03 f-350 no power after replacing battery cables

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This was my task at work today. It is a fire rescue truck so it has extra stuff a regular for doesn't . But any way replaced all the cables both negatives and the positive and I get nothing. I have power to the state and can make it crank off the starter but have no lights stereo nothing all fuses are good....... Both grounds under the truck and the little ground in battery cable that goes to passenger side frame is tight. What could I have done wrong..... The guys at work can't figure it out either. I won't mess with it again until Monday but some thoughts would be great.
 
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Double check the alternator fuse. When doing the timing belt on my Camry, I forgot to unhook the battery. So when the alternator came out, I accidentally grounded the positive lead. Didn't think much of it so when all done I hooked up the battery and nothing worked on the interior, although the car was running.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
are you sure that you didnt leave a wire off?


Positive me and 2 other techs checked it and the service manager. ....
 
Obviously, when you've just performed a repair and find that you've created a new problem the first thing to do is to recheck your work. If you don't find the issue, well, then the next thing you do is get someone else to recheck your work because they might immediately spot what you did wrong and think is right (otherwise you wouldn't have done it.) You've already done that. Don't do that any more or you'll end up banging your head against the wall. If you don't see the problem looking at it now, you won't see it ten minutes from now nor will you see it ten hours from now. Give up on that approach now.

If you've ever suffered from male-pattern blindness you would have a concept of how this works. If you haven't had the pleasure, get someone who lives or works with you to help. They should follow you around until you set down something small and important such as a key or some such thing and wait for you to go away, then, after you move from sight: move that object a very short distance (maybe a foot or two) to a location (behind or under something else) where you can't see it from where you would normally be standing when you pick it up.

The truck doesn't start and it doesn't crank. Treat it as a mysterious no-start; no-crank just as if it were towed in without any further explanation. You will likely find the problem within minutes and at worst, it could take an hour.

Happy Hunting
 
yonyon is right. After 35 years of service work, if I can't backtrack or reverse engineer what I've just done on a service call, (or if I'm following someone else,) I start at the beginning, as if I haven't touched the product.
 
So it worked fine when they brought it in? Why did you replace all the cables?

What electrical tests have you done? More specifically, where have you probed for continuity and voltage in the circuit? Tracking down that way shouldn't be that hard... You changed battery cables, not something in a rats nest of wires under the dash. So, how have you, the other tech and the sm actually diagnosed?
 
Did it work ok before you replaced the cables?
why were the cables being replaced?



Originally Posted By: ram_man
This was my task at work today. It is a fire rescue truck so it has extra stuff a regular for doesn't . But any way replaced all the cables both negatives and the positive and I get nothing. I have power to the state and can make it crank off the starter but have no lights stereo nothing all fuses are good....... Both grounds under the truck and the little ground in battery cable that goes to passenger side frame is tight. What could I have done wrong..... The guys at work can't figure it out either. I won't mess with it again until Monday but some thoughts would be great.
 
Sand the metal where the ground wire attaches so it is clean of any paint or rust. And if the old terminal(s) for ground are reused be sure to sand them until they are free of rust. A 1/8 inch regular screwdriver can be used to scrape metal until it is shiny and free of any rust.
 
They wanted them replaced per customer request.... honestly the ends were a little beat up i would have just put new ends on it but they wanted it all..... i plan on cleaning grounds for sure. We probed all fuses and power wires. Power wires have power to starter and then visually checked everything that's as far as we hot with it.
I don't blame it on ford either it worked when it came in so it's something I did wrong or knocked something loose when moving wires or something. It's not the trucks fault though.
 
If there is power to the starter it would almost have to be a ground issue wouldn't it?
 
Is the solenoid getting power to activate the relay? Is it a fender mounted relay or is it integral to the starter? I've had the small wire going to the relay fall off before and also have had to put new terminal ends on them.
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man
If there is power to the starter it would almost have to be a ground issue wouldn't it?


Only way I can think that'd be the case was if the ground strap from the engine to the body isn't connected. So you've got live at the starter from the battery/solenoid, ground from the engine to the battery but no ground to the body.
 
Only thing I took off was the power cable which is battery to battery and then to starter and do relay and then each ground cable which both goes to the engine and had one little wire on passenger side that went to frame
 
Does this have a fender mounted solenoid? did you reconnect the body power leads that connect to the battery side of the solenoid?

It has to be a body ground or the positive feed to the body. ground points free of paint and rust?
 
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Grounds look good and yes the fender mounted solenoid is all hooked up
 
When applying 12v+ to the small relay terminal on the fender mounted solenoid does it crank?

If so it's between the key switch and the solenoid.
 
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