Maybe someone can help me now... I just installed factory fog lights in my 2004 3.8 v6 stang. Did them myself and followed directions to a T....A few days after(about 3) as i was a block from my house listening to Bloomberg Radio ( i say this so you know i was not blasting my subs and interior speekers) my aftermarket face plate turned off and i couldent get it back on. I had this system for a few years not with zero problems. When i got home one min later i turned my car off and back on. When i turned it on it sounded like it was struggling to turn on and almost stalled. Tried that one more time and it did stall. Besides for that my guages bugged out and when i turned the key to the on position with out going all the way, the guages shot to the furthest positions that each one could go then back again to flat then adjusted to the appropriate levels. I trouble shot and found that a loose conection from the fog light hook up onto the fuse box where the battery and alternator hook up. the nut that was supposed to be pressing the wires together was not all the way compressed and that nut and bult was extreamely hot and melted part of the fog lights little wire. My free tow to the dealership ended up in a dead battery because the guy didnt take my key off the on position. So today i got a new battery optima yellow top (thought it was a good time for a $200 upgrade) and made sure the all my fog light and other connections were tight. The nut and bult connection was no longer getting hot so i started the car back up. The problem now is the guages still bugg out and do the same thing and the car still sputters at first for a second or two when that happens. When the car gets warmes up i turned it off and tried it again and the guages and start up was ideal. Waited a little while and tried it again and the same thing happened. please help me avoid the dealerships 98 buck diagnostic test. what do you think is wrong?

 

sounds like your alternator is not charging the battery get a multimeter or find one and test the battery with the car off it needs to be at 12.0 to 12.8 volts start the engine and it needs to go up to 13.90 or 14.6 max
it is under that your alternator is gone monitor this for about 10 minutes also when doing this it will be good to turn on the head lights,fog lights and ac
good luck

 

If your alternator is not charging the battery. An easy way to tell is to start your vehicle and then disconnect the battery terminals. If your alternator is faulty your car will eventually die. Now I have a 99 V6 stang and believe it or not i have the exact same thing happening. Now I do have a hard time turning the motor over someimes if it has been sitting for a week, so i took out my battery brought it in to a store, and had it tested. Now i put the battery back in and started her up. I do know for a fact that my battery is not going to be good for much longer, so i will definately be getting a new one in the near future. I do not know for a fact why the gauges act as they do. It is almost as if they are being reset. I will have to do a bit of research to really decifer what makes them do this. I havent had a real problem with it other then a lil bit of trouble starting the car once and a while. I do have aftermarket lights and a sound system....havent had any troubles yet. I'll search around and see if anyone else has this problem or if it is part of the electrical. But one question...did your gauges do this all before your fog light incident? or are you just noticing this now?

 

lol forgot to tell the test results of my battery. It did test "BAD".

PS:

I have had my gauges acting up like this since i've had the car....I will probably end up calling ford.