2003 electrical gremlins

[markelectric]

My 2003 sat for a few days hooked to the camper. When I went to move it, it barely started, i assumed I had left the cable hooked and the camper had drained the truck batteries some. I looked and I had actually pulled the plug. I let it run a bit to help batteries.

Next day (today)I tried to start it and it did not have enough power to spin it fast enough to start it. I put a charger on it and a few hours later it did start normally. After it was running, I noticed that the full tank of fuel said empty, it showed no volts, no oil pressure and no movement of any temperatures. I shut it off and watched a bit closer when I started it again. All the gauges dive lower to the left while cranking then as it is running they go back to "e or 0".

I shut it off again and as I was exiting I realized that the radio did not shut off. No sound from speakers but the face is lit.

More looking shows that the electric locks and windows do not work at any time, key on or off,doors open or closed. The gear selector indicator and driver info window seem to be normal. The HVAC head unit seems normal and the fan works thru the speeds. I noticed the ABS light is on, The battery light is on and even though there is no fuel shown on the gauge, the low fuel warning light goes out after the truck starts.

I cannot seem to find a blown fuse either under the hood or to the lower left of steering column.

So any Idea of where to look? Maybe for a bad ground, but where are those connections hid on a 2003?

Thanks for any help.

[DmaxMaverick]

Sounds like failed/failing battery(ies), or failed terminal connections. Only one bad battery can cause that, and it will quickly kill the other battery. Your symptoms seem to put the process in between one bad battery, and the other failing. If all the cable connections are good, it's probably time to replace the batteries, even if they aren't very old. If only one battery was replaced at any time, what you are seeing is typical. They should be replaced as a pair. It is often better to run on a single healthy battery, than a mismatched pair.

Once you sort out the supply problem, you'll want to reset the (power-confused) computer system. Disconnect BOTH Batt+ cables from BOTH batteries, and ground them to chassis for at least 30 minutes. OR, disconnect BOTH Batt- cables from BOTH batteries, and jumper a ground to a Batt+ cable. It doesn't matter which way you do it. The objective is to short the chassis Batt+ to chassis ground, without shorting the batteries. This will default the computer to factory calibration, and should restore all the instrumentation. I recommend doing this even if all appears normal (don't leave hidden gremlins behind).

[markelectric]

The batteries were in the truck when I bought it about a year ago.

I hope that is the problem. I will pull them in the morning. I will bolt the + and - cables together and let the system drain while I chase down a new pair.

I will report my findings

Thanks

[markelectric]

Two new batteries fixed the problem. Took me a while to actually purchase the new ones. Seems other people can rule my schedule. That gave the system a longer time to "drain".

Thanks for saving my butt again

[DmaxMaverick]

Sounds great! It's always refreshing when issues are easily resolved.

[markelectric]

I wish you were in southern Indiana. Your knowledge shows thru this forum. Looks to me like the kind of guy I would like to have in the area to" drop it off, pick it up FIXED"

Thanks again