Wildlife Rescue: Urgent Fix Needed on 2016 Transit 250 to Protect Our Furry Friends! 

Missed chance when you opened the slider to have a little lion plush inside.

Needed the $1500 ambulance prep package, includes two 250 amp alternators, two batteries.

I was waiting for tyler hoovie to pop out when he opened the van for the first time @ 3:30

The 250 Amp alternator is a must. I also want to see what the current draw is through the relay. It still may be drawing over spec for the relay. I also want to make sure the wire guage is thick enough to handle the inrush current not just seady state current; this applies to the relay as well.

Love this! The crew at Sedgwick County Zoo does an amazing job at keeping their animals happy and healthy and I'm glad you could help them out with this

My older Mercedes Sprinter van had the exact same problem. The previous owner converted it into a RV and did not upgrade the Alternator. After my brand new 900CCA battery discharged twice on me and the instrument panel started to malfunction, I realized the alternator could not handle the extra load.

The late great Don Rickles would joke; "Oh, the perfect vehicle to take the mother-in-law out in. After laughter, 'that joke is gonna cost me when I get home.'"

Vans like this in the UK and Europe are almost exclusively powered by strait four diesels. Like anything, they can have issues: turbo, injectors ect but offer impressive fuel economy.

8 years old? thats unheard of these days. an interstate can't compete with that. good video as always, wizards. im glad i stuck around (i was one of the petty ones throwing a fit about you and no domestics little while back, stupid i know, and i was in the wrong) for whats its worth, im sorry.

Retired mechanic here. I instantly knew its a stock alternator. They need a heavy duty alternator and dual battery set up.

3:03 That "door" is for the right hand drive market. It's the same body for both models, the only external difference is where the side cargo door is placed. It always opens towards the sidewalk, on the passenger side.

I’m quite surprised they didn’t go with an RV ac that is 100% self contained. They make low profile units and the latest versions can be had in a heat pump configuration so it can heat in the winter and cool in the summer.

I remember in high school guys would get the higher powered alternators just for their sound systems because if you start putting too strong of a sound system in a car the alternator won't be able to keep up

Danielsan is a BEAST of a mechanic. Pun intended. Well done Car Wizard.

As soon as I heard about the aux ac being installed and Wizard didn't mention the alternator wasn't upgraded. I knew exactly what the issue. This issue happens with upgrading audio systems with extra subs. Need that new beefy alternator.

I visited the zoo when I had the chance to come to Wichita for work years ago, and it is definitely a must visit for any first visitor to town. IIRC, they had an older FJ Land Cruiser on display at one of the animal exhibits. If you have to come to Wichita and got the kids, totally recommended to visit.

seen the same thing in high school when the tools would go to walmartand max out their beaters with sony xplode systems, amps, and woofers.

I'm shocked that the outfitter of the AC fan didn't include a 250 amp alternator and 80 amp relay as part of the install. If I were the Zoo I would send the bill to the installer.

You are going to have to install another battery and double the alternater output. And wire the air con with one Guage wire.

The fact the original shop couldn't figure out that the stock 150 amp alternator would be unable to keep up with a secondary after- market A.C. is crazy. I feel like this should've been obvious.

“Animals wouldn’t want to be a rocket” LOL. My dogs thank you.

What a great service technician you are truly a wizard

I had a car that started dying like that from time to time after its alternator burnt up (literally) and was replaced. The shop couldn’t replicate the problem. Dealer couldn’t find the problem, either, so I took it to an auto electric shop. They couldn’t find it either. I took it home. That night I was thinking that a loose battery cable might cause it. I popped the hood, grabbed the positive cable at the battery and it lifted right off. Tightening the cables and all is well.

All that is in that roof mounted unit is the evaporator, condenser, and a pair of fans. Those must be honking fans to draw that much amperage~! Great video!

I've never seen a battery last that long, especially in Kansas weather. I can remember when 50 amps were considered more than adequate for a vehicle. Most things ran off vacuum then.

Rainman Ray has a small diameter alternator pulley. He also added a second alternator to his Silverado.

the transits are pretty good vans but tbh i prefer the old Econoline vans with the 4.6/6.8’s.

I have a 2018 350 that I love. Got it because I have 6 kids and the two teens are getting to big for the Suburban. Love it. The only issue I have had with the thing was my fault. I tried to install trailer lights and not realizing how the lights were powered off small transistors in the BCM I threw a code for the BCM and my turn signal never worked after. I thought for sure I was going to have to pay 600 for a new module and another 400+ for a shop to program the thing. Luckily I found FORScan and figured I could now just get the module then program it myself. Luckily this was not even the case because when I did a BCM test with FORScan the module reset itself and it works again. Learned my lesson with the money saved and bought the correct harness for the job.

I have a 2022 transit 350 with 3.5 ecoboost and it came with 250 amp alternator and dual batteries, easily puts out 60 amps for a battery to battery charger for camper batteries. Of course Ford offers oem rear ac which would have eliminated problem in the first place. Also an ambulance option for 2 alternators. These things haves options like an F150, a bunch.

Sir , I'm so thankful that you undertook fixing this vehicle....thank you very much.❤

This is why emergency vehicles have beefed up alternators. To power all the radios, computers, lights. Same issue with people adding huge power amps for stereos.

My “17 transit has rear AC. It came standard with the high output alternator to compensate.

Some of those vehicles have upfitter switches to hold the engine at a fast idle .

I'm not surprised they needed additional ac. I drive ford transits for a living delivering groceries and while the cab ac works great while you are seated up front the cargo area absolutely roasts when it's hot out. Even on our upfitted vans that have interior paneling and insulation its hot, the buffer rental vans I had to drive a few times are brutal with just bare metal. It's like being in an oven with heat radiating off the roof, walls and even the floor. Edit: One of the replacement vans I drove was an awd 250 with the ecoboost v6 and it's shockingly fast 0 to 45 for such a large utilitarian vehicle.

To watch the voltages on your own vehicles just buy one of those cigarette lighter/ plug charger units that have USB plus voltage readouts on them.

Glad you're still taking these interesting cases, even though you're taking the shop in a more specialized direction.

I have a 2017 Transit T350. I hate it. I miss my 2006 Chevy Express 3500. It was so much more reliable.

As an "OLD!" car stereo guy - the alternator was my guess. Great detective work, though! I would have dealt with that during my install - and probably adding a mid-size capacitor to deal with the start-up. 👍

"Lions and tigers and Wizards, OH MY!"

should have had Tyler jump out with a T-Rex costume on lol

A better description of low voltage is the computer will kill power on the accessories one by one until it cannot support engine function anymore! The computer saved the power to the dash to keep the motor running.

i can't believe somebody pulled the parts cannon on this and couldn't work out the alternator can't cope lol

They can be ordered with factory air in the cargo area. Insulating the floor and roof would also go a long way to keep things cool in the cargo area.

I used to install aftermarket A/C systems in school buses. That is a sloppy job all the way around, from the hose routing to the wiring. The buses had beefy electrical systems designed to handle the A/C add on, but we always checked AMP flow and alternator performance as part of a checklist before any vehicle was released back to the customer. It is hard to find a good shop that does this kind of work, they tend to hire very inexperienced people who may call themselves technicians, but they are probably the lowest skill level they can hire to do this type of work. Why? Because they pay them garbage money, like $12/hour, which is good to them compared to their old minimum wage jiffy lube job. The have no electrical skills whatsoever nor can they troubleshoot. This is the result. They just buy the kit from a manufacture of A/C systems and slap together the install, as you can see for yourself. There might be one person who they pay more, who can solve the simpler problems and supervise the rest of the monkeys. Purely a high profit, low quality business. They probably paid $10k for that extra A/C.

That's a good life for a factory battery I remember testing many customer's batteries that were about 6-7 years old and that is usually when they give the bad battery code in my experience. Really good ones can do 8 years sometimes 9 if you are lucky.

it was a tight squeeze but I put 2 batteries in my van. best ever upgrade if use power when the van shut off.

I think this is exactly what's happening with my T150 Transit. Using it for my mobile mechanic rig, put in an inverter, which I use sometimes to charge batteries and devices, but the alternator just can't seem to keep up for some reason. Thanks for the video!

Said it pulls 32 Amps but i saw 15 before the jump cut? When voltage drops amperage goes up fast. That's why things shut down when low voltage is detected. Also the grounds should be looked at as well they are just bolted right to painted metal. If you scrape the paint off and use some dielectric grease it will work much better.

Great info here. That was my first guess. All made sense, multiple failures at once tied to new, high draw component install.

I'm guessing whoever installed the AC didn't think to do extra research and verify if the alternator needed to be upgraded after install

13.8-14.2 volts DC, it charges at 14.54 because it has too many pixies! 1-250 amp alternator will fix it but needs an additional B+ charge wire.

Had a 96 S10 do the exact same thing and it was the alternator dying. Basically the gauges would go out, sometimes even the daytime running lights / brake lights would go out.

Had the giraffe truck of a circus brought into the Dodge dealership I worked at with transmission problems. Heavy line mechanic went nuts. The bed was made of 2x6 boards on end about 1/2 apart for the scat to drop out. Drop it did right onto the trans and drive live. A porter was sent to wash it off but instead washed out the inside down onto the drive line. Finally took it to a bull wagon washout and got it mostly clean so it could be worked on.

This transit is in good shape. I’ve seen a lot with damage on Dutch roads. Most of these are plain white parcel trucks.

Had similar with my old Mk7 Ford Escort, added two front fog lights, early one morning sat in a queue idling on a rainy day, wipers, blower, lights, heated rear screen all on, forgot the fogs were also on, car started to die. Killed the alternator and the battery. Learnt to remember to turn the fogs off after that! And that was a car from 1996 with very few modules in it. Add anything requiring significant power to a vehicle and you must also upgrade the alternator and maybe the battery as well. The guys that run big audio systems know this too.

As soon as you mentioned the code for the low voltage and lost communication with the modules I immediately thought the charging system. That alternator cannot keep up with the power draw of the extra A/C.

Great video, great diagnostic, great explanations and a feel good story to top it off!! Great job as always.

Probably a good thing things worked out this way. If they hadn't caught the overheating relay the van might have caught fire with an animal in it. Unless the company that installed the A/C doesn't usually work on a smaller van like that you would have to think they would check on the size of the alternator & advise customers to get a larger capacity alternator if the vehicle doesn't already have one.

I'm thinking to run that a/c, needed extra or at least upgraded battery. And upgraded alternator. All my vehicles I run extra gear. My Jeep has a 350amp alternator and runs only on lithium. My Escalade has dedicated alternators.. 180amp alternator powers the trucks AGM. I have 400amp alternator set at 16v that charges a 120ah Plannano lithium bank that powers the sound system. Lots of sound deadner. LOTS 1/0 & 2/0 OFC cable. Copper extremely expensive to what it was 3 years ago. In my hobby the saying is 'It takes power to make power '. Now I'll watch the rest 😀

Those FoMoCo batteries last a really long time.

My pops bought an ambulance package 89 ford e350, only changed the transmission once, he passed and i still used it for cargo. It lasted us almost 20 years until I sold it.

I know that Transits are popular especially in Europe but looking at that engine bay alone is enough for me to get a Super Duty cab-chassis and have a body built for it. When something goes wrong the amount labor needed to do anything in the engine bay is going to quickly make the truck chassis a good investment. In either case I agree with everyone saying that they really should have opted for the ambulance package, that said they bought this van before thinking and adding the secondary A/C and it shows which is sadly not uncommon in the business/institution world.

Great diagnostics and hands on content on your videos here lately, Wizard!! Bravo!!~~

The penguins want a Thermo King. TK cost $70,000.

Don't show this van to Hoovie, he will instantly buy it and do an LS swap

Locked rotor amps are pulled on compressor start up, and that's causing voltage drop. In addition the wire serving the aux AC is undersized, it should be #8. So charging system can't keep up and lots of heat generated by voltage drop. Also I'd inspect the crimp connections to the existing relay, as the heat seems concentrated there. That makes me think the terminations are sloppy and higher resistance, causing the heat.

The smart car you worked on could probably fit in this

My work rig is a ‘17 150 Transit. Unmodified. Dashboard has been wonky from new. Once in a blue moon the needles randomly spazz out. I wonder 🤔

You carried out proper diagnostics and found the problem an alternator that has more power

A 12 volt RV roof AC unit might've been a more efficient and easier installation than what they have in there now.

Awesome diagnostic skills and I ain't lion!

Wow. Good for you. That is not what I would've guessed. Great testing skills.

Thanks for this video. I love watching you and your team troubleshoot. Thank you for this video.

Glad to see the install was mostly ok. When we had a wheel chair lift on our Astro van, it felt like such a hack job.

Nice video, Wizard....but please, the a/c unit draws current, which is measured in amperes. The quantity is electric current, it's unit of measurement is amperes. Your car uses gasoline to power it, it's unit of measurement is the gallon. Would you say " I need to put some gallonage in my car "?

I am surprised the engine didn't shut down. Some new cars won't start when voltage drops below 12.3V. I would assume the "just installed AC" part wasn't passed on to the mechanic. That goes back to the 90's when big draw stereo amps were popular. Drawing 30A, the fuse could be 40A, which would require 8 ga wire and good connectors. Considering the initial install was shoddy it'd be good to do a follow up on their install.

Mmmmm, I would have actually tested the current output of the alternator. You assumed it could not keep up but it could also be that the ecu is not ‘seeing’ the additional load and not ‘commanding’ more current output. A lot of modern cars require careful choice of the earth (negative) wire location. I wonder if the negative wire from the new system is connected directly to the battery, bypassing the ecu current sensing.

We ❤ The SCZ! 🌻🦁🐾 We would live there if they'd let us I say #1 Charging system: alternator can't keep up with the extra installed equipment

To anyone who complains that you don't work on domestic cars anymore: This definitely qualifies as an "exotic".

My guess is charging system unable to keep up with the A/C if it's 12v electric.

Thank you for helping the Zoo.

Didn’t think alternator was on the list of things wrong 😂 but 11.08 is low shouldn’t be less then 13.ish in normal factory setup.

I had a feeling it was either an electrical rated issue and/or the alternator wasn’t powerful enough.

Those vans seem like they should have much bigger wider wheels and that it should have dual wheels on the back . I figure many people in the trades load them up with lots of heavy stuff.

4:23 i’m looking at one right now. Lol totally just kidding.

Yeah whenever you modify something, make sure you're not creating a problem with that

Probably just needs a bigger alternator, or the engine needs to be tuned for a harder idle throttle or higher idle speed. I see this with 2 way radio stuff all the time. Could be the compressor dragging down the idle speed too much or the alternator is too weak.

Daniel son was given a car off the Wizard then ghosted him and left the Wizard! After Magic Mike and Grimes, he must of been desperate.

I was thinking from the moment you said secondary air-conditioning unit, I was like did they upgrade the alternator! Its something outside of most normal car folks frame of mind. However in the worlds of off roaders and car audio folks we understand all the extra devices pulling just a bit too much. especially when its all the little things and the stock alternators really only produce 120% of the cars operating power needs. Some have barely 10-20 amps of head room, thats a small amount of led lights realistically speaking.

The manufacturers Of The axuary AC should have sold a retro electrical up grade kit

Good video. I live in BC, Canada and I listen to the Sedgwick area police calls on Broadcastify.

I would have guessed it was to much for the stock system with the addition of the ac. I would have recommended them put in a separate power source for the second ac on install instead of adding on to it, mostly because I watch a lot of van life/camper van videos. Not sure what their options would have been, but a good sized solar system or separate alternator and battery to run that separately would have been my first thought. But it is good that there is a 250 amp alternator option for this vehicle. Good to know if I'm ever in the market for one of those vans. I would want to see if it has that already installed.

I was expecting Hoovie to be in there.

Lemme guess; failing EGR system dumped coolant into the engine causing it to hydrolock. No? Did better than mine, then.

I wonder how common this problem is in the rv van conversion world and where people add things to their vehicles and overload the electrical capacity of their vehicles.

Had one at work. Turbo replaced at 60K. A couple other times in shop. Retired and purchased Mercedes chassy motorhome. 🤞

What?..No sunroof for the giraffes?...I mean, I think they might need it.

There's something about true facts and applied logic that works well. Rock on.

Wizard.. can you please make a video for AWD/4WD Car's/SUVs you recommend for $10-15k. I'm a Medical Courier in Baltimore, MD. So the pavement is like a concrete WRC course!! I need to buy a new car and I could REALLY REALLY use some help.. Your content is outstanding man!! Thanks 🙏

Man, I should come work for you. I knew this one almost instantly.