2004 F150 Supercrew
44400 miles


So I turned on my truck today and the needles acted as if they were possesed. The went under the "starting points" and vibrated there for about 5seconds or so... Very strange.

I also have been getting sluggish power from the truck. Mainly between 2000 and 3000 rpms.. Sound like a diesel at times.

Any ideas?

 

is it all the gauges that are acting weird?? my buddy has a 98 5.4 and when it started the gauges all went crazy and then worked ok. his battery ended up being the problem. as far as it being sluggish start by checking all tune up related stuff first.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I know for sure that it's the RPM and Speedometer needles that go crazy.. My truck also has a slight hesitation to start.. but my readings seem fine.


Truck ON: 13.65

Truck OFF
Switch OPEN: 12.37

Truck OFF
Switch Closed: 12.64


Whaccha Think?


Thanks! Oh! Plus I just checked that little "eye" window on the battery and I can just barely see a GREEN color. It's nowhere near bright or easily seen.. it's very faint.

 

the voltage looks good. could be a cogged egr port, dirty i.a.c valve?? are you getting a check engine light??. post this over in the electrical section also. might get more info on the gauge craziness. those guys really know electrical problems.

 

It's kinda funny how you keep getting the same answer about changing the battery, eh 02civic?

 

yea.. It's no secret that I am on ALL the F150 forums. I'll be the first to admit it. I rather get 7 possible ideas from 3 sites than 2 from one site.. You'd do the same..

 

Thanks brother... I'll do that.

 

Absolutely. Just lettin ya know I'm watchin

 

Good eye!

 

Ok.. So this is what I did:

Changed the Fuel Filter.
Changed the Oil plus Oil Filter (Of course).
Cleaned my K&N Air Filter.
Replaced my stock 4 year old battery w/ a Heavy Duty 850 CCA.
Added an Additive to my Fuel to remove moisture.

Instant change! Start-up is instant.. I've started the truck 5 times and no more shaking needles... So far, the problem was the battery as I was told by many of you. Also, no more diesel sound.. Thanks!

 

the cluster is acting normally. this typically is a sign of a battery/charging issue. Check your CCA on the battery (good ol autozone can do this if you don't have one of those nice rotunda battery testers handy) and then check your voltage at the battery with vehicle under load (headlights on high, hazards, a/c on max) This gives a good indication of a charging system fault (around 14V is what you want to see)

EDIT: hrmmm, that'll teach me to not read every post in a thread... yeah, your battery was the culprit.

 

I had an occasional similar thing on my '92, it was the pos battery clamp, the factory battery clamps on those ARE a POS. It took me a while to figure out, because there are two cables that come out of the clamp from a concealed internal part, and one part was delivering voltage, and the other one I couldn't trace to a point where I could see if it gave power or not. Finally when I cut the clamp off and touched the cable to the battery, it was fine. Haven't had a problem with it since, so watch the factory battery clamps too, if they haven't substantially improved the design.