LB7: whats wrong with my buddies E'04? (maybe engine electrical problems)

[TRUBBS]

my buddy called me up lastnight and said his trucks having problems
so i asked if to tell me what happened so i could help him out so this is what he told me.

said he got in his truck and headed to the gas station, on the way there, the truck started to have the problems.
said the dash quit working, along with the dome lights

got to the fuel station, turned it off, and filled the truck up with fuel.
went to re-start it and nothing. wouldnt crank or nothing (like the batteries were dead)

so he called his dad, he came and jump started it and he headed back home to park it.
said about a mile or so from his house the engine started to run really funky,
he said it sounded like a 7.3 powerstroke with huge injectors in. (really crackly and sputtery)
as he rounded the bend and was slowing down to pull into his driveway he said it just up and quit and he coasted into the drive way and now it wont restart

so now i come to you experts to see if any of this rings a bell as something you may have come acrossed before?

truck has 200k-ISH miles on it,roughly 60k on new dealer reman engine.
not sure if the clutser has ever been changed before, that was my first thought before he started telling me how the engine started to run bad.

 

[DAVe3283]

The fact that it jump started fine indicates the batteries have issues.

Start with testing (and replacing if needed) the batteries, and test the alternator too. Once the charging system is OK, I'm guessing the rest of the issues go away.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Fix the batteries and charging like stated above. Without good voltage to the FICM, it will have a hard time getting the 96 volts to the injectors to fire them properly. And if teh voltage drops to low, the BCM will shut the bus down which will cause teh cluster to drop offline.

 

[TRUBBS]

thanks, ,my first thought was bad batteries/alt but wasnt sure, so i figured id ask here for a second opionin, dont think he'd be to happy if i sent him out to spend 600ish bucks or so on 2 new batt's and an alternator and have it not be the problem.

 

[DBUSHLB7]

I don't think the big box parts joints charge to test alternators & batteries.....

 

[yellowchevy]

I don't think the big box parts joints charge to test alternators & batteries.....

Oriellys or Auto zone will test them for free.

Yellowchevy

 

[TRUBBS]

Very true.
To be honest I actually forgot that they offered that.
We will pull it off & get it tested tomorrow

 

[catman3126]

Sounds like the alt to me.

 

[RPM Motorsports]

I've just got a truck with a similar issue.. Both battery's are charged, sometimes it's fine, sometimes it will start having voltage issues. Eng overheat, no oil psi, gauges go funky and eng Clacks due to low voltage. I'll dig into it Monday, and see what I find. Could be something as simple as a ground issue.

 

[TRUBBS]

thanks for the replies guys, he HAD a new alternator on it already that took a $h!t after only a couple weeks.
but got it warantied out and now everything is back to normal