glow plug relay / battery problem

[95PwrSmoke]

i have had a battery issue for awhile and cant get it fixed. long story short, my interior lights stay on all the time so i pulled the bulbs out and checked what wires i could get to in the door jams and fixed any that were slit or bare. i also check cab to frame grounds and cleaned them up. i finally had to add quick disconnects to my battery terminals for parking over night or for a long period of time. whatever is pulling juice is pulling enough that it wont start if it sits over night or for at least 8hrs but as soon as you hook jumpers to it, it fires right up (puts a load on the jumper when hooked up), i notice that in the morning (getting colder) that i have to bump the key ten times or so befor the relay will finally click. i just pute new glow plugs in this spring. the ? is, would my glow plug relay be causing the drain on my battery and why do i have to bump the key that many times to engage the relay. ( about the same number of key bumps everytime only when its cold) any help on this would be greatly appreaciated.

[speeddemon31176]

Your door pins that control the interior lights are grounding out or the wiring that runs along the driver side to the rear doors is corroded and is shorting to ground for the rear door pins(pretty common on crew cabs). As for the relay, it is bad. Replace it.

[madpogue]

Did you make sure the dimmer control on the headlight knob isn't turned all the way counter-clockwise (which forces on the dome light)?

Is this an XLT truck? If so, are the courtesy lights on the interior door panels on?

[95PwrSmoke]

the dimmer switch is where is should be. yes, the door lights are on too, but pulled the bulbs out. do i gotta pull the bottom trim (step) off to get to the wiring or what? also, the gpr didnt start doing that until the light problem. the gpr is about 4 years old, so it may be bad, but damn though 4yrs old and bad already? i love fords all the way and all we've ever owned, but they have a SH*TTY electrical system

[madpogue]

Did you or a PO happen to try rigging up some manual control in the cab for the GPR?

Other thing I would try is remove and disconnect BOTH door switches, then put one of the dome/courtesy bulbs back in and see if it still goes on.

Is this a crew cab by any chance?

[speeddemon31176]

According to his sig it is a crew cab.

To the OP, yes you have to remove the screws and pull up the sill plate.

[madpogue]

So my idea above about the door switches, actually applies to all four. And come to think of it, don't just check the switches. Check where the wires go into the doors, esp. the rears. IIRC, the rear door wires are esp. susceptible to chafing, and if one of the courtesy light wires chafes and grounds, it'll act just like a door is always open.

Sig is the wrong place to put truck info, since turning off sigs saves a LOT of screen real estate and bandwidth.

[95PwrSmoke]

Yes, it is a crew cab and I will try that with the switches. There is no manual gpr switch Jerry rigged, it's all stock. I hope I can find it, there are a lot of places to look for bad wires and kinda a b*tch to get to in some places. Guys I really appreciate this, I ain't much of an electrician, just basics, lol

[madpogue]

Originally Posted by 95PwrSmoke

there are a lot of places to look for bad wires and kinda a b*tch to get to in some places.

True, but the place to start is where the wires pass from the cab body into the back doors. There's history of them chafing where they pass through.

[95PwrSmoke]

I thought I took care of them, but will give another look to be sure : )