Looking for a little insight. Help please

Upstairs Chris

Upstairs Chris

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Hello everyone, I just bought my 2006 lincoln lS last week. So far I have been enjoying the hell out of it. I mean what a nice car, until tonight.

I went to a local car wash to get some dirt off of it, it's white so it shows real bad. Anyway, I was driving and then all of a sudden it told me to "Check traction control". The button was unresponsive and the abs and traction lights were lit on my dash. Then my headlights started to dim and then my interior lights went out, and the radio turned off. It then began to say check charging system and the battery light was displayed.

I realized something bad was going on with the electrical system so I pulled off into a parking lot and let it idle. I turned off my headlights and everything electrical I had on and it seemed okay. It would run everything electrical if the engine was revved more than idle. So I take it home, which wasn't far away and when I park it and turn it off it doesn't crank at all. The CD changer is going crazy, my hazards are on constantly and the headlights and fog lights are on even though they are off and the key is removed. The horn was beeping in random intervals. Basically is was possessed.

So I got it to jump because I was concerned and the same story. Check charging system, and really odd behavior. I parked it for the night and disconnected the battery because the lights wouldn't turn off.

I am thinking I got water into something sensitive for all this unusual stuff to happen. I bought a warranty for it and it its the same story tomorrow I'll be sending it in, I just wanted to know any other users thoughts on this. I heard with a low battery these cars can go crazy.

Any responses would be very much appreciated.
Thanks.
 
Anytime a car has electrical issues first thing i check is the battery.

If its a motorcraft its most likely original and due for replacement.
 
Yeah, I checked it, it is the motorcraft battery probably from the factory. It had a sticker on the side that read "12/08" so I assumed it is.

Going to have it checked tomorrow and getting a new one. Thanks for the quick replies.
 
Yeah going to echo the sentiment that it's the battery. These cars do verrrry strange things when the batteries get weak so look into that and if there is still and issue we can work from there.
 
If you search for your symptoms, the issue has been covered here a lot. I was shooting from memory, but it is either the battery or the alternator.
 
Change battery and run it through the same carwash again..... AFTER THAT, STOP USING CAR WASHES......
 
Upstairs Chris said:
... It then began to say check charging system and the battery light was displayed....
Click to expand...

You may or may not have a bad battery, but you do have a bad alternator or a wiring issue with the alternator. That light does not come on just for a bad battery.
 
Any Autozone or Advance Auto or Battery Plus will check your complete charging system for free. I believe a wet alternator is the problem also, a shorted diode pack will do all that stuff. Dry out the alternator, find out how water got there! good luck. I use a 125psi power washer on all my engine compartments for many years and never had a problem unless something was amuck!

1998 Volvo 2.3L HPT Coupe Auto 37k miles
2000 Lincoln LS Base V6 3.L Auto 84k miles
2002 F150 Supercrew 5.4L V8 Lariet Auto 117k miles
 
Battery was dead as could be, which was odd. Because I disconnected it last night and this morning it still managed to just barely turn over. However it died at the autoparts store just when I ran in to check if they had a battery for me.

New battery and so far no problems, been taxing the electrical systems as much as possible tying to recreate the effect but can't do it. This thing sure does act funky with a bad battery.

Thanks for the help everyone.
 
I hope that the new battery has a single vent tube connection that you connected to the factory vent line.
 
great... id still try the car wash one more time... if the problem repeats...as joe said... you have a wiring/ alt problem...
 
I took it to a dealer just to check the alternator, they said it was running a little weak but still operable for the time being. So I told them to order another one and I am going in Saturday to have them install it.

Worst part was they disconnected the mass airflow sensor to get to the alternator and when I got it back it was in ETC fail safe mode and the check engine light was on. I had em run the code and it was the mass airflow sensor, they reset it and everything is normal.

As far as running it through the car wash again I'll wait till this weekend. I am currently in the State Police academy here and I need the car to make the trip to and from the academy on the weekends. Its about 150 miles. So, I'll play it safe till then.
 
Upstairs Chris said:
I took it to a dealer just to check the alternator, they said it was running a little weak but still operable for the time being. So I told them to order another one and I am going in Saturday to have them install it.

Worst part was they disconnected the mass airflow sensor to get to the alternator and when I got it back it was in ETC fail safe mode and the check engine light was on. I had em run the code and it was the mass airflow sensor, they reset it and everything is normal.

As far as running it through the car wash again I'll wait till this weekend. I am currently in the State Police academy here and I need the car to make the trip to and from the academy on the weekends. Its about 150 miles. So, I'll play it safe till then.
Click to expand...

Disconnecting the MAF will not cause ETC failsafe mode. They must have also disconnected the TPS or the throttle control.
 
Upstairs Chris said:
Worst part was they disconnected the mass airflow sensor to get to the alternator and when I got it back it was in ETC fail safe mode and the check engine light was on. I had em run the code and it was the mass airflow sensor, they reset it and everything is normal.
Click to expand...

Allow me to translate: Find a new dealer.
 
You think even the test run would have set that off, which they would have seen....Glad its fixed, but +1 on a new dealer...
 
... oh just wait :Bang ......... but just hang around, we'll help ya through it :drunk:
 
Well I feel confident that they fooled around with some type of connection. After I got a new battery in it earlier it ran fine for a good hour or so, with plenty of shut offs and restarts just for tests. I turned on everything electrical I could just to try my luck and I couldn't recreate the problem.
 
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