Electronic throttle control and no charge????

[MMeier]

Neighbors rig encountered problems coming in from Utah this morning. Said she got a message on the overhead thingie about electronic throttle control and then noticed the volt meter slowly dropping. Made it about another 100 miles before the truck died, at this time voltmeter was down just about all the way. Had it towed in, any ideas ??? 07.5 with 6.7, auto, megacab dually. TIA !

 

[AEdelheit]

Well id start with checking the charging system, if it failed and lost voltage it can do real weird things

 

[MMeier]

Not sure what she meant by the message stated above . She did show mw a pic of a lightning bolt looking symbol in the dash that came on,,, whats that, no charge, correct ?

 

[Jim W]

Not sure what she meant by the message stated above . She did show mw a pic of a lightning bolt looking symbol in the dash that came on,,, whats that, no charge, correct ?

No; that is the electronic throttle control on the truck. As stated above the newer trucks must have a very good power source to operate correctly. I would have the entire electrical system checked out from ground wires to the alternator to see if the alternator has failed. Also how old are the batteries if original equipment they should be replaced now.

I replaced mine after four years of operation on my truck. Funny items where showing up on the overhead EVIC and I traced it to one battery that had gone bad. Both were loaded tested and replaced the pair of batteries.

Jim W.

 

[MMeier]

She had the 2 batts pulled that went dead and had new ones put in. Only odd thing I saw was the wire coming off the alternator had gotten nice and toasty and was somewhat scorched... possible bad connection not letting the batts charge like they should perhaps ?? Never saw that before on anything.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Sounds like she may have had one shorted battery.

 

[jdross440]

These trucks are finicky with electrical. Mine did basically the same thing. I thought the alternator had gone. When I got to checking I found the driver side battery positive terminal was a little lose. I took it off, cleaned it and the battery post. Reconnected and haven't had any more problems. There must be a sensing circuit in one of the computers that tells it one battery isn't right.

 

[magaliasram]

I recently had strange things happening on my 07.5 quad cab automatic. My sat radio would not hold the preset station. The electronic throtle warning on the dash came on. Finally the truck wouldn't start in the morning. Drivers side bat was holding 13.8 volts (normal) the passenger bat 10.6 volts (not normal) charged both batteries still low on the pass side bat. Drove 30 miles to get the batteries when I got to Costco the pass bat was about to blow up it was smoking like it was on fire. Shorted cells. Two new batteries and all is well. I tried cleaning everything up no change. I purchased this truck used last year with 34000 miles on it. My previous truck I purchased new and with proper service on the truck my batteries lasted me 7.5 years with over 128000 on the truck. That truck was an 01automatic and I sold it with 236000 miles on it sometimes I wish I would have kept it.