These cars use Ford's first smart charge system introduced in 1999 on many/most Fords.
It seems my ECU has given up on running the alternator, with the alternator gradually not charging over a long drive home. I've read that pulling the 3 wire controls plug is the way to diagnose if the alternator is working. That plug is quite difficult to get at on the side of the road, so I did the easiest option and pulled the voltage sense fuse, and the alternator started working again.
Since I pulled the voltage sense fuse the alternator runs pretty much perfectly! With the exception of not charging at low idle when the car is warmed up, and I get the odd very short voltage spike to 15-15.5V just as the motor spins up off idle, but not every time. I live in the country and its a manual so I rarely idle anyways.
I have a ultragauge so I can see what voltage is, in real time, and it pretty much does what you'd expect for a healthy charging system, other than the idle drop and odd spike.
I've been running it like this for a couple weeks now with no problems, but has anyone run a ford with "smart charge" for an extended time in default/dumb mode without an issue?
Battery is new, and charged, charge cable and battery ground are good, so I think it is the ECU, but otherwise the car runs great and I will run it as is, if its not likely to fail?
It seems my ECU has given up on running the alternator, with the alternator gradually not charging over a long drive home. I've read that pulling the 3 wire controls plug is the way to diagnose if the alternator is working. That plug is quite difficult to get at on the side of the road, so I did the easiest option and pulled the voltage sense fuse, and the alternator started working again.
Since I pulled the voltage sense fuse the alternator runs pretty much perfectly! With the exception of not charging at low idle when the car is warmed up, and I get the odd very short voltage spike to 15-15.5V just as the motor spins up off idle, but not every time. I live in the country and its a manual so I rarely idle anyways.
I have a ultragauge so I can see what voltage is, in real time, and it pretty much does what you'd expect for a healthy charging system, other than the idle drop and odd spike.
I've been running it like this for a couple weeks now with no problems, but has anyone run a ford with "smart charge" for an extended time in default/dumb mode without an issue?
Battery is new, and charged, charge cable and battery ground are good, so I think it is the ECU, but otherwise the car runs great and I will run it as is, if its not likely to fail?
