89 f150 was fine then suddenly it wouldn't start. now when hazards are on the domelight blinks. put new battery, solenoid and stater in. headlights won't work and radio is intermitent. domelight fades after shutting hazards off, then comes back on. battery terminal gets hot. i believe it's a short, but have no idea how to find it. any help is greatly appreiciated.

 

If the 4-ways and dome lights are bleeding over from one to another, you have a short. Try disconnecting the junction at the headlight switch, or the wiring junction going up the column to the hazard switch. You could also try pulling fuses until you find the circuit that's causing the problem.

Check all 3 battery cables at both ends and make sure the connections are clean and tight. You may also want to ohm out the cables. The battery terminal getting hot could be an indicator of excessive draw due to resistance.

Do you have any aftermarket electrical items on this vehicle? Lights, system, etc.?

 

thanks! i'll try that.

 

no aftermarket anything. did everything you said and test light gets brighter but still not good. didn't ohm out cables because i don't know how its done...LOL i did however put a test light on the positive side of the battery and touched all the wires that go to the solenoid. when i touched the yellow wire (the one with two wires, one yellow, and one black with yellow stripe) the light went out. i unplugged the harness that goes through the fire wall (and powers the cab i assume) the light came back on strong. plugged the harness back on and touched yellow wire again (at the solenoid light goes back out) it blinked there with the hazards too. an odd note, is sporatically, one thing can work at a time, hazards, radio, blinkers, horn, but turn anything else on and it goes back to bad.

 

Somethings not right here. What's the specific gravity of your battery? How much amperage is your starter drawing? Have you pulled out any fuses to try and isolate the problem yet? If so, which ones?

To ohm check your cables, get an ohm meter and zero it in. Put one one test lead on one end of the cable, put the other test lead on the other end, and read your meter. Check your grounds too.

SL

 

thanks a ton for the help! it was a positive battery cable...derrrrrrrrr...LOL hard to believe it caused all that!