[DieselDunn]

Need help. i've got a 2003 Excursion 7.3. The truck all of a sudden started acting weird. The dash is flashing. All the gauges are going to max and zero max and zero, the lights are flashing, there is a constant clicking noise in the dash, its going crazy.

I need help, have to drive home from Christmas and I don't know how to stop this.....

Thoughts?

 

[JLMMA]

Im no expert but I think I read a thread about this the other day and it was the voltage regulator for the alternator. you should look through the recent threads and see it you can find it. It might be smart to have the alternator tested I know its christmas so that might be a problem. Hope everything works out.

Merry Christmas

 

[DRJ48]

Will the truck start? Does it have good batteries, as clicking in the dash is usually indicitive of low voltage? I am not familiar with the Excursions, but I believe they had PATS in the 03. In that case I would try another key and/or start looking for the relay that is clicking in the dash. Good luck and hopefully someone with more experiance with this system will come along. Just my thoughts.

 

[Kanman]

Your batteries are discharged. Put them on a charger for at least a few hours. Better have your alternator checked out too.

 

[DieselDunn]

bats are good charged and new. Still not fixed. Can't get home till it happens.

 

[Kanman]

Check/clean the connections on your brand new batteries and then charge them.

 

[DieselDunn]

alternator isn't charging. Or just barely charging so we are going to change that out tomorrow. Hoping this will fix it.

 

[DieselDunn]

alternator didn't fix the problem.....

 

[The-washer]

Check your grounds. Battery to frame, engine to frame, body, everything.
You could also go to your friendly neighborhood autoparts store to see what codes are being tossed.

 

[ford_x_3]

are your door locks going wacky also?

 

[clamgulch]

It definitely sounds like grounds. I disconnected a ground inside the Excursion one time when I had the engine out and was doing some interior work and forgot about it for months. When I put the engine back in, the horn would honk when I rolled down the windows, some windows wouldn't work at all. So I jumped to conclusions and assumed that the GEM (generic electronic module) had gotten wet and corroded and I replaced it. What a PITA. Especially since it didn't solve the problem. Then one day I reinstalled the interior and there was the ground wire laying loose. Whoopsie. Put the bolt in it and that solved the problem.

There have been past reports of superduties and excursions getting water dripping down into the GEM from a leaky windshield. It's attached to the top side of the fuse box under the dash, driver's side. Hopefully, that's not your problem.
I'd try loosening and retightening every ground I could find.

 

[wbutton]

Not sure if your still having this problem. About 6 months ago I had the same thing happen. Never really found out what was causing the problem. I check all ground and battery connections still had the problem. As a last resort I changed out the PCM problem went away not sure why but it worked for me

 

[coldair]

check the ground wire that is inside the left rear trim panel, it can be reached by removing the flip up arm rest with the lighter in it. then yolu reach up and towards the rear and its bolted to the body

 

[Dunbar]

Wow, lots of grounds to check! Will keep searching then go look at grounds.

Dunbar

 

[Jordy33]

Need help. i've got a 2003 Excursion 7.3. The truck all of a sudden started acting weird. The dash is flashing. All the gauges are going to max and zero max and zero, the lights are flashing, there is a constant clicking noise in the dash, its going crazy.

I need help, have to drive home from Christmas and I don't know how to stop this.....

Thoughts?

So it’s been a long time since this thread and I have been having the same issue since last week slowly trying to work on things with my brother( a diesel mechanic) I have a 03 f250 7.3 and what we found was 12 volts at battery and only reading 3 at our relay/harness box. He jumped it and she started right up. For me it’s a new 4ga wire running to that. Not a bad problem to have on a almost 20 year old truck with 330k on her