Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Fuel Solenoid Shutoff

[Believer]

I hope someone can help me diagnose my problem. I understand the fuel shutoff solenoid has a high current coil to pull in when ignition is in cranking position and a low current coil which holds the solenoid in when ignition is in run position. The solenoid will hold but it won't pull in on start. What I do is turn on the ignition switch and then manually pull the solenoid up.



There's a three pole plug and I think the center is for the high current coil. I don't get any voltage on the center wire regardless of where I have the ignition switch. I do have one wire of the plug with 12v when I switch the ignition on, so I'm guessing that's the low current coil. Looking at the schematic, I see a "power control module" showing fused power from the ignition start to the solenoid shutoff valve. I'm guessing this fuse is the culprit but I don't know where it is. By the way, the auto shut down relay checks out ok.



I don't want to buy a solenoid at $400 to find out that's not the problem.



Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[drice]

hate that thing

well the first thing is to check both batteries are makeing contact mine did the samething (is your boot still on) I replaced mine and later found out that I have a bad battery. one other thing is that if there is no boot on then make sure that the rod is not falling down too far so that the magnet can't pick it up.





just my 2 cents



hope it helps







Daniel

 

[Joe G.]

Believer,



You can check the solenoid operation by grounding the black wire and applying 12 volts to the center wire (should be white). When you do that the solenoid should pull up. Use at least 10 guage test leads because it draws lot of current.



The most likely suspect is the relay that connects that solenoid to 12 volts on the pull on wire. It's one of the two relays on the firewall between the master cylinder and the engine. I can't remember which one it is for sure, I think it's the one closest to the engine.



Another suspect is a heavy wire from the positive post of the battery. It should be blue. Check to see if it has corroded or burnt.

 

[jbrown9709]

I had the relay go bad on my 94 at 100k. The relay is the large one of the pair of two mounted to the firewall inboard of the brake booster. One of the ways I troubleshot to the relay was to unmount the relay from the firewall, next time it wont start on the first try, pop the hood and give the relay a good hard shake in case the contacts are sticking inside the relay. When I would do this, it would give me about 5 or 6 good starts before the relay would stick again. The replacement from the Dealer was over $50, but having a truck that would start right every time was well worth the money.

 

[illflem]

I've never had any problems with the shutdown/start system on my personal rigs but if I do it's guaranteed that I'll pull out all the fancy stuff and replace it with a $15 pull to stop cable.

 

[Joe G.]

Radio Shack has a $6 relay that will work just fine. It's a 30 amp. I think that it is the only 12 volt 30 amp relay they have.

 

[shendren]

on my 96, it's the relay on the port side.

 

[Believer]

OK, I checked the large relay putting 12v to its coil--it's not working. This is good because the solenoid is $400. Does anyone know what the small relay next to the big one is for? Is it the fuel heater relay?

 

[shendren]

yes.

 

[Skydiver]

Cable is fine with me.

Mr. illflem please just go on and make up 2. I'll buy the second one.

My question is will you use the large pto style with the big knob or something smaller?

I had a 1971 Mercedes that had the factory cable. Never failed.

Tim

 

[illflem]

Tim, I'd probably just use the best manual choke type cable I can find or a tractor shutdown cable, don't really need a 2" diameter PTO type knob. A lot of folks who've switched over to a cable have it set up for pull to run, I'd take the time to make it pull to stop. I've checked it out, not hard at all, worst part is finding a place for it on the dash.

 

[53 Willys]

Mine is pull to stop. I also used the bigger pto cable, Tried to use a smaller cable but it was not strong enuff. It would kink when pushed.

 

[Steve Roseman]

Believer, I had the same troubles as you. Ended up being the blue wire on the driver's side positive battery cable. It had corroded in two.

 

[RAMSTER21]

I had the same problem, it boiled down the the Fuel shutdown relay, it's $45. from CARPARTS. COM, definately cheaper than local stealership.

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I bought a $22 PTO cable with the BHK (Big Honkin Knob)... . it's a cinch to install and has worked flawlessly.



It's even an anti-theft device... . several times I have cranked my truck over forgetting about the pull-to-stop routine...



Matt

 

[Murphy67]

Want to buy a cable that plays and looks the part, try a farm implement dealer, like John Deere and get a cable from them that is for a tractor.



The knobs are color coded red with fuel kill icon embossed on it.



I like the PTO cable idea though, who'd ever think of foolin' with that to get it started. (budget anti-theft)

 

[QRTRHRS]

AW Direct.

http://www.awdirect.com/awdirect/catalog. cfm?dest=dir&linkid=210&linkon=subsection They have a few what look like good PTO cables. Good fast service too although you might do better elsewhere pricewise

 

[Bob Horrell]

Napa has a selection of PTO cables. Their most expensive is a nice twist to lock cable that only takes a 1/4 turn to lock. The handle is a small T shaped handle. This is what I used and it works well and looks good. A tip on the install if you use this one is to put a small amount of grease on the locking ferrule in the T handle to make the twist lock feature real smooth and easy to use. This cable is only $21. 95.

 

[redram]

Originally posted by Steve Roseman

Believer, I had the same troubles as you. Ended up being the blue wire on the driver's side positive battery cable. It had corroded in two.

That "blue wire" is a fusible link. if it corroded in two, it might have been overloaded by worn starter contacts. These are only about 10 dollars from a repair shop. If you have over 100,000 on the truck, you might want to check the starter contacts to save you a $400 solenoid replacement.



I wish I had.....



Good luck.