Recent Content by Patrick Dolan

Sorry to be gone, but had to deal with business. Just home a couple of days, but all of the connectors had been cleaned and re-seated in my absence and now everything works as it should....except the truck doesn't start. I is sitting in the shop at about 45degF and some times you can crank...

There is enough battery left to easily start ANY diesel at these (-20C now) temperatures. They draw down because it is cranking a very long time before starting, and most times by that time cranking is then too slow. This truck has for the last 19 years started after a few pistons hit TDC...

I will meter out the grid and relay first, and if they ARE switching on (which I doubt, as I can usually hear/feel the load of heating grid cycling after a cold start and that didn't seem to be happening last spring). Then I will just try higher voltage cranking, but judging by the way it...

Can I assume the intake air grid is switched by the computer? Assume there is a relay doing the high amperage switching. What generates the command to operate heater? Batteries are ancient and weak, but no where near bad enough to prevent start. This particular truck in its youth would...

Just wondering if someone could explain to me what components do what in doing a cold start? Last spring I had some trouble with cold starts and it is of course still a problem now. I assume the heating grid is either not getting current or is an open circuit. Second question: sometimes I...

Been away on a job, so sorry did not conclude. I bought my pump, idler and thermostat from Cummins (they are all Cummins parts) and the water pump is made in Italy. Old pump HAD been replaced, bearings were tight but it was leaking a fair bit (as in top up once a week). Belt had a scar, so...

Thanks, I'll take that. How can you tell I am in the middle of sorting supplier issues? Used to be as a small business or startup you were seen as a potential new growth opportunity. Now, you are nothing but an inconvenience that won't put a bonus into the supplier's guy's pocket this month.

Definitely NOT General Motors. My jobber account shows a sort line of info that I did not expand. Only first two letters visible, but I strongly suspect was GMB. Regarding an earlier post that the best is not always domestic and the worst not always Chinese/Asian/offshore: it is about how...

Thanks for the recommendation, but I am on the other side of a PITA and expensive national border. I have had many issues over the decades with using non-OEM water pumps in VW/P/A engines, and I have heard more than enough condemnations of Gates pumps for CTD that definitely keeps them off of...

OK, kind of a CTD newbie here, so a few dumb questions.... First of all, THANKS for the Gates info. I would have gone there trusting the "branding". IMHO, the problem today is that most companies have been bought up by hedge funds, insurance funds, some kind of finance organization and they...

From what I understand about the VW HPFP failures (I have watched from afar in the VE pump world...that never seems to fail) they were CP4x from 2009-14 on the 4 cylinder cars (not sure about the 3.0, as I just started with those). The mode of failure was the cam / roller galling and the...

Thanks. That I will do immediately.

Cerb: I am near Saskatoon SK, and shipping stuff across the border is an expensive PITA. Not in a hurry to deal with this, as up to my ears in "catchup" projects at home and on farm due to being gone for last 10 summers. Winter is my flexible time, and a -40 morning gives me a good excuse to...

Scott: thanks for that link. Told me a lot about this "new to me" gearbox. Makes me wonder how to deal with it when I finally have to pull it out - as shipping stuff from here to TX is not that easy (or cheap).

Just to set the record straight about GL-4 vs. GL-5 gear oils: BOTH use sulphur/phosphorus compounds as EP additives (Extreme Pressure). Sulphur can be aggressive at corroding copper alloys (such as brass or bronze syncro rings). The difference is that there is a lot more of such EP additives...