04 trouble shooting electrical issues

[smokeyyank]

Howdy all,

Recently I picked up a 04 limited with a V8. I have no issues wrenching on stuff but looking for some advice on the 4r's issues specifically the electrical problems. To start well it wouldn't start. I replaced the battery as the one in there was a cheap "blem", couldn't even jump it. So it finally started then went to go move it and well it wouldn't move. Figured out it was the ECTS fuse and it was blown. So replaced that then the SOB wouldn't start. Jumped it and started fine and was able to move it. Started it yesterday and was still fine so hoping it was just the crappy battery that was causing those hiccups. Now moving on to the dashboard. Thing looks like a Christmas tree. Showing me the MAINT light (which I'm guessing I just need to reset), the VSC TRAC, VSC OFF, ABS and E brake are all on. I read a little bit about trouble shooting and someone had mentioned the gas cap could be an issue. Tried that but still no luck. I know there is also a way to jumper the connector and will try to that as well. My bigger question is I know some vehicles can have issues from unrelated systems or poor voltage. Is there anything else I should be looking at?

 

[djpope09]

Have you hooked up a scanner to check for fault codes? I think these can have fault codes if the VSC lights are on, but the check engine light is off.

 

[smokeyyank]

Have you hooked up a scanner to check for fault codes? I think these can have fault codes if the VSC lights are on, but the check engine light is off.

I did hook up the scanner but it did not pull anything. CEL was on then turned off by itself. After some more researching I did see that some of the scanners can throw the VSC lights. Fn asinine that could cause the issue but I've worked on dumber. Other thoughts are a bad speed sensor or possibly just a bad alternator.

 

[That_Titanium_4RNR]

I did hook up the scanner but it did not pull anything. CEL was on then turned off by itself. After some more researching I did see that some of the scanners can throw the VSC lights. Fn asinine that could cause the issue but I've worked on dumber. Other thoughts are a bad speed sensor or possibly just a bad alternator.

You may want to look into doing a zero point calibration. Maybe that will help?
YouTube

 

[djpope09]

I did hook up the scanner but it did not pull anything. CEL was on then turned off by itself. After some more researching I did see that some of the scanners can throw the VSC lights. Fn asinine that could cause the issue but I've worked on dumber. Other thoughts are a bad speed sensor or possibly just a bad alternator.

You could try a Zero Point Calibration. There's a couple threads on here about how to do it with just some 18 gauge wire in the OBD port. Only takes a couple minutes and can get rid of VSC lights caused by scanners.

 

[smokeyyank]

Cool, thanks for the info. I was reading about that and will try that out and see. As for the ABS light, I was looking around and said that low fluid could be the culprit. I'll have to check that out. I'm limited on my wrenching time right now so will be a slow update process.