Wierd car trouble

[Black03Marauder]

So back in late November the battery light in my car would occasionally start to flicker. The light would just turn on and off really fast with no pattern to it BUT it would only happen if after I had drove the car for about four hours. Then one day I pulled into a parking lot and suddenly the battery light came on, the check engine light came on, and the power steering went out. I turned the car off, then turned it back on, and car ran fine after that.

I took it to a dealer early december and they changed out a defective pulley in the belt system and the car worked fine...UNTIL NOW :mad2:

Now it doesn't matter if I drive it for 5 minutes or 5 hours, That bloody battery light flickers all the damn time. Any of you guys know what is wrong with my car? :help:

[BillyGman]

I can't understand what the power steering pump would have to do with that. It sounds like it's time to take it right back to the dealer to question them on their diagnosis of the rpoblem, and the work that they did. It might be a simple thing that they overlooked while they were reparing your car. That's definately happened to me before at the dealer. The only specific thing that I can tell you that might relate to this, is that if you ever end up replacing the alternator on your Marauder, do NOT ever get a rebuilt one. Get a brand new one, from either your parts department at your local dealer, or better yet from Ray right here ("the Dealer").


Because I had my alternator rebuilt by a very competent automotive electrical place that I've used plenty of times before for other cars that I've had, and the light remained on despite a perfect voltage reading. It was driving me nuts, and I couldn't figure it out after having the alternator off four times!!!! Finally, "Carfixer" wrote to me and informed me NOT to ever have a Ford/Mercury alternator rebuilt since it cannot be done properly. Why? I don't know, since I've had plenty of others rebuilt w/out any problems. But I looked in the 2003 Ford shop manual for Marauders,and sure enough it said that the voltage regulators cannot be replaced (which reportedly what was wrong with my alternator) and that the alternator and voltage regulator MUST be replaced as a complete assembly.

Again, I've never heard of this, and I cannot explain why it is, but I know that it's true, because after all the hassle I had with mine being worked on twice, and checked twice, I went out and bought a new one from the dealer, and since I've installed it last spring, I haven't had any problems with it, and the battery light has been off. I hope this helps you.

[hbarrett]

Are the harnesses under the hood getting sliced on the cowl bracket (driver's side) or the sharp edge of the head (passenger side)?
So back in late November the battery light in my car would occasionally start to flicker. The light would just turn on and off really fast with no pattern to it BUT it would only happen if after I had drove the car for about four hours. Then one day I pulled into a parking lot and suddenly the battery light came on, the check engine light came on, and the power steering went out. I turned the car off, then turned it back on, and car ran fine after that.

I took it to a dealer early december and they changed out a defective pulley in the belt system and the car worked fine...UNTIL NOW :mad2:

Now it doesn't matter if I drive it for 5 minutes or 5 hours, That bloody battery light flickers all the damn time. Any of you guys know what is wrong with my car? :help: