to my '06 F-150 XLT 4.6L automatic.

Went from north of Atlanta to the race track in Birmingham, AL this weekend, where we camped for three days. Occasionally at night we would use the radio for an hour or so; I charged my cell phone one night from the 12v cig lighter. Otherwise from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM we weren't using the truck at all, it was parked from Thursday at 6 PM till this PM when we left to come home.

It did rain quite a bit Friday night, we got a lot of water in about 6 hours.

We packed up this evening, and I started the truck to come home and it cranked slow and labored, but caught after a second. I thought 'Wow, that must be a low battery'.

Now the problem: the information center display (odometer, compass heading, outside temperature) read "Check gauges". When I toggled the trip odometer button, the odometer and stuff was blank, just a bunch of dashes (------). The wrench light was on, the battery light was on, the check engine light was on, the emergency brake light was on, and the ABS light was on.

When you open the door with the truck turned off, the odometer display acts normally, but not with the key in the 'on' position.

After the I noticed the lights, I notices the speedometer was not working. The tach was not working. The engine temperature gauge was not working. The A/C was not working, although the fan would blow regular air.

Worst part: My Edge was completely dark, not working at all. So I can't even see what if any code it's throwing. When I parked the truck, it was on level '1'. I've had the Edge installed since Feb/Mar '07, and it usually rides in level 1. I'm not sure I want to unplug the Edge without first having the opportunity to return the tune to stock. But with the Edge dead, can I ever return it to stock?

We drove home anyway, the truck itself (engine, transmission, brakes, steering, blinkers, lights) ran fine. It was weird driving along the interstate with no speedometer or tach, but hey, it was an adventure.

I have had no problems with the electrical system of this truck up till today, but this truck is no stranger to the local stealership. Twice the interior has been stained beyond repair by a leaking third brake light, and once the alternator was replaced because of some failed part inside of it.

Could my dash issue be as simple as a blown fuse somewhere? Can the Edge tuner be salvaged? Would the OBD port stop getting power for some reason? Or is this more of a problem than that?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

There's another recent post here with almost the same symptoms.

Personnaly though, I can't see how the Edge could be causing this problem. It's just a "monitor" once it has finished programming the PCM. You could disconnect it any time you decide you don't want to monitor things (or want to keep it from being stolen) without changing the setting back to Level 0. The PCM simply keeps whatever Level you last put in it. I'd disconnect the Edge while you troubleshoot things.

Low batterys DO, however seem to cause the Edge display to go blank. And, judging by some of the other posts I've read in these forums, a charging system fault could possibly effect the gauges/digital displays too. But, I seem to remember a "typical" problem with the f150 involving water leaks onto the GEM module (that causes all sorts of weird symptoms). Problems with the GEM seem to be very common.

I think the fact that instrument displays were the only things effected here is a BIG clue.

If you look through the electrical forum, you'll probably come across something that sounds like your problem.

I doubt you've damaged the Edge. After you get your electrical system fixed, just remember yu have to have the ignition key in the ON position before plugging the Edge into the diagnostic port.

Let us know what you find out, will you?

- Jack

 

Check your fuse(s). The OBDII port is powered by a fuse that ALSO powers the cigarette lighter.

 

Does that fuse also power the aux. 12v plug on the dashboard? Because the 12v plug worked (cell phone charger had a red light on it) but I didn't test the actual cig lighter in the ashtray/cup holder.

"After you get your electrical system fixed, just remember you have to have the ignition key in the ON position before plugging the Edge into the diagnostic port."

So you need to have the key in the 'ON' position to re-attach the Edge box in the OBDII port, but not to remove it? How does the truck know it's being plugged in or unplugged if the key is off? I don't remember having the key on when I originally installed the Edge. Hmm..

Anyway, I hope it's just a fuse, but man, how could a blown fuse cause a wrench light, and most every other dash light at the same time?

 

I probably should have suggested checking the fuse too, but your description of the symptoms made me discount it. (It's worth a shot though).

I think for the Edge to reinitialize (after it has been removed from the vehicle) it has to "see" the truck's PCM when it first gets power. It can only do that with the ignition ON. Once installed, the Edge receives a small trickle of "keep alive" power through the OBDII port that maintains it's status. You can remove it at any time - the truck really doesn't know ever if it's there or not. If you take the Edge out (or if there is a battery or fuse failure) and then plug it back in without having the ignition on, the "keep alive" power can't reset the Edge and it will immediately go into a failure mode.

I wonder if disconnecting your battery ground cable, waiting about 30 mins or so, then reconnecting it might "reboot" your PCM so that all those trouble lights would go away? I think this is worth a shot too, and it can't hurt anything. (If it could, we'd never be able to change batterys.) The PCM receives "keep alive" power from the battery too and this could make it "hold" any trouble codes it thought it saw.

An inexpensive voltmeter is all you really need to check the battery/charging system. The battery should read above 12 volts with everything off and charging, with the engine running, you should see 13.9-14.1 volts. Check the fuses and the charging system before you try disconnecting the battery.

- Jack

 

The short answer is it (apparently) was not an Edge tuner problem.

The long answer - I do not have a battery tester. I've always intended to go buy one, but have never had the need. Anyway, yesterday after work I pulled the battery and took it to go buy a new one. The little sight glass showed an orange bubble, so it must have been a bad battery, right? The store tested it before I bought a new one and it showed 12.76v, so it wasn't a bad battery.

I went back home (some 90 minutes later now) to hook the old battery back up and start trouble shooting other options. After hooking the battery back up, the truck fired up fine, no problems. Essentially what JackandJanet wrote I should do: unhook it, wait 30 minutes (or more) and hook it back up.

I have yet to go through the Edge and see if the truck is holding any codes, it was dark last night by the time I got to that, so maybe tonight or this weekend instead. That and re-set my radio presets!

 

I've never thought those "condition" windows in batteries were worth much. I think they really only tell you something about the fluid level in one of the cells.

Anyway, it DOES sound like your battery's ok. And, I'm pleased to learn that disconnecting the battery reset the PCM. I'll bet the Edge will work just fine now too - remember to have the ignition ON before plugging it in.

But, we still have a puzzle about what caused the problem in the first place. Playing the radio and charging a cell phone don't put a huge drain on a battery. Lights, especially headlights, would put a much bigger drain on it. Did you have the doors open a lot so that the interior lights were on too? The slow cranking really says low battery, just like you thought. So, what caused it? Be nice to find out, wouldn't it?

- Jack

 

I turned the courtesy lights off via the dash dimmer switch when the radio was on (we had the doors open to hear the radio). So the lights were not on to drain the battery.

I never unhooked the Edge, so there will be no need to turn the key 'ON' to plug it back in, it never left! After I reconnected the battery, I fired up the truck. The truck did crank 'funny' for a third of a second, but it did eventually fire and the dash gauges read normally --including the Edge-- which had all my readouts showing, as well as being set on level 1 where I left it.

I don't get it either. I'd like to take the truck to the garage and hook it up to my Yuasa battery charger for a few hours to see what, if anything, that will do for battery performance.