Wait Light Stays Lit and Dimmer Switch Relationship Assistance needed

[G3isMe]

I have a 2003 1045A2 with about 1200 miles on it. When I turn the ignition switch to run the position, my “wait” light won’t go out. Prior to this the Wait light would flash on and then off and the truck would start. It would stay lit for less than a second. When the weather is cool it has to crank hard to start so I had been wondering if this was going to be an issue so I have been kind of keeping an eye on it. Is the wait light somehow connected to the dimmer switch?

I have been having problems with the foot operated head light dimmer switch not working and I am going to replace is as soon as my new one arrives. The high beams won’t come on and the bright indicator light on the dash won’t light. The night before I had the wait light issue, I had been cycling through the head light and dash dimmer settings with the main light switch and the floor mounted dimmer switch, with the engine off. Could this possibly have anything to do with the Wait light issue? When I turn off the ignition after unsuccessfully trying to start the truck, there is an audible “clunk” sound from the engine starting system box under the dash. I am not sure if that is normal or not but it kind of sounds like a solenoid closing. Thanks in advance for any advice. and yes, I have searchd and I have RTFM....

 

[Milcommoguy]

No magic answers from me. Jump in at one of the issue and work it to problem found.

Trying to connect this to that makes no sense... if there was any logic to the original design. Then again ???

Chunking can be a normal sound of some control boxes. It is the primary 24 Volts contactor to feed the accessories.

Time to get out the VOM and schematic and start checking, CAMO

or drain the water out of the PCB.

 

[G3isMe]

No magic answers from me. Jump in at one of the issue and work it to problem found.

Trying to connect this to that makes no sense... if there was any logic to the original design. Then again ???

Chunking can be a normal sound of some control boxes. It is the primary 24 Volts contactor to feed the accessories.

Time to get out the VOM and schematic and start checking, CAMO

or drain the water out of the PCB.

Lol, very true especially about connecting one to the other. And we all I know that you have a lot of magic answers up your sleeve..... The reason I connected them is because I was clicking on that switch on the floor on off and on off not 12 hours before the wait light started to act up. Most likely just purely a coincidence I guess. I'm going after that wait light gremlin first.

 

[G3isMe]

My goal with posting this thread was not an expectation of a magic answer, but was that hopefully someone who had the same or similar problem would be willing to share their method of resolving it. My alternate goal was that perhaps someone may point me to a tech memo or an article I overlooked in my search and I can try to resolve this issue and share it with the group for the next person that has this problem.

 

[papakb]

You didn't mention having it but it sounds like a supplemental grounding kit is in order. When you start getting weird, unrelated things happening in the electrical system it's a good indicator that it's time has come.

 

[Retiredwarhorses]

You didn't mention having it but it sounds like a supplemental grounding kit is in order. When you start getting weird, unrelated things happening in the electrical system it's a good indicator that it's time has come.

supplemenal Ground harness just masks any real issues not fixed and waiting to rear there ugly head at the wrong time.

 

[juanprado]

I had the same issue we with the wait light. It would not go off.
I have the older box with yellow label.
Changing the water temp sensor tsu for the box in the crossover pipe fixed my problem.

 

[Mogman]

Sounds like your wait light was never normal, flashing on then off immediately is not normal, cleaning all the grounds (not a big fan of the grounding kit) and replacing the TSU will be the cheapest thing to start with but it could very well be the EESS box, of course check all the glow plugs also, make sure the TSU matches the EESS, there is a thread here somewhere that gives a pretty good account of what fits what.
Since it sounds like your system never worked correctly is double reason to make sure all the components were made to play together.

 

[G3isMe]

Taking the advice of some members I measured the resistance on the glow plugs. They ranged from 1.3 - 1.6 ohms. I also measured the voltage on the voltage converter I have installed. It measured around 7 going out and about 14 volts coming in. So I measured the battery and across the 12-volt sure enough it was 7.3 and across the 24 volt terminals it was only 14.8 volts. So I disconnected the batteries and I recharged them.

I am guessing what happened is that foot operated dimmer switch shorted, then pulled down the batteries.

This morning the second battery was charged. It was 40 degrees here this morning. I turned the switch to run and the wait light lit up and then went out. I turned it to start and she turned over with a belch of white smoke and started.

So in a round about way that dimmer switch was related to the other issues. This truck had a full charge the day before (I assume as I had driven it all day, it has become my daily driver the last month as we are moving and my F 150 is in MN at our new home), and then was dead by the next morning. I had ordered a new switch for the dimmer before all of this started so I will be installing that as soon as it arrives. I also had ordered new glowvplugs so I will install those as well. This truck will never start in MN so I need to be sure I have this resolved. I also plan on installing some type of engine heater, be it a block heater or one installed on a coolant hose. Thanks for everyone's advise..
Rick

 

[Milcommoguy]

Was the headlight switch on during this time of unexplained drain with the dimmer switch?

Just trying to work this out in my head and for some reason not seeing the light,or connection. CAMO

 

[Mogman]

Not sure how you are relating the dimmer switch, it operates on 24 volts like the rest of the system, if there was something wrong with it it would in theory drain both batteries, the light switch has to be turned on for it to even be "in circuit" anyway.
If the wait light is not coming on for 10-15 seconds (cold) it still is not operating normally.
Run your truck at high idle and check the voltage across both batteries to make sure they are charging equally, should be in the 28V neighborhood total
A bad EESS can also stop the alternator from charging at all as it excites the alternator, this would most likely be a bad relay in the EESS and that would also cause the wait light to act like it is.

 

[G3isMe]

Not sure how you are relating the dimmer switch, it operates on 24 volts like the rest of the system, if there was something wrong with it it would in theory drain both batteries, the light switch has to be turned on for it to even be "in circuit" anyway.
If the wait light is not coming on for 10-15 seconds (cold) it still is not operating normally.
Run your truck at high idle and check the voltage across both batteries to make sure they are charging equally, should be in the 28V neighborhood total
A bad EESS can also stop the alternator from charging at all as it excites the alternator, this would most likely be a bad relay in the EESS and that would also cause the wait light to act like it is.

Yeah I completely agree that something still isn't right with the light being on for a split second. the dimmer switch was a guess on my end as I knew it wasn't functioning correctly and I had been switching it on off and trying to get it to work or figure out why it wasn't working.
This was the night before the batteries drained. This is why I asked the question If they are related, i.e., the dimmer and the wait light wiring, as I didn't know if they were or not.

 

[G3isMe]

I will check across the battery. The gauge shows it running in the green.

 

[Mogman]

Also check across each battery to see if the two are equal, more or less, you said you are using a converter so I assume you do not have loads tapped between the two batteries (12V)

 

[G3isMe]

Also check across each battery to see if the two are equal, more or less, you said you are using a converter so I assume you do not have loads tapped between the two batteries (12V)

Yes I have a converter and have it coming in at 24 volts.