DEAD DODGE>>>AGGG

['956Wheel]

Well we got the '95 3500 back from Dodge today after a "frame transplant", its been in dry dock since 1/22/01! Was really looking forward to getting home... DIDN'T MAKE IT!

First the throttle got stuck, got to safety and discovered the cable is fraying and sticking in the sheath. Is this a dealer item only??

I figured I could limp home at a "fast idle", went to start it and the batterys wouldn't crank it over. Mom had her cellphone called the dealer they came and jumped it... fired right up. The teenage mechanic put a voltmeter on the battery terminals got 11. 7 volts. He insisted that it was normal, I have always understood that you will get 14+ or so volts when the engine is running IF the charging system is working.

Well I figured get this truck home and fix it over the weekend. So I gave it throttle till I got 1500 RPM (it stuck there) and off we went with Mom following. Made it about 3 or so miles and I realized I was going dead (batterys) no charge. Parked it said a few words and slammed the door. Mom called auto club figuring we would get it home and work on it... . they said they can't tow a truck like that!

I'm home now in hopes of the bros and their immense knowledge to guide me in the right direction.

First, has anyone out there found a source for throttle cables besides DC or is that a DC item only?

Second, any ideas on the charge system failure. . is there a fuse? Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated.

MAN I'M PI$$ED!

Thanks for the time and I look forward to any ideas.

Mike


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9535hundred

 

[illflem]

Mike,sorry to hear of the bummer day. The cable is a dealer only part,not as expensive as it should be because Dodge knew they blew it with the first one. Every dealer has a pallet of them,parts guy told me the cable,visor clip and heater knobs are the most replaced parts because they are crap. Replacement is easy,just take a real hard look at the spring you have to remove on the throttle lever before removing so you get it back in the right place,it's much easier to put on wrong than right. Your electrical problem is probably just one of the big fuses under the hood.

 

['956Wheel]

Bill, Man I hope you're right, I hit the service manual and studied the charging system diagrams... I just hope its not a computer problem. We have two dealers in the area with the parts dept. open tommorow. On tha fuse is that the 120 amp one in the left side box... why would it blow?

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9535hundred

 

[Rambling]

Sorry about the wheels. Just wanted to let you know that I had an intermittant alternator and ended up with a dead battery. Fortunately, it was 'dead' in the garage. It least it was a little more convenient. Your voltage, once running, I would have thought would be higher than the 11 volts. I would have expected at least 13. 5.

[This message has been edited by Rattlin (edited 03-10-2001). ]

 

['956Wheel]

Rattlin, How much did that alternater hurt??

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9535hundred

 

[Rambling]

Mike, I was lucky. It's still under warranty and they didn't show me the price.

 

[Missouri Mule]

Statland,
Your right the teeny bobber was wrong, should of been at least 14 to 14. 5 volts.
Blowing the fuse would only take a meatal object touching alternator(generator) terminal and grounding it, or short in wring harness.
Computer I don't think so. I would look at all the connection/wires/grounds. Your battery temp(under left battery tray) or ASD(automatic shut down) relay( in PDC) could be your problem, these latter components send info to the EVR( in the computer). The EVR determines the rate charge of the alternator and if one of these two components are not doing their thing the EVR will not tell the alternator to charge the battery. For the heck of it I would check out the engine speed sensor and related wiring and connector. The ESS sends power to the ASD relay and th connector pins are known to be out of alignment or connector dirty inside.


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Bill Thomas
Missouri Mule - 96 Wht 4X4 ST CC,5 spd, 3. 54, 8 ft bed, 1 ft high cheater boards.
99 Freightliner bl/wht FL60 ISB-5. 9 24v,215 hp,520 tq,6 spd, 3. 59 nsr,16 ft box, 19. 5 tires,Wt/gvw 11,000/23000

 

[illflem]

Mike,my feeling on why it blew is the same as what MM said,careless wrenching. I think if they didn't short something that they probably didn't put something together right. I think you should check the underhood fuse box before you go to the dealer tomorrow,I believe there is one fusible link that is only available from them,the rest you can get at an auto parts.
Since you're going shopping tomorrow pick up a pair of 6"needle nose vicegrips if you don't already have some,they will make the durn throttle spring easier to install without losing your thumbnail. The five throttle cables I've replaced(5 different rigs) came with through instructions that aren't in the service manual,make sure they are included with your replacement,some folks have posted here that theirs came without them. The new improved cable is more than just the cable,that's why the service manual instructions aren't complete.

 

['956Wheel]

Bill & Bill,
The truck went in to get the frame changed, running great, so I'm just trying to figure what, (and where) they had to disconnect in order to cause this problem. I think you may have hit it on the short thing, too lazy to pull ground off battery... pop goes the fuse. Just bugs me, bring it in fine, take it home, brand new 2001 frame under a dead truck! AHGG! I'm hoping it's a fuse, I'm going down there in a bit.

I'm the one who posted in the past, "keep those potheads away from your truck"! Too bad they couldn't deliver the frame to my house and let me do it. . darn right!

Thanks guys, if your'e on the site today and get any ideas send um! I'll give progress reports.

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9535hundred

 

[Whitmore]

STAT,finally got your rig back,too bad they didnt check it out a little better hu #ad
,after you check all your fuses an links get her running and pull both positive terminals, if the alt is ok than it will stay running ,if the alt is bad it will quit,I know if you put a direct ground on the alt while its charging than it will blow diaodes in there, there should be 2 diaodes and sometimes only one will blow,this will give you a very week current which will not support the syster enough,this is frequint if hooking jumpers up backwards,note:always leave key off when jumping someone to eliviate this. my o2 Kevin

 

['956Wheel]

UPDATE Got the throttle cable in. Did various tests and checks on the electrical system---alt. fuse is good, however its obvious it got hot at the connections to it, the PD box is a bit crispy at that corner (at the connection to alt. fuse) I'm going back with another driver and gonna get it home. . it starts jumped and I would rather work on it here... a lot easier. Fusable link seem good, no heat, will check further, but they usually are obvious when blown.

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9535hundred

 

[TowPro]

Keep in mind this is correct AFTER the intake heater shuts off. Even on a hot engine, the grid heater comes on if its cold outside. I have driven over 200 miles, pulled into McD's shut it off for maybe 10 minutes, restart it and the truck takes a couple minutes for the grid heaters to shut off (and voltage come back up).

Originally posted by Missouri Mule:
Statland,
Your right the teeny bobber was wrong, should of been at least 14 to 14. 5 volts.

 

['956Wheel]

O. K. Got the truck home. check engine light came on along the way, as well as the voltmeter reading not quite 1/4 of the way up. The 120 amp fuse (alt. ) is intact but the surrounding area is fried. I ddo not know when this occured as it was cool to the touch. Upon further checking the thing was a loose dirty mess, along with the screw spinning cause the nut was no longer fused to the underside of the fuse mounting area... took apart polished it clean and silver soldered the nut back epoxyed all together good as new. Its been raining here for a couple weeks so I checked the battery terminals, cleaned them they didn't look so great.

Fired her up, she did, went for a 8 or so mile drive... same I TRIED TO BY-PASS THE CUSSING FILTER. Im thinking Kevin may be right... Alternator. Came home dead, so she's running on the battery's.

Kevin, on that alt. test, will that isolate the failure to alt. only or just confer that your running on batterys? I think the latter.

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9535hundred

 

[HEMI®Dart]

Originally posted by TowPro:
Keep in mind this is correct AFTER the intake heater shuts off. Even on a hot engine, the grid heater comes on if its cold outside. I have driven over 200 miles, pulled into McD's shut it off for maybe 10 minutes, restart it and the truck takes a couple minutes for the grid heaters to shut off (and voltage come back up).

Good observation TowPro,
Every one should be aware this happens and is normal. The cold intake air has cooled the intake manifold below 59 degrees. The intake maifold temp sensor thinks the engine is cold. So It will cycle the heater grid on restart, even if the engine is hot.

If you shut down a hot engine in cold weather, and wait 30 mins. The heat from the engine will rise and warm up the intake manifold. Usally the grid heater won't come
then.




[This message has been edited by HEMI®Dart (edited 03-10-2001). ]

 

['956Wheel]

Well just when I was ready to get drunk, I went outside to look at the truck "one more time" guess what. . I found the + positive of the ALT. going nowhere! The service book says it goes to the 120 amp fuse opposite the battery connection... there are allready 2 leads going there, they have fusible links. Do I just stack the alt. + positive on top of those?

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9535hundred

 

[Fireman Dave]

Mike:

Sorry to hear about your problems. If I were you, on Monday morning I would be the ugliest *@$%#!&*%# that dealership has ever seen and ever will see. It is unbelievable that anyone could let something like that roll out of their shop.

Good luck with fixing the problems. They should reimberse you for everything you have to do to get it back in working order.

Dave

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2001 2500; SLT; 4x4; QC; LWB; Auto; 3. 54 LS; 265s; Camper; Tow; Sliding Rear Window; Travel Convenience Group; Cab Clearance Lamps; Forest Green

[This message has been edited by Fireman Dave (edited 03-10-2001). ]

 

[Whitmore]

Statland,I think you found the culprit,yes put the positive from the alt(there should be a + sign on alt) to the + of the battery get that hooked back up(make sure its good and clean)run it a bit to see if it wants to function then pull both positive terminals off your batteries,then the truck will be running on generated power only and if your alt is making addiquate voltage and amps the truck will stay running,if not it will die as the system needs 13. 8v,keep in mind that you could still have one of your diaods blowed and may get the voltage but not the amps. one other thing I would do is try to get the dealer to buy you 2 new batteries as there has been a heavy tole on them and they will soon die totally. dont do just one battery as this practice will shorten the life of both of them(just like only buying 2 new tires) just my o2,hope this helps Kevin

[This message has been edited by Whitmore (edited 03-10-2001). ]

 

[Missouri Mule]

Statland'
If your taking it to dealer and have a long drive I would considder tying the fuel shut of solenoid plunger in the up position.
If your not getting charge to batteries this will keep engine running. Remember you have to untie it to shut engine down.

 

['956Wheel]

SHE'S BACK!!!!!! We went to a neighbor that has a Cummins, didn't know him, knocked on the door and asked if we could take a look at his PDC... he seemed more enthused that us! This is what I saw... grid heaters go direct to + battery, there are fusable links in both lines before the relays, alt. goes to the 120 amp fuse in the PDC. Mine came back from the dealer with the heaters on the 120 amp fuse, and the alt. + disconnected! I put them where they belong, charged a bit, fired up, got almost 14 volts on the VOM, went for a ride to charge them up all is fine!

I will say it again, "keep those potheads away from your truck"!

A big thanks to the bros!!!!!!

Mike

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9535hundred

 

['956Wheel]

Took the truck out for 120 miles or so. all works fine. Came home put the new dash cover in, put the shell back on. cut the tailpipe and put on the Geno's turndown... looks nice! Mom came out and said, "I guess your'e confident that the truck in o. k. "?

Has anyone put in a "Bedrug"? Any good?

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9535hundred