My dead pedal cure

[JeepBuilder]

I wanted to wait a while to see if it was really gone. I have a couple posts on dead pedal and I wanted to do a stand alone post so the answer did not get lost in a thread somewhere. First off I won't say for sure my findings are not the only cause of dead pedal. Maybe there are others. I ruled them out with the thousands I spent replacing parts and working on the truck over and over. For some history the truck is a 2001 24 valve VP44 3500 dually. In above average condition with about 185K on the clock. I fought this problem for 4 years. It was a conversation with a guy at a mountain lake who was fishing with his Dodge sitting next to him. He said he and his daughter's truck would get random dead pedal and they both knew to clean up the battery terminals and the problem would go away for a significant amount of time. Then a second conversation here at my home with a guy who worked at a dodge dealership for 20 years who was buying some jeep parts I had for sale. He stated that when ever a truck came in with dead pedal the shop would clean the terminals and sometimes replace the batteries or cables and it would fix the problem. I looked for weeks and weeks on every single forum. I spent hours and hours in the evenings looking for a direction. Hundreds and hundreds of complaints and nobody ever followed up with a post saying hey I found it. Well that is why I am posting this. And I need to say if someone here had suggested cleaning the battery terminals and I overlooked it, well that is my fault. If I am going to beat myself up I like to do it well. So I had many trips home bucking and belching black smoke. White knuckling the wheel and hoping I would make it home. It always generated lots of work and high levels of frustration. The truck has full ISSPRO instrumentation. Fuel pressure, exhaust temp, and boost.
What was done with dead pedal coming back every time. Sometimes 200 miles, sometimes 600 miles.

Lift the truck in the air and clean and coat every single ground I could fine. I even replace some missing ground leads. Coated with liquid electrical tape after cleaning and dielectric gel.
Bought a rebuilt OFI tuner ready VP44
Disconnected the Edge tuner and eventually sent it in for a check up. They stated it had a bad chip and fixed it. It has not been reinstalled.
Replaced the MAPP sensor
Replaced the boost fooler alternating with it being disconnected and connected with continual dead pedal
Replaced the APPS and recalibrated numerous times.
Replaced fuel filters several times.
Replaced the ECM with a used unit from a crashed truck. A crashed truck was a running truck. Had the ECM programmed with my VIN and it runs very well. I now have a good spare ECM.
I replaced the battery's with big interstate batteries.
Replaced the alternator
There are probably a few more things I have overlooked.

What I believe fixed my dead pedal.
Based on the two conversations I had about it with random strangers. I removed my battery cables and cut off the failing and cracked clamps. I found a short bit of green corroded copper and I cut them all back to fresh copper and sank them into heavy copper lugs and soldered them followed by epoxy filled heat shrink. Then after installing back into the truck, attached them to all new heavy duty clamps that have the bolt to hold the clamp on the battery and a bolt to secure cables.
I performed the W-T ground mod found at the mopar1973man site. The title of his thread is... "Ground Reference VP44,ECM,PCM,PDC plus TC lock/unlock" This eliminates or reduces the potential of alternator AC interference and shortens and simplifies 5 critical connected grounds. As Dodge built it the alternator located on the passenger side sends power through a 4 plus foot lead right next to the critical ground lead traveling the other direction and lands on the drivers side battery. The 5 critical grounds join in a not so reliable looking gang splice and travel from the drivers side all the way over to the passenger side to land on the passenger side battery. All the while sitting right next the the alternator charge lead.
The fix is landing the alternator charge lead to the passenger side battery. And I added a 150 AMP fuse in the circuit. This lead is now about 15 inches verses 4 some odd feet. The ground lead gets cut at the 5 wire splice and 5 heavy ring eye terminals are crimped and soldered to each ground. Those 5 grounds are landed on the back of the timing cover in a vacant bolt hole and a heavy lead now goes from that new bolt to the drivers side negative terminal. This new lead is also about 15 or so inches verses the OEM lead that travels all the way across the engine bay in what user W-T calls and eventual ground. Not ideal at all.

That is what I believed fixed my dead pedal. I have close to 2 thousand miles on now and no hiccups at all.
And I just learned about an additional modification that I will complete when my truck gets put back on the road after sitting all winter waiting for unsalted roads. That modification is putting a 5 amp fuse in the blue wire which is the alternator field wire. Apparently this blue field wire runs through a 20 amp fuse in the PDC. The PCM, ECM and VP44 all share the same 20 amp fuse in slot G of the PDC. This added smaller fuse protects the PCM against catastrophic failure in the event of grounding the field wire. Which sends the short through the board in the PCM ruining it. The detail on this added modification can be found on the mopar1973man site by the site owner as the poster with a title of "Alternator and PCM protection" .
I hope it is OK to post references to this other site. Information and solutions are the end goal here. That and keeping these trucks on the road and out of the shop. This is my solution so far. I felt it needed to be posted. As mentioned I searched and searched, and found no follow up by hundreds of people. I really need my truck to perform as soon as my home sells. It will haul my life to my new destination. And there is no room for dead pedal in this equation. And there you have it. Happy new year.
Al Temple

 

[Cummins12V98]

Nice report!!!

 

[SAndreasen]

Any pictures of the modified ground and connections

 

[bigceltic]

Great write up. Thank you.

 

[JeepBuilder]

I checked for pictures and while I usually photograph everything I do to, I see that I did not get the ground change. I know there are pictures on the other site in W-T's original modification thread. I did find however pictures of my battery terminals in abysmal condition. So thinking that alone was the cause of my dead pedal I can post them here. One note is that I used extra heavy duty ring terminals on the 5 grounds that I had left over from a new bulldozer engine I landed. They were over double the thickness and non insulated. Very strong and vibration resistant.

This is not a good condition.

#ad


Cracked clamps allow corrosion to accumulate between connections.

#ad


How they should be. I put a drop of oil on top of the battery post.

#ad

 

[petersonj]

@JeepBuilder , thank you for taking the time to post the troubleshooting details and their results of the dead pedal fix with your truck. It seems that you have the issue resolved and I am really glad to hear that.

If for some reason the problem returns, there is no need to write anything about it - just post a photo of the smashed windows and the new dents in the hood and cab from the hammer blows.

@SAndreasen , here is a link to the W-T ground reference modification.

https://mopar1973man.com/cummins/ar...dc-plus-tc-lockunlock-r567/?do=getLastComment

- John

 

[JeepBuilder]

Now thats funny. You forgot various caliber holes. I will tell you what, there were times I told Liz, I am just going to sell it. Then realized it was not worth much and I don't sell stuff with hidden problems. I hope to get many years of good service out of it. I am always learning though. And this one hurt a little.

 

[SAndreasen]

Looks good . I know loose and dirty corroded battery cables on these trucks will cause them to do strange things . Every time my automatic starts acting funny it’s a loose ground on one battery or the other been wanting to order the battery cable kits from genos

 

[JeepBuilder]

For no real reason to post a picture other than showing the big green money pit taking it's winter nap. I am patiently waiting for unsalted roads and no mud on my 7 miles of gravel. I am looking forward to a road trip with the camper on.

#ad

 

[Signal73]

For no real reason to post a picture other than showing the big green money pit taking it's winter nap. I am patiently waiting for unsalted roads and no mud on my 7 miles of gravel. I am looking forward to a road trip with the camper on.

#ad

Nice clean 2nd gen! Very few to none of those left in the northeast, that’s for sure.

 

[JeepBuilder]

Thank you. It has been a sometimes discouraging up hill struggle. But the importance of keeping the truck in good shape has always been my focus. And I am hoping I get some road time now without concerns about will I make it home. That was getting old there. Funny every rig I own has it own shelves for extra parts. This truck has a ...well... a few shelves..

 

[The_Nfmus_Kerry]

I wanted to wait a while to see if it was really gone. I have a couple posts on dead pedal and I wanted to do a stand alone post so the answer did not get lost in a thread somewhere. First off I won't say for sure my findings are not the only cause of dead pedal. Maybe there are others. I ruled them out with the thousands I spent replacing parts and working on the truck over and over. For some history the truck is a 2001 24 valve VP44 3500 dually. In above average condition with about 185K on the clock. I fought this problem for 4 years. It was a conversation with a guy at a mountain lake who was fishing with his Dodge sitting next to him. He said he and his daughter's truck would get random dead pedal and they both knew to clean up the battery terminals and the problem would go away for a significant amount of time. Then a second conversation here at my home with a guy who worked at a dodge dealership for 20 years who was buying some jeep parts I had for sale. He stated that when ever a truck came in with dead pedal the shop would clean the terminals and sometimes replace the batteries or cables and it would fix the problem. I looked for weeks and weeks on every single forum. I spent hours and hours in the evenings looking for a direction. Hundreds and hundreds of complaints and nobody ever followed up with a post saying hey I found it. Well that is why I am posting this. And I need to say if someone here had suggested cleaning the battery terminals and I overlooked it, well that is my fault. If I am going to beat myself up I like to do it well. So I had many trips home bucking and belching black smoke. White knuckling the wheel and hoping I would make it home. It always generated lots of work and high levels of frustration. The truck has full ISSPRO instrumentation. Fuel pressure, exhaust temp, and boost.
What was done with dead pedal coming back every time. Sometimes 200 miles, sometimes 600 miles.

Lift the truck in the air and clean and coat every single ground I could fine. I even replace some missing ground leads. Coated with liquid electrical tape after cleaning and dielectric gel.
Bought a rebuilt OFI tuner ready VP44
Disconnected the Edge tuner and eventually sent it in for a check up. They stated it had a bad chip and fixed it. It has not been reinstalled.
Replaced the MAPP sensor
Replaced the boost fooler alternating with it being disconnected and connected with continual dead pedal
Replaced the APPS and recalibrated numerous times.
Replaced fuel filters several times.
Replaced the ECM with a used unit from a crashed truck. A crashed truck was a running truck. Had the ECM programmed with my VIN and it runs very well. I now have a good spare ECM.
I replaced the battery's with big interstate batteries.
Replaced the alternator
There are probably a few more things I have overlooked.

What I believe fixed my dead pedal.
Based on the two conversations I had about it with random strangers. I removed my battery cables and cut off the failing and cracked clamps. I found a short bit of green corroded copper and I cut them all back to fresh copper and sank them into heavy copper lugs and soldered them followed by epoxy filled heat shrink. Then after installing back into the truck, attached them to all new heavy duty clamps that have the bolt to hold the clamp on the battery and a bolt to secure cables.
I performed the W-T ground mod found at the mopar1973man site. The title of his thread is... "Ground Reference VP44,ECM,PCM,PDC plus TC lock/unlock" This eliminates or reduces the potential of alternator AC interference and shortens and simplifies 5 critical connected grounds. As Dodge built it the alternator located on the passenger side sends power through a 4 plus foot lead right next to the critical ground lead traveling the other direction and lands on the drivers side battery. The 5 critical grounds join in a not so reliable looking gang splice and travel from the drivers side all the way over to the passenger side to land on the passenger side battery. All the while sitting right next the the alternator charge lead.
The fix is landing the alternator charge lead to the passenger side battery. And I added a 150 AMP fuse in the circuit. This lead is now about 15 inches verses 4 some odd feet. The ground lead gets cut at the 5 wire splice and 5 heavy ring eye terminals are crimped and soldered to each ground. Those 5 grounds are landed on the back of the timing cover in a vacant bolt hole and a heavy lead now goes from that new bolt to the drivers side negative terminal. This new lead is also about 15 or so inches verses the OEM lead that travels all the way across the engine bay in what user W-T calls and eventual ground. Not ideal at all.

That is what I believed fixed my dead pedal. I have close to 2 thousand miles on now and no hiccups at all.
And I just learned about an additional modification that I will complete when my truck gets put back on the road after sitting all winter waiting for unsalted roads. That modification is putting a 5 amp fuse in the blue wire which is the alternator field wire. Apparently this blue field wire runs through a 20 amp fuse in the PDC. The PCM, ECM and VP44 all share the same 20 amp fuse in slot G of the PDC. This added smaller fuse protects the PCM against catastrophic failure in the event of grounding the field wire. Which sends the short through the board in the PCM ruining it. The detail on this added modification can be found on the mopar1973man site by the site owner as the poster with a title of "Alternator and PCM protection" .
I hope it is OK to post references to this other site. Information and solutions are the end goal here. That and keeping these trucks on the road and out of the shop. This is my solution so far. I felt it needed to be posted. As mentioned I searched and searched, and found no follow up by hundreds of people. I really need my truck to perform as soon as my home sells. It will haul my life to my new destination. And there is no room for dead pedal in this equation. And there you have it. Happy new year.
Al Temple

So you're saying you put charging and ground leads from the alternator to the passenger battery?

 

[petersonj]

Charging lead to passenger side battery, ground leads to driver side battery - both the shortest route to destination.

"The ground lead gets cut at the 5 wire splice and 5 heavy ring eye terminals are crimped and soldered to each ground. Those 5 grounds are landed on the back of the timing cover in a vacant bolt hole and a heavy lead now goes from that new bolt to the drivers side negative terminal."

- John

 

[JeepBuilder]

I got a notification on the posts here. Happy to report the truck has been functioning perfectly. Not one sign of dead pedal. The electrical clean up and ground modification payed off. I have moved to central Washington state and I logged 5000 miles in 50 days towing extremely heavy loads to my new place. I do have some info on motor oil to post. And I just got back my first oil analysis with normal results. The motor oil issue is bothersome. I will get it done in a day or three. Meanwhile the truck is yet again parked for the winter. I don't do road salt. Cheers.

 

[petersonj]

Happy to report the truck has been functioning perfectly. Not one sign of dead pedal.

The electrical clean up and ground modification payed off. I have moved to central Washington state and I logged 5000 miles in 50 days towing extremely heavy loads to my new place.

Really appreciate your reporting back to confirm your solution to the dead pedal problem. It adds a lot merit to the recommendation of the W-T ground reference modification and to having electrically sound battery connections and ground connections at all locations.

And, in the end, you kept your truck!

- John

 

[JeepBuilder]

I thought is was important to report the fix. And now I am confident it is all accurate. I searched for weeks and weeks. There was lots of dead pedal reports, tons of them. And not one follow up to say it was this or that that fixed it. I had to find out the hard way. Clean consistent power is a good thing. In all applications. I am glad I kept it also. It is a good truck.

 

[The_Nfmus_Kerry]

I thought is was important to report the fix. And now I am confident it is all accurate. I searched for weeks and weeks. There was lots of dead pedal reports, tons of them. And not one follow up to say it was this or that that fixed it. I had to find out the hard way. Clean consistent power is a good thing. In all applications. I am glad I kept it also. It is a good truck.

Mine issue is a random dead pedal, I've just replaced batteries all terminals and alternator. I did the APPS reset but it's a random here and there dead pedal. 2001 c&c nv5600 truck with 410,000 I have ordered an APPS from cummins just incase. Then I was looking around and saw this write up and would like to see if that may fix before I fire the parts cannon at it

 

[JeepBuilder]

I would assume their might very well be more than one cause of dead pedal. With my situation I replaced just about everything. ECM, injection pump, APPS, on and on and the problem still existed. The clean up and WT ground mod I am pretty confident was my issue. And I think I mentioned my step daughters neon had issues running right till I cleaned the terminals. I hope you find your solution. I can honestly say it was maddening to have it come back every time for so long. I discovered the WT mod on the 1973morparman site. Best of luck.

 

[The_Nfmus_Kerry]

I would assume their might very well be more than one cause of dead pedal. With my situation I replaced just about everything. ECM, injection pump, APPS, on and on and the problem still existed. The clean up and WT ground mod I am pretty confident was my issue. And I think I mentioned my step daughters neon had issues running right till I cleaned the terminals. I hope you find your solution. I can honestly say it was maddening to have it come back every time for so long. I discovered the WT mod on the 1973morparman site. Best of luck.

Mine ran fine before battery/alternator change so I'm sure it's something simple