Light switch shutting down truck!?

[astacey1403]

Good morning everyone!

I am currently running into and odd issue with my 98 M1079. I just got all the lights working on the truck by replacing some fuses and swapping a few relays yesterday and the truck was running fine however, this morning for some reason when I turn on the lights for the truck I can hear a bunch of clicking from relays in the power distribution panel and then the truck shuts down. I have the old manual lock switch. It seems like something with the lights is dragging the hole system down for some reason. was wondering if any of you have run into the same issue. I think its a relay the is giving me a hard time as the ignition relay was doing something similar when I was working on getting the truck running.

Thanks for your time,

 

[NDT]

When the engine shuts down, does everything else electrical also go dead?

 

[astacey1403]

When the engine shuts down, does everything else electrical also go dead?

Yes it does. I spent some time with it this morning because my transmission controller was also not come back on but I got that sorted for now and the truck will start.

 

[Suprman]

Had something like that happen to be once it was only in reverse though. I used emery cloth on a thin piece of metal cleaned all the contacts in the power panel and put new breakers and relays in.

 

[NDT]

Sounds like the added lighting load is causing a corroded cable connection somewhere to go open. Clean connections at both ends of all battery cables.

 

[Wingnut13]

I’ll second that advice. I knew I should have checked them as soon as I got the truck, I’ve had some odd issues/shutdown, no-starts etc. I found terribly corroded washers under the battery cable connection at my battery shut off switch. The picture below is of those washers. Everything is working better now!

 

[98G]

It runs?

 

[coachgeo]

Which light switch? Old lever style or the newer button style?

newer

 

[G744]

Emery cloth is not good to use with contacts, the residue can lead to intermittant shorts and increased contact wear.

In the field, plain old fine sandpaper is better. A dollar bill pulled thru the contacts with light pressure on them is actually a good cleaner. The best is a diamond dust-impregnated flexible blade.

A clean cloth strip inpregnated with Caig DeOxit is also a great maint technique.

 

[dotson90]

I had a similar issue. When I would run with the lights on and hit a bump it would blow the lighting fuse and kill the truck. I pulled my dash apart and found that the wiring from the switch was rubbing on the hand throttle and shorting out. I was able to tape up the wiring and secure it better and I no longer have issues.

 

[astacey1403]

It runs?

Yes sir it is running!

 

[astacey1403]

Which light switch? Old lever style or the newer button style?

newer

It is the old lever style switch. Not this new one.

 

[coachgeo]

It is the old lever style switch. Not this new one.

that eliminates one potential issue. Glad you got her running