Power problems

[WranglingManche]

Hey guys I’m having some problems with my Comanche, my headlights sometimes work, other times they don’t. My wipers and washer randomly quite on me aswell sometime yesterday. I’ve looked over all my wires and nothing is loose or broken, any help?

[eaglescout526]

Have you cleaned your grounds? Big thing here for diagnosing electrical issues.

[schardein]

I would start by looking at your main battery cables.  If they are original, it's possible that even if they look good on the outside, corrosion could be inside, under the insulation.  If the battery terminals have been replaced with those "bolt on clamp" type, those are ticking bombs waiting to give you problems.  The battery cables power everything, best to make sure they are good.

 

For the headlights, there is a connector located under the air cleaner box, near the backside of the driver side headlight.  This connector powers the lights in the front end.  Disconnect it and look at the pins.  I've seen them corroded away to nothing.  You may have to remove the air cleaner box to access the connector.

 

For the wipers, check the wipers circuit breaker.  It is in a clear plastic connector clipped to the bottom of the fuse box under the dash.  These sometimes get kicked by the driver's feet, which bends the terminals that go into the connector.  Bend them enough, and they break.

[WranglingManche]

Battery cables are new, I replaced them myself as the old ones were visibly destroyed, wipers are fixed unplugged the box and it blew the fuse right after replaced the fuse and they’re working for now, I’ll have a look at the lights later today, but I’ve hit another problem. When my truck is running I’m reading 14v on my gauges, battery is new and I tested it and it’s reading 12v, but with the key on truck not running my gauges read 8-9v and the truck is taking longer to start up

[eaglescout526]

1 hour ago, WranglingManche said:

When my truck is running I’m reading 14v on my gauges, battery is new and I tested it and it’s reading 12v, but with the key on truck not running my gauges read 8-9v and the truck is taking longer to start up

Well this sounds pretty normal as far as the cluster goes. Before start up the voltage will read low due to the power draw from everything coming on with the key. 14v is normal during running. As far as it taking longer, you need to address the grounds if you haven’t yet and make sure that’s not the reason why start up is taking a while. 

[WranglingManche]

I’m going through the truck checking grounds, but would the grounds consistently make starting the truck slower? Last week it started no problem, yesterday I had to pull out a booster pack to get home

[cruiser54]

Any idea what year this Comanche is? Engine and trans? 

Is the starter covered in oil by chance? 

 

Ya know, working on vehicles you many times have to make sure what ISN"T the problem before you find out what IS. 

Look at those things as maintenance.