2006 ls electrical problem - please help

[marnie0921]

I'm having major, I think electrical problems. The battery keeps dying, I had it re-charged and they checked the alternator and they said both alternator and battery are fine. When I try to start it different things happen, for example the alarm goes on and the car turns off, or all kinds of messages on the status screen, like park brake is on, or service rear passenger brake light. A few months ago the buttons on the dash "Fuel-Reset-Status" was pushed in and is loose, since then the car does not lock when you start driving and sometimes the windows dont go down automatically, you need to hold the down button to make it move. I'm totally clueless about cars but am thinking the buttons on the dash that is loose might have something to do with it. Any ideas on what I need to do to find out what the problem is? Any suggestions will help

 

[joegr]

The broken mount for the status center buttons is common and easy to fix. It's not related to your other problems.

Does the car ever die while the engine is running? Do the headlights flicker or dim/brighten while the engine is running? If the answers here are no, then probably your alternator is okay, but the best thing to do would be to get a voltmeter and watch the voltage for a while. You can get some that will plug into the power port or lighter. While the engine is on, the voltage should be around 14.2 volts. It shouldn't go below 13.8V or above 14.6V. If it does while the engine is running, you have a bad alternator or bad wiring to the alternator.

With the same volt meter, check the voltage in the morning before you try to start it. If it is below 12.6V, you may have a parasitic load that is draining the battery over night. I think your best bet then would be to take it to a Lincoln dealer. If the voltage is okay before starting, check the voltage while starting. If it goes below 9.0V, then your battery is bad or one of the major power or ground connections is loose somewhere.

If your battery is the original factory battery, then it is indeed bad and whoever "they" is didn't correctly load test it.