wildernaut

Just after taking off from a light and while shifting from 3rd to 4th my truck stalled and put on the E brake and Battery indicator lights on the dash, but no engine light. After wrenching it over onto a side street (power steering went out too) i turned it off and tried to restart it with no luck. Got it towed and while loading it on the truck noticed these wires dangling freely beside my transmission. it seems as though the wiring came loose from a sensor on the transmission or whatever the plug is in the last picture. What is this called and could this be the culprit?

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

Most likely those loose wires caused something to short opening one of the fuses Most likely the EFI fuse or one of the fusible links

Did you lose all the belts and the belts flying under the truck pulled the wires out.

Just a guess but you have more problems then just those wires being pulled out

If the engine was still running till you turned it off

wildernaut

No flying belts. The engine cut out and lost rpm immediately. Haven't checked the timing belt, however. I've never noticed those wires hanging down before and hope they're the issue.

Charchee

Would the engine turn over with the starter or did it just fail to start after cranking on it for a few seconds?

wildernaut

Not sure how to answer that. I believe the starter is engaging as it is not just "clicking".

Charchee

Do you have a way to test your battery voltage? That battery light is for the charging circuit. If your alternator has failed then your truck would have been performing all of it's electronic functions off the battery alone. When you fall below adequate voltage, your truck will die. The same kind of situation will happen if your battery has shorted out or you have a bad connection at the battery.

Not sure about your e-brake light but I know that low system voltage will make everything in your gauge cluster act weird. Did you notice anything else strange in the behavior of your gauges prior to this happening?

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

Charge and brake light come on with a charging system issue

Did the engine quit and with the engine not running you coasted into a side street ??

Being the engine is not running you will not have power steering and the charge and brake lights will be on.

At this point you turned the key off and attempted to restart and it did nothing??

Or it turned over(cranked) but failed to start ??

Maybe the OP just worded it wrong but it sounds like the Power Steering failed before the engine shut off and the charging system as well .

That lead me to a belt failure

Crank pulley or timing belt as the accessories seemed to fail and the engine was still running

Depends just how it really played out could just be open circuit protection causing the failure to start From the hanging wires shorting