Intermittent Flickereing WIF and WTS Lights

[Hunter4x4]

Any of you guys ever see this one? About a month ago on my way back from northern Michigan with my flatbed and Jeep in tow all of a sudden the Water-In-Fuel and the Wait-To-Start lamps start flickering. I just thought it was my WIF, but when I drained the fuel filter a little while later no change.



The problem has been intermittent over the last month. Sometimes the light are flickering, sometimes not. When the truck is moving at all , they flicker, when it's standing still they're pretty much a constant on.



In addition, when they're flickering, I don't have overdrive nor does my cruise control work.



I've been through the wiring harness, and the connectors at the engine appear to be OK, the wiring all on the engine seems OK, and the main harness from the battery/PCM area seems OK.



In addition, whether it's flickering or not, I can't make it start/or stop by jiggling/pulling/yanking/twisting/etc. when it's running in the driveway.



And also, it'll be OK when I shut it down, and the problem will be back when I start up again! Or vice-versa! And sometime I'll take off with the problem, hit the freeway with no OD, and after 10-15 minutes the problem will go away and it'll kick up into OD. Or vice versa again!!!



I'm thinking it's PCM because of the maddening intermittent nature and the fact that I can't find anything specific in the wiring. But I hate to start the "buy and replace til I get find the problem" syndrome!!!



Any ideas anyone?



Thanks!!



Mike

 

[dpuckett]

O/D, your WIF/WTS lights, plus cruise control- all come through the PCM. I'd say that is a good place to start. Is your volt gauge on par, or is it wacky, too? You might see if you can plug in a known good PCM and see if that alleviates your issues. If so, that is your problem.



Daniel

 

[PToombs]

Check yer grounds! -------- Not the coffee grounds, on the truck! :-laf

 

[Hunter4x4]

I've check some/a lot of the grounds - i. e. , the ones I can find! I'll go back and check 'em again. I see a couple on the engine, raditaor core support, the big one for the battery ground. Know of any more I should look at? I'm not sure where the cab grounds are at... I'm sure there are some.



I'll get back with the results, in the meantime if anyone else has ever seen this - or similar - I'm open to input!!



Thanks!

 

[JRussell3176]

I'm not sure where the cab grounds are at... I'm sure there are some.

When in doubt, run a new one.

 

[cerberusiam]

There is one ground on the rad support and 1 or 2 under the dash. Possibly one from the engine to firewall.



Pull the connectors, scrape them to shiny bare metal, and use dielectric grease.



The other thing to check is the wiring harness under the dash where it zip tiedto the dash supports. After a period of time it will wear thru the insulation on a wire and cause intermittent problems, blown fuses, and general weirdness.

 

[Hunter4x4]

UPDATE: The problem didn't seem to worsen throughout the late summer and fall, but it did seem to show up intermittently when the engine was warm (never occurred when the engine was cold).



I did tinker with some of the wire harnesses off and on. I went through the main harness on the driver side fenderwell, and went through all the harnesses and connections on the transmission and t-case. Didn't find anything nor have any improvement. I also checked a number of grounds just to make sure they were 'grounding'. Also recall that when the WIF/WTS light were flickering I also had no OD or cruise control. When the lights stopped flickering I had OD and cruise!!



THEN the transmission died on me in October (another post!). During the rebuild we discovered that the 3rd-OD switch inside the transmission had cracked wires with some bare spots of copper wire showing through. Bingo!



Since I've put it back on the road I have not experienced the flickering WIF/WTS light problem. At this point I'm "cautiously optimistic" that I found the root cause to this particular electrical gremlin. I need to put quite a few more miles on it yet - especially warm weather miles (which won't happen for a few months around here) - to positively rule "problem solved".



The other side of the coin, however, is that this little short could have definitely been the source of the problem when you consider that the OD is wired directly into the PCM and the PCM controls both of those functions (and cruise).



Finally, if this in fact was the source of the problem, I have no idea how me or anyone else would have been able to diagnose that internal transmission switch to the problem!!! I was ready to drop a good chunk of cash on a PCM a couple of times because I thought that's the only place the problem could be!!! Just goes to show you how tricky these electrical problems can be at times!! And this is just a 1st Gen with only a fraction of the electronics that the newer trucks have!!!



I chalk this one up to the good Lord just looking out for me this time!!!

 

[KOG]

Hmmm. I've got the same problem with flickering WIF and WTS lights, intermittent OD. Supposedly this truck just got a new transmission because of the OFD problem and problem not solved. This could get interesting.

 

[Philip]

Most trany shops do not replace the sol's or the wiring for them when they do a rebuild.



Thats something to remember guy's. If you take a trans to someone to have it rebuilt. Tell them to replace the sol's and wiring. Also get the old one back. The shop will sell it to someone else.

 

[Hunter4x4]

Glad to help guys..... that's what I love about TDR - we get stuff here that you'd NEVER get anywhere else!!

 

[KOG]

Hunter, was that the 3-4 switch in the transmission (I can't find such a thing in the shop manual) or was it the OD solenoid that you replaced?



I used to Chrysler shop manuals being rather complete and helpful, but electrical parts in the transmission seem to be somewhat ignored in the FSM I've got for this model. I can't for example, find a location/listing for the connector in the OD housing. And supposedly the OD solenoind is located on the valve body. ??

 

[Hunter4x4]

KOG -



You're right - it was the OD Solenoid Assembly - my bill has it as part number 22954 and I'm pretty sure my transmission tech said he was able to get it aftermarket (i. e. , didn't have to get it through a dealer).



Can't help you with regards to where it is in the transmission! Sorry!

 

[KOG]

Yep, the OD solenoid is located on the valve body. I can handle that.