Starting

Asked by Terry Dec 14, 2016 at 03:33 AM about the 1997 Ford F-150 XLT 4WD Stepside SB

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

First of all...  All my problems seem to have started
with me changing my alt... My battery light came
on as soon as I swapped it out.  Had battery and
alt tested many times and they came back good.  
Now when it's cold 20-30 degrees it struggles to
run... Falls on its self pretty bad..   10-15 sec later it
seems to catch up and idle right.  You can turn it
off and then back on with no problems.  It's just
when it's cold.  Any ideas?   97 f150

1 Answer
73,460

OJ answered 7 years ago

The battery light comes on when the PCM receives a signal from the alternator it is not charging the battery. Is the battery light still on or did it go out once you removed the new alternator to have it tested and placed it back in? The problem could be throwing an internal fault code which does not illuminate the check engine light. Have the vehicle checked for internal fault codes. If nothing there, it should be checked by a person with a live data engine analyzer. Unfortunately, it will probably have to be checked when the problem presents itself, meaning leaving the vehicle sit for however long it takes for the vehicle to cool down and cause the fault again.

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