Electrical HELP!!!

[Jeromie]

OK, I have seen threads on this but never found a cure. I just started having this problem 3 days ago.



Everything worked great, BUT I filled up with fuel, started the truck to leave the pump and noticed the:

Parking Brake

Water in fuel

Wait to start

Lights were all on.



Make a long story short,

When I hit the power window switch, these lights come on. ( windows will not work)

Play with the A/C , heater controls they go off and on with the pressing and depressing of certain buttons.

Blower motor does not blow at all unless I am running 75 or 80 mph. (charging system is spun up at that point)

When I pull up to pay a toll , when sitting there with the brake on, after a couple second all 3 lights come on slowly, and turn off as soon as I let off brake and accelerate.



I installed a new battery today. (1000 CA just wanted a bigger battery)

Cleaned both battery terminals and all hardware, including other wires ran to terminals.

Checked and cleaned Ground to body, Ground to block, ground under the dash, connections.



I really need my heater to work Hebron, IN. 10 to 20 degrees the last couple mournings!!



Any advice would be very helpful and appreciated!!!

 

[Jeromie]

I found a Volt meter that you can just pop in the cig. lighter @ wal-mart. It allows me to monitor voltage will driving and in this situation.

Voltage is great 14. 1 to 14. 5.

Just wanted to let people know about that guge it is a cool little toy, $14. 99

It is digital, and can be moved vehicle to vehicle.

 

[DavidC]

I would start looking at devices that do not work like the heater motor which has a ground wire for the motor. It sounds as though you have a ground missing and the voltage is back feeding in the system which can do some pretty weird things to different systems in the vehicle.



Dave

 

[Jeromie]

I just got off the phone with my dad (previous owner of the truck)

I could see where he had repaeired the orange fusible link wire in the past.

He said yes that is the problem, he said it would do it about every 1 1/2 years. The last years he owned it.

I did test it with a meter before and after the fusible link, it had 12 volts bef. and aft.

But like someone mentioned on TDR that it will test fine but amperage it not correct flowing through there.

I will repair this tomorrow, and post back to confirm it did resolve the issue.



What amperage is that Fusible link??

I can get it at NAPA, but i would like to replace it with an inline fuse holder with the correct fuse.

Anybody have an objection to that???

 

[Jeromie]

Well It is fixed!!! My dad had repaired the orange fusible link 3 times in the past, so there was no more wire left to splice into after the moulded rubber. So I ran a new cable from the Battery to the wire in the main harness (Pink wire with a stripe) With an inline fuse holder, I was not sure what fuse was equivalent to 20 guage Fuse wire, so I started with a 5 amp fuse and worked the windows and blower motor popped the 5 put in a 10 popped it put in a 15 popped it put in a 20 amp fuse. I had the blower motor on high and put both windows up and down at the same time and the 20 amp did not pop. So I will run that until I have an issue. I just wanted to sneek up on it.

Hope this helps some on e in the future.

 

[MeritBadge]

Jeromie,



I have the same problem with my 93. The 3 bottom lights on the dash (Water in Fuel, Wait to Start, and Parking Brake) come on and stay on. The lights stay on until on push the "Off" button on my air controls, but when any one of the a/c, vent, defrost, etc. buttons are pressed, the lights are on. And when I have them shut off and hit the power window buttons, the 3 lights will flash. It's been to 3 different shops and looked at by 4 different guys; nobody knows. The first time it fried the heater switch, the second time something else, the third time they claimed the blower motor was pulling too many amps. Finally the fuse link was replaced with an inline 30 amp fuse. But over the past year I got tired of replacing fuses. It would only blow a fuse when I started the truck. So I spliced in after the fuse, ran two wires into the cab to a 50 amp or so switch that I got from Napa. Now I shut off the switch everytime I start the truck, and flip it back on when its running. No blown fuses. If anybody has any idea whats drawing more than 30 amps through the orange wire, my ears are open. My guess is it has something to do with the starting curcuit seeing how the fuses only blow when I start the beast.



Merit

 

[Paychk]

I had the blower motor on high and put both windows up and down at the same time and the 20 amp did not pop. So I will run that until I have an issue.

Looks to be a 40 Amp. fuse:



http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/electrical-links.html

 

[Paychk]

Jeromie,



I have the same problem with my 93. The 3 bottom lights on the dash (Water in Fuel, Wait to Start, and Parking Brake) come on and stay on. The lights stay on until on push the "Off" button on my air controls, but when any one of the a/c, vent, defrost, etc. buttons are pressed, the lights are on. And when I have them shut off and hit the power window buttons, the 3 lights will flash. It's been to 3 different shops and looked at by 4 different guys; nobody knows. The first time it fried the heater switch, the second time something else, the third time they claimed the blower motor was pulling too many amps. Finally the fuse link was replaced with an inline 30 amp fuse. But over the past year I got tired of replacing fuses. It would only blow a fuse when I started the truck. So I spliced in after the fuse, ran two wires into the cab to a 50 amp or so switch that I got from Napa. Now I shut off the switch everytime I start the truck, and flip it back on when its running. No blown fuses. If anybody has any idea whats drawing more than 30 amps through the orange wire, my ears are open. My guess is it has something to do with the starting curcuit seeing how the fuses only blow when I start the beast.



Merit

See my post above, you may need a 40 amp fuse. If that doesn't help, the main things that pull power in the start mode are fuses 1, 2, & 3, pull those and try starting with you switch engaged. If it works put one fuse back at a time until it burns the fuse under the hood. Then you narrow from there.

 

[mysteryman]

fusible links / blower motors

Heater blower motors get dirty with age . . the dirt and or worn off brush material goes into the motor bearings . This makes the armature shaft tight which in turn makes the motor pull more current/amperage. This in turn cause the wiring harness and or fusible link to slow cook ... The first thing to take the heat is the vacuum/electric switch block... You will see that the plastic is cooked looking where the electrical tab rivet to it... ... .

The bottom line is that the best plan is to replace the heater motor and the switches. . Also replace any of the cooked terminal ends on the wire harness... ... When replacing fusible links the value is determined by the color of the wire... You will also notice that the fuses in your fuse box are different colors for different values... match the color of the fusible link wire to a fuse in your fuse box... . read the value of the matching fuse. It will be the same value as the link wire of the same color .



For example green fuse = 30 amp . green link wire is also 30 amp. ect.



spade fuses are "fast blow" however... . they do not work well for replacing fusible links... fusible links are "slow blow" . Spade circuit breakers are slow blow and can be used to replace the fusible links.....



fusible links are used at the factory for only one reason. They are cheaper than circuit breakers .....

Jeromie,



I have the same problem with my 93. The 3 bottom lights on the dash (Water in Fuel, Wait to Start, and Parking Brake) come on and stay on. The lights stay on until on push the "Off" button on my air controls, but when any one of the a/c, vent, defrost, etc. buttons are pressed, the lights are on. And when I have them shut off and hit the power window buttons, the 3 lights will flash. It's been to 3 different shops and looked at by 4 different guys; nobody knows. The first time it fried the heater switch, the second time something else, the third time they claimed the blower motor was pulling too many amps. Finally the fuse link was replaced with an inline 30 amp fuse. But over the past year I got tired of replacing fuses. It would only blow a fuse when I started the truck. So I spliced in after the fuse, ran two wires into the cab to a 50 amp or so switch that I got from Napa. Now I shut off the switch everytime I start the truck, and flip it back on when its running. No blown fuses. If anybody has any idea whats drawing more than 30 amps through the orange wire, my ears are open. My guess is it has something to do with the starting curcuit seeing how the fuses only blow when I start the beast.



Merit

 

[MMiller]

On another note for that fusable link. On my 93 the link was hooked to two wires going to the cab. I used two orange fusable links and split these two wires so they would have their own fusable link. I have never had trouble in the winter, its always in the summer, the A/C quits working and I can't roll down the windows. Gets steamy pretty quick.



Michael

 

[Jeromie]

These are all good help! I will upgrade to a 40amp, I had to go on up to the 30 the other day ( mine blew when I started it as well).

One thing I have started doing is before I start the truck I make sure the AC/Heater control is OFF before I start the start up process does not seem to blow fusees anymore. The 30 has worked great but I am going to go to the 40 after reading the link that Paychk posted. Thankyou for all the help guys.

 

[Paychk]

What you may want to do is change that fuse out for the MAXI style blade fuse, it was specifically design to replace fusible links and meets the slow blow aspects that mysteryman brought up. Though it may be better to go with a self resetting circuit breaker, when cost are compared.

 

[MeritBadge]

Well… Not good… put in a 40 amper, it popped when I fired it up. Put in two more for the heck of it; nope, they popped upon startup too. I think I’m gonna go with a Maxi fuse or auto reset circuit breaker and separate the two wires so they are individually protected. Then we’ll see if I still have problems. The fuses only blow at startup so I imagine I’ll be safe with that setup. I’ve tried everything to get one to blow once the truck is running but they won’t. Thanks for some good ideas and the help.



Merit

 

[MFranz]

Paychk,

Thanks for the reference to the miniMoPar

link. Its a wealth of info. Although I sold my 93 to my son inlaw It might come in handy someday. I had a previous issue with a fuseable link going out on me. Was driving down the freeway and the windshield wipers came on

and all sorts of things started happening. Finally truck lost power and luckily I coasted off the off ramp to a parking lot. Had it towed to Dodge and a few dollars later they found the problem. Fuseable link.

Thanks for sharing

Take care

Mike

 

[Paychk]

Merit



Can you clear something up for me, how many fuses do you have in place of fusible links? Also how many wires are connected to each fuse and what color are they?



I'm beginning to wonder if too many wires and not enough fuses are your problem.





Mike



No problem, just keeping the TDR tradition alive.

 

[MeritBadge]

Paychk I’m glad you asked that question cuase I’ve never really looked that closely. Ive got a 12 gauge power wire coming straight off the battery to one inline 40 amp fuse, then 12 gauge wire that leads into the cab to my disconnect switch I use for startup, 12 gauge back out to the original wire, where it splits into what looks to be a 16 gauge brown and a 12 gauge pink with a black tracer, just before it disappears into the wiring harness. I’ve got the dodge service manual and it says “14 brown, to wide open throttle relay” and “12 pink/black, to ignition switch”. These schematics are about as clear as mud, but if I stare at it long enough it’ll finally come to me. Should I individually fuse these two, and if so how big of a fuse? Or do you think my problem is somewhere down the line and I should start yankin fuses to pinpoint it.



Merit

 

[Paychk]

What you describe is OK, at least it matches the FSM diagram, with the addition of the fuse & switch. Now for the puzzling part there should be no load on the brown or the pink/black wire during start up. What you can try to do is pull the a/c relay (wide open throttle relay) it is closest to the firewall near the hood hinge & turn your switch on and see what happens when you start.



If it still blows then fuse #11 & 12 (actually a circuit breaker) are the only things that pull power from the pink/black wire (only in the run position). Pull them one at a time.

 

[MeritBadge]

5 min. and 10 fuses later… Pulled the a/c relay, blew fuse, pulled #11, blew fuse, pulled #12, blew fuse. Pulled the other relay on the fender, blew fuse, pulled starter relay, blew fuse. Had all 3 relays disconnected on the fender, both #11 and #12 and I can still managed to blow fuses. I think this truck is possessed. Can I get anyone to come over and do an exorcism??? I’m thinking my ignition switch is shorting out in the start position. Or should I just replace the inline fuse with an auto reset circuit breaker and say the heck with it. Any other words of wisdom anybody??? Alan you’ve been more help than 4 of the local mechanics combined. That goes for all the others that have replied as well.



Merit

 

[Paychk]

You can do that or push on a little more, do you have access to a volt ohm meter?

 

[Greenleaf]

Merit,



FWIW... . I'll contact Pastor Bob for the cerimonial smoke and the sacred piston. If he'll agree to send it my way I'll be over to perform the exorcism. I live about 40 minutes away.



Scott