New Member, Needs Help!

[JLEONARD]

If it were me I'd seperate out one of the 5 batteries and use it for starting/running the diesel only. I would mount it in the engine compartment to minimize voltage loss thru a long cable.

Jay

 

[rlyons]

Don,

I was thinking over your problem again this morning and I realized you said you were going to feed 12 volts to the solenoid by way of your car battery, DON'T DO IT. If you do it will try to start from your car battery and more than likely burn the wires in your hand or burn out the solenoid. You must use the power from the coach and first you must get 12volts back there. I agree i would relocate 2 batteries to the rear if possible for starting. 5 batteries for starting is rediculous. The 5. 9 needs only 2 at most. I suspect originally that coach used two for starting, two for the coach and one for the generator. That is the usual setup for a motorhome. If not it is a strange setup indeed. If your overhead lights are dimming when you are trying to start then you have another problem because they should be on the coach batteries not the starting batteries. Anyway I thought I would mention what I thought of so you don't burn anything up. COME ON GUYS, don't we have anyone in Texas that can run over there this weekend and help Don out?? It is a little far for me but if he don't figure it out I am going to have to get in my truck and run out there i guess. :-laf

 

[JLEONARD]

that can run over there this weekend and help Don out

We can't send Bill... . he'll pull the solenoid out!!!! :-laf :-laf

 

[DonTX]

I was contemplating putting a couple of dedicated starting batteries back in the rear. I done that on a bus I had with the same setup.

This came from the factory with 5 batteries being used for coach lighting and starting both. I don't care for it either, but that is original, for sure. I have owned a number of RV's and realize this is "different". Don't seem nice to me to run that current 36 ft to the starter. Those five new batteries shouldn't be putting the lights dim when cranking to my way of looking at it if all connections are conductive. .

I was going to run the solenoid wire from the car ONLY to the solenoid. Nothing else would even know it was hooked up, disconnect the other wires of course. Gives me a full known 12 volts to the solenoid for test start trial in case the starter has a problem and also void other poor connections dragging off voltage to the solenoid. .

 

[MMiller]

I'd just set a car battery on the ground, with a couple of alligator clipped jumper wires, hot and ground to the solenoid to test it. I don't know how hard it is to get there, but wouldn't it be easier to pull it for testing purposes? Maybe just pull the solenoid and then run a 36 foot long shut off cable to manually shut it down?



Does the exhaust still stink you out and burn your eyes, or has it cleaned up a little since your shot of "first gen special recipe"? My 90 will burn my eyes lately from the exhaust, but it too has been setting alot. The fuel in the tank is over a year old.



Michael

 

[DonTX]

Stinker

The burning eyes stopped with the injector overhaul, one was stuck, thereby giving it an over rich condition in one cylinder, unburned fuel I reckon.

To get to the manual cutoff or the stop solenoid is major work. If I can determine the shutoff is great with the proper voltage, it will keep me from pulling all that hard to get to stuff off just to find out my pump and solenoid was fine all along. It is a real ***** just to get to the connector on top of the solenoid!

MMiller: I did not have a spare car battery, so just using the one in the car was my idea, jumpers to the solenoid. That isolates all battery problems in the coach from the solenoid.

 

[rlyons]

Don,

Make sure all wires are disconnected from the solenoid because if not it will fry your wires and the solenoid. If you are only getting 5 volts during cranking the engine may not turn fast enough to start properly but may still start if you get 12 volts to the solenoid. I would try to find the voltage drop first but that is just me. If you keep trying to start it with low voltage you may cause more expensive damage.

 

[DonTX]

All good points there for sure. I have an electronic hand held tach coming in the mail, I do want to be sure that what SOUNDS like plenty fast cranking, really is of course.

Right now I am trying to isolate and/or confirm what the heck is REALLY wrong, rather than try to fix its things willy nilly. The way I see it is that IF I am cranking fast enough, and IF I get 12v to the solenoid, and IF it starts well then, I can go on to solving the obvious other electrical problems. Right now the major question is do I need to pull the pump or not and have it overhauled (or replaced by a more popular version), or is it fine the way it is.

 

[Greenleaf]

A school bus is the same way. I have to spend three days removing items from the side of the bus (two, if I hurry, but who want's to works yourself out of a job) in order to pull the pump. You just do it. You get used to it I suppose.



I originally thought performing a dowel pin tab install was major work. Now it's minor maintanance to me.

 

[DonTX]

Win some, Lose some

Well, at least my KDP upgrade will be an easy one, take a look at POS Belt Tensioner topic for a photo of my access. (The board would not let me post the same photo twice)

I don't really mind doing it, I just don't want to do it and find out it made no difference and did not even need to be done.

 

[Greenleaf]

Pics Pics Pics

Don,



You simply change the description of the picture a tad and you can post the same pic all day long... ... ... ... ...

 

[DonTX]

Duh!

Darn, gotta be just a little bit smarter than the doggone computer I guess. It don't work for me, now just how the heck does this board recognize the photo with a different name? Now I AM confused.

 

[phillips5]

I havent been on here sence december and I did not reed all the replys maby this was covered. If you have a ve pump I have experenced this problem a fiew times and every time it was the 3 sided end plug between all the inj lines

 

[DonTX]

Can you elaborate more? I have found a actually have a "VE Type, VP14" pump. I see in my VE manual I think maybe what you are speaking of, in the center of the distributor pipes going to the injectors, there is some sort of plug. Did it fall out, get loose, dirt behind it, or what?

I think you are speaking of the thing in the center of the injector lines that looks like a bolt in a plug?

 

[Greenleaf]

Don,



I wanted to ask you some time ago... why do you believe it's a VP-14 injection pump? I have a manual in front of me now that lists the pumps available for the Cummins Series A-B-C diesel engines. There is no mention of a VP-14 pump.



The manual contains eight injection pumps used on the B engine. No VP-14 pump is mentioned here. This is a Marine/auto/ag/industrial listing. I'm quite certain that your engine falls into one of these or, perhaps not. Maybe there is a manual just for the RV aplications(?) I doubt it.

 

[DonTX]

Sure, I thought I had covered that. Someplace way back along the line, I cannot even recall when, someone told me it was a VE 44 pump. That stuck with me as gospel until I got the "build sheets" or the papers that Cummins built the engine by, including the customer specifications. That sheet clearly shows that the pump installed by Cummins was a VP14. That was quite a shock to me of course. So far I have found in a Cummins parts listing that they did in fact use the VP14 pump on these engines (but apparently not in great quantities), and I can assure you that the pump has never been removed or replaced. . I have however not been able to obtain any photos, drawings, specs, or further knowledge of this pump. It would appear that Cummins dropped this pump after only a short run. I think the current Cummins listings shows this as obsolete, no replacement or parts available.

 

[Greenleaf]

Pictures

Don,



When I post the same pic more than once, I simply change the description. Example; Shay Engine #5. 1 / Shay Engine #5. 2 / Shay Engine #5. 3 etc.

 

[bgilbert]

Easy on the slow dial up users there GL.



Solenoid out yet?

 

[Greenleaf]

I'd like to see more pics of this pump of yours if possible. We could possibly i. d. it from the photos (?) That is to say, if it really IS a VE-44 as most are. My buses have VE's and they are not all the same. Some VE's have a KSB and some not. Some have an AFC and some not.



An injection pump shop would help with parts or repairs. Or, they will simply tell you there is no hope for repair parts etc. in which case you'll need to purchase a pump of some sorts. I'm willing to bet ( and hoping) you have a VE-44 just like the rest of us.



Bill, don't you use the dial up mode? I use it sometimes for a change of pace.

 

[DonTX]

It would be nice if it WERE a VE 44. Photos or even looking at it is a challenge, I will post some and take some more with that view in mind. Any ID help would be appreciated.