99 Expo electrical gremlins

[Shadetreehouse]

Well I messed up and fed my gremlins after midnight and they are acting a fool! Lets start with what is happening. Right now the truck runs great but there is some relay clicking under the dash and sometimes my radio and windows will stop working and the battery runs down in hours. When I turn the key off I still see, faintly, most of the warning lights on the dash as well as hearing all kinds of clicking under the dash (drivers side) as well as under the hood around the fused panel. I have tried to find the draw with my amp meter and everything goes back to normal if I pull the 103 fuse under the hood (Junction box Battery Feed) all the clicking stops and lights go out. Of course that disables all interior stuff. When trying to narrow it down further I found that with 103 in, if I pull fuse 4 on the inside panel the lights go out and seems to stop the draw (lions share at least) but the car wont start (theft light blinks). Fuse 4 is Autolamp Module (dont have), Remote Entry Module, Mirrors, and Air Suspension Switch(dont have). This is a second vehicle for me so I dont really care to disable something like the mirrors or remote entry but just seems odd that either of those parts would stop it from starting or even light up the warning lights like it is backfeeding voltage through everything when the key is off. So question is should I be looking at those parts to see if they are doing it, (Remote Entry and Mirrors) or is it the GEM or fuse panel that is doing this? Any help would be great appreciated and I am glad the traditional forum isn't dead!

PS I understand that anything would be a guess but just wanted to see what others next step would be. Thanks!@

 

[Shadetreehouse]

Well, went in to check some more stuff and noticed my whole drivers side carpet was wet, first time I have noticed this, so I decided to go ahead and take out the fuse box and GEM. After pulling it I got water dripping out, yay! Cleaned it up, dried it out and it seems to be working great now. I will call about getting the windshield sealed tomorrow. Luckily, looks like I have a break in the weather.

Tldr - fixed it, wet fuse box.

 

[Shriney]

Mine is having this issue; but only since I had my heater core replaced last year! The truck has sat for the last year waiting... if I try to turn on the a/c or roll the window down everything goes haywire? I have the clicking and the window motor sounds crazy trying to go up and down? The radio flashes off and on and the door locks.. I don't even know where to start looking? Fuse panel? I was going to start pulling pieces of the dash out looking for pinched or unplugged wires? I have a volt meter and the shop manuels. It's been sitting in a dry garage for a year, I charged up the battery today fired it up and it's still doing the same thing, so I doubt it's a leaky windshield issue: any guidance?