Hello folks, as the name implies I own an E350 Club Wagon 7.3, a 1997 model with over 345,000 miles. Occasionally I have been experiencing a situation where the electrical is dead, meaning absolutely nothing happens when I turn the key, this has also effected the lights. So far it has been only momentary before the system wakes up.

This happened last night, and by putting the van in neutral and letting it roll a few inches, that seemed to wake up the system to where the instruments/lights illuminated and everything started as normal. Any ideas on this? Thanks!

 

Did you get a chance to check the battery cable connections, especially the negative cable at the battery that goes to the engine. Don't forget the terminal may look OK, but still not be making a good connection between the battery post and the cable terminal..I realize there are 2 batteries, but if no good ground to the engine , nothing will work.

 

I’ll check out those connections. My initial thought was that there might be a short somewhere between the battery and steering column. This morning she started like a charm. As far as the auxiliary battery mounted in a box mid-frame, I’ve never messed with that and it goes unused to my knowledge.

 

All 7.3 diesels had 2 batteries under the hood in the engine compartment. Might want to check the connections there.

 

What did you find? Sounds like an ignition switch or something close to the key.

Did you mess with the second battery at all?