Electrical issues, won't start

[Teleman]

At first, if I turned the key (wait to start light comes on)everything appeared ok untill I tried to turn it over and then everything went dead, yes everything! Turn the key to off position, then back on, same thing. I jump started it and it ran... untill I pushed the parking brake in then I heard sparks, engine shut off and smoke from under the dash by the parking brake rose up, tried to start and interior lights, radio worked but no wait to start or anything else. I pulled the dash. . and the parking brade had rubbed/shorted some of the wires in the harness from the firewall. I have spliced the wires back together, checked resistance of the starter relay(75 ohms), ac clutch (80) ant the shut off relay (90). No wait to start lights or turn over, just interior lights? Any ideas would be great. Thanks

 

[Tippin Spotted Cow]

Well, initially I thought a bad battery terminal/cable clamp. I have one thats eaten away real bad to the point that I can tighten it any more on the terminal and I get the same thing. Grid heater fires up, dash lights on, soon as you turn the key its too much juice to move through the bad connection and it kills everything... doesn't even try turning over. Then I wiggle the clamp and everything turns back on. Happens once a week or so.



Now your issue after jumping it almost sounds like a fried computer. I did that to my Ramcharger once when I was real tired and not paying attention I jumped it with the jumper cables backward. Positive on one truck to negative on the other. After that, headlights shown bright, interior lights, radio... everything worked fine, but youd crank it and it wouldn't do anything...



Although if thats the case, your starter should still turn... I think. Im not positive on any of this, but its a start. Good luck.

 

[Teleman]

I was wondering if it fried the pcm, but i wasn't sure what exactly it controlled. Is there a way the check it? I just checked the starter. . its ok. Are there any other fuses or relays i need to check? all fuses under the dash were ok. I'm not the best at electrical but the book talks about fusable links so I guess I'll peel it back and check them.

 

[JGrefenstette]

once you get it to start, and its running, how is your charging system? the pcm controls a few things if you got an auto transmission which it looks like you do, it controls that, your charging system, grid heater, basically every one of the few electrical items onthe truck.



yea if you heard or saw sparks/smoke, id definatly check every possible fuse, theres a good chance somthing got blown when it arced like that.



let me know if you need a hand with anything, im about 5 miles from you.



good luck. if you think youll need a pcm let me know, i got all the info for ya, place, price, etc.

 

[Tippin Spotted Cow]

I know my Ramcharger had a fuseable link on strapped on to the top of the drivers side wheel well that fried and opened up the circut when I jumped it backward. It was just a couple of wires that went into a harness. They actually started on fire when it happened. One good way to check if you fried the PCM is that other things will be fried also. Anything thats controlled by the PCM will be ok because it was protected by the PCM itself frying and opening the circut. Certian things like lights, radio, fan, etc, will be fine provided they werent on when whatever shorted, the switch itself would have protected them. Depending on where the position of the ignition switch was, you should be able to tell right away whats gonna be cooked and what should still work. What it boils down to is this, if you short the entire system, send power backward through the system, or anything else to send some kind of spike throughout your trucks electricals, anything completed circuts (anything thats powered) when it happened will be torched, and any open circuts (anything thats off) will be fine. Check your fuse box and odds are you may have a couple smoked ones. If you go by this, you might be able to tell exactly what you were doing when you fried it, and in turn find out what the cause was, and ultimately, how to fix it.

 

[Teleman]

Hey Jimmy, i spoke with you via e-mail a while back. I think I still have your number I'll call you later. The truck was running when I pushed the brake in and shorted it. . the lights and radio worked but the wait to start light didn't come on and didn't hear the heater grid or anything else click or make any noises..... I hate the fact I'm even thinking this but I may sell/part it out, just bought a condo so I have no place any more to work on it and the neighbors keep giving me werid looks

 

[JGrefenstette]

yea give me a call for sure. theres a few of us TDR fellas that meet locally here. id love to work with you anytime though. i do remeber talking with you over email. let me know if you are going to sell or sell for parts. id be very interested. i know what you mean about weird looks. hhaha these stinkin yuppies just aint gotta a clue. i still live with my parents in their town house. but ive got a good place to park, and most of our neighbors have been here 20+ years like my parents, so i get by alright. in august tho, ill be singin a different tune. im going to a diesel school in NC, and the place im living wont be so accomodating

 

[PToombs]

There are several fusible links on the drivers fender. Chances are you fried one of them. Roll it thru your fingers and see if you can feel a seperated spot. Or test after it with a test light.







PS, don't give Jimmy beer, he does weird things to trucks when he's had too much.

 

[Teleman]

2 fusible links were bad and it is now running:-laf The 2 links were a 20g and a 18g and nobody around here has anything smaller than a 16g. So the question now is can I use the wire with an inline fuse and if so what amp fuses should I be using?

 

[PToombs]

I looked in my FSM and it tells what guage and color each FL is, but it doesn't tell amps, like a fuse.

If you can figure out what size, a fuse should be ok.

 

[Paychk]

Electrical Issues - MiniMopar Resources - fusible links

 

[PToombs]

Alan, awesome helpful info! Again, you are the man!

 

[Paychk]

Any time, gota keep the 1st gens going somehow!

 

[Teleman]

That's what I needed. Thanks. Got everything replaced, replaced the headlight switch and a couple of other nickel and dime things as a result, but the only thing left is I have no brake lights... I have the running/parking tail lights but nothng when I push the brake in. The brake light comes on once every 60 -70 times I push the pedal?? What wires/colors on the stop lamp switch do I check. The fuse is OK. Thanks guys.

 

[Teleman]

Alright, just took the stop lamp switch apart and it is a mechanical switch... so I just bent the pins so they would make contact. If anyone was wondering there are six wires (w/cruise control) the middle 2 pins (white and pink wires) are the ones to check. Guess this was not a result of the melt down, wonder how long they were not working And now everything seems like its working again. Thanks guys