electrical gremlins, wipers, alternater

[WJune]

Out of the blue my 90 Dodge wipers decided to come on by themselves an make one revolution. Started 2 days ago after using them earlier. It happens every few minutes, no real pattern so far?

Another fellow with a 92 CTD in town has similar only worse problem. His truck is total junk so I wasn't surprised.

Now tonight after praising Dodge CTD to my buds who were pulling a head on their ford 7. 3 over a few cold ones, I head home with the alt gauge stuck on discharge I disconnected the heater grid solenoids which didn't make any difference. 25 deg with wind so I won't mess with it tonight.

Anyone have similar problems ? thanks, Will

 

[JLEONARD]

A few weeks ago when my voltmeter was showing very low voltage (and wouldn't hold the fuel solenoid open) I replaced both the alternator and the regulator. All is well now.

Never had the mysterious wiper problem.

 

[WJune]

OK this afternoon I prepare to troubleshoot my elect problems. I reattach negative cable to bat an start truck, charging is back to as normal as it gets !! Was at 10 volt last night, charged 13 now ( tells me bat was low) as 12 V is normal for this gauge. Bat never runs down. All I did was visually check an wiggle wires from pos bat to heat grid solenoids ?

Don't see a connection, but dome light quit last night same time discharging started. Removed bulb, tested it, reinstalled an now it works. Guess what, test drove 20 miles this afternoon, an WIPER stayed off??? Never owned a veh that was so moody or cured itself, at least temporarily. Guess I better read up on fireproofing my electrical system.

 

[DThibault]

Gremlins

Every time I have something electrical with no explanation, rhyme or reason, I have had a ground problem. check and clean and dielectric grease the small grounds that are screwed to the firewall and the radiator core support. I had lights and wipers come on when I tried to start my recab project last fall and thought I had crossed up every wire under the dash. All the plugs are unmistakeable under there so I thought I was loosing my mind. Tightened the grounds and all was well. Good luck.

 

[PToombs]

I bet the chassis ground from the battery is bad! You moved it when you hooked up the negative terminal.

 

[dpuckett]

Ditto on the grounds. There is one from the battery to the core support that has given me fits in the past. Clean it up real well (snadpaper/ emory cloth required), put some dielecetric grease on it, and button it back up.



Daniel

 

[WJune]

Thanks for the reminders on the ground issues. Weather must of been tuff on electricals that night as the solenoid on my 88 oliver wouldn't work next day, also batt on trailer winch had to be changed out.

 

[RWWinslow]

All my electrical issues have been related to grounds . . . one of the joys of this model of truck. . . . . . also check your wire terminals and wiring on your ground wires - you may note a greenish or brownish looking mung on the terminal or in the crimped area - if this is the case it will be time to get new wiring, terminals and crimpers out. If you splice back into pre-existing wire you will need to solder splice and then seal with heat shrink.



The quality of wiring and wiring insulation on the early Dodge cummins trucks was poor to put it nicely. If you live in humidity or areas that use a lot of salt on the road, you will note that the wires corrode back up under the insulation. I have noted wiring corroded 36" back under the wiring insulation from the terminal lugging point!



Since these trucks cycle some pretty high amperage with the grid heaters, the cyclic currents through the grounds will only exagerate the problem.



Good LUCK!