Electrical help
 

recently had to have the pitman arm and gearbox replaced on my 01 Diesel Excursion. At the same time, the main battery was also going bad. Everything else on the truck worked fine. I was told they had to jump start my battery to test drive the truck after they fixed it.

I picked up my truck and realized that my stereo comes on, but no sound, my cruise control no longer works, my horn no longer works and the indicator light for the air bag will not turn off. I called the shop who worked on the truck and they claim they were never under the hood except to jump the truck and that they think the after market alarm needs to be reset because the battery went bad.

I knew the battery was going bad because I had to jump it one other time before and never had a problem with any of these things not working. Not sure how those four things are related to the alarm. I am wondering if they may have jumped it wrong and put the negative on the battery and did electrical damage.

Can jumping it incorrectly cause this type of damage? BTW the horn works fine when the alarm goes off.

RE: Electrical help
 

I don't know what your problem is but my 04' has some similar symptoms. Every once in a while when I turn on the truck the windows don't work andthe radio is on without sound. A few minutes later it all turns back on. I have had to replace like 5 batteries on the truck since I bought it. And the wire harness between the batteries fried once. Wierd!

RE: Electrical help
 

Jump starting is a little risky, though not common, electrical devices, relays, etc. can be damaged.
I have seen warnings more than once that tell you to turn of your radio and other devices or risk
damage. I do it for lowering consumption during the jump.

Have you tried disconnecting the new battery for a while and then reconnecting it?
They may have touched the last terminal fast and repeatedly which can cause some
devices to wig out.

Are there any error codes? - from a shop or if you have a reader -

Did you check the appropriate fuses? The layout is in your owner's manual.

I have the 2001 X Repair / Diagnostics CD that may offer some more help
if we have an error code, etc...

Justin.

RE: Electrical help
 

The drivers side airbag clockspring/sliding contact is 'rotational sensitive' and if the steering wheel was spun or over turned with the steering gear disconnected it can damage the clockspring contact tape circuits...