No crank and stranded HELP

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Jamie Simpson

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Okay fellas here’s the scoop!

The dealership put the truck back together albeit kinda shoddy work. Trim isn’t seated on console and he left the actuator wires hanging out between trim pieces live and the wires raw etc etc etc. In his defense I DID tell em to slap it together as quickly as possible and that I would line it out at home. After an hour long conversation with the tech and the service manager they finally understood that I’m not the average joe as far as mechanical ability and knowledge of f150s (retired from the Claycomo assembly plant) and they were comfortable letting me take it as it was. The service manager and the tech cut me some slack and the bill was 2648.04 which was about 700 less than the quote so I’m not mad at em.

The customer liaison (or whatever the person is called who is the buffer between us and the techs) ended up getting fired for all the lies he told me over the two weeks and the fact that he was never updating me on what was going on despite my begging. He told me flat out that the acm was plugged in and everything was working properly when he called to ask for another 2000 for the part and installation. Then he tried to lie about it in front of the service manager while I was there. I may have used a few expletives and invited him outside where we could finish “talking about it”. The service manager ran him off and then asked me for screen shots of all our conversations. I sent em while they reassembled my truck and when the bill came and it was done the dude who had taken over the liaisons desk said “Tyler is gone”. I said well he needed to go cool off. Dude said “No he is gone…. Like fired”.

I hooked the trailer up and headed south. The crazy thing is the acm must have been having issues for a while or something else they did was helpful. The truck runs better and gets better mileage than it has ever done pulling a trailer before. No lights …. No codes …. No problems except hard rain and a heavy trailer and no trailer brakes. I drove 65 or 70 (which is slow for me) and paid close attention so I could get her stopped when needed. All was well for about four hours. In Birmingham the “check brake system” light came on and my stomach dropped cuz that’s how it all started the first round.

I pulled over at a truck stop and pulled the fuse for the actuator even though it was unhooked and in the toolbox. Then traced all the trailer wires and tested them for continuity and found nothing wrong. One of the trailer brakes had two same color green wires going into it. Being concerned it might be sending interference through the ground even tho it had no power, I unhooked it at the brake housing and taped the wires. Then I unhooked the trailer brake power wire at the plug and insulated it (on the trailer). Looked everything over and checked for codes. Only code was for an indicator lamp not on so
I cleared it and fired the truck up. No light so I took off again. 30 minutes later the light came back on and I kept going til it started chiming at me. I pulled over and checked everything out again and no codes and no issues I could see. Filled up and fired it up and no light so I took off again. A while later the same “check brake system” light came on and I kept going all the way to Atlanta when I had to stop for gas. It never chimed at me that time but the light stayed on. Filled up and fired up and no light… oh I checked for codes again and nothing. I took off and came to macon and have driven several times since then with the trailer then without the trailer and the light has never come back on since Atlanta.

I am thinking about a couple things and could use opinions. I think the actuator (autozone 80.00) is bad and fried the acm or exacerbated the existing condition until it fried. Secondly I will rewire my new car hauler but I was wondering if maybe due to it having led lights it is messing with the communication ? All my other trailers are older and don’t have leds and my new headlights that are led came with some sort of voltage limiter or capacitor and a cooling fan. Should the trailer have something inline to stop interference from those led lights? Finally, I will have to figure this check brake system light out on my own since it’s intermittent and doesn’t throw a code. Where should I start? ABS sensors, the seals on the booster? The brakes have never skipped a beat they always have worked as they should so I’m not worried about a catastrophic failure or anything but I sure don’t wanna fry anymore 500 dollar modules or let something minor fester until it’s major. This old truck has been good to me and it’s my favorite truck ever out of more than fifty in my lifetime. I have had em all from platinums to three on the tree old 100s and this one is hands down the most comfortable fastest and best looking truck I’ve had. And it’s sure a blast to drive. The wife is after me to buy a new super duty which is fine but she will think I need to sell the raptor if I buy a new truck and that is NOT acceptable fellas. I gotta get this one back to reliable like it always had been.
Sorry for the long ass post but wanted to update the crew. Thanks again to all of you!
 

pat247

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Please research the third brake light for the G1 Raptor to eliminate it from the equation. Almost all of the things that you mentioned in this thread like the dash lighting up like a christmas tree and brake failure warnings are symptoms of water intrusion of the third brake light on a G1 Raptor. This was a fairly common issue in the early days of the Raptor.
 
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Jamie Simpson

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Fuse27 is done but I have not run down the grounds and cleaned em up yet. I am going to check the third brake light tomorrow. I’m gonna silicone it in whether it’s been leaking or not just for peace of mind. Thanks fellas I appreciate all of you!
 

Canuck714

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Fuse27 is done but I have not run down the grounds and cleaned em up yet. I am going to check the third brake light tomorrow. I’m gonna silicone it in whether it’s been leaking or not just for peace of mind. Thanks fellas I appreciate all of you!
Grounds... There are a ton.
The one that rots on most F150's is the body ground that goes from body to frame by the front body mount behind passenger side step.
On the core support there are a group of grounds that tie together, probably 5-6 wires all to one connection. They are on on both sides of core support (inside facing engine).
There are several random grounds on inner fender frame and on the fire wall. Check them all!
In the passenger footwell on the BCM is a ground.
In Drivers footwell there is a ground there as well.
From the trailer hitch wire harness there is a big ground wire going to the frame cross member
 

The Car Stereo Company

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for the check brake system, check your e brake. mine was doing this randomly until it finally broke. make sure the ebrake cable is ok and tight. the tension is what hold it in the up position. i ended up disconnecting the sensor because my ebrake was already broken and i was tired of it always reminding me. however currently the check brake system is always on now, but now i know and disregard it. i just need to get a new cable and reconnect the sensor, but its been 6 years and im procrastinating for other more important fixes.
 
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