Shut truck off Friday night and go to start it today and soon as the power hits the starter pops goes a $4 fuse. Not sure if this has any bearing on diagnosis but the radio quit working last fall, no lights working on radio or sound but then one day last week the radio started working until I shut truck off and then didn't work again. My gut tells me there's some correlation between these two conditions.
Unfortunately if these wheels aren't rolling I'm not working nor are my two employees making money.
Anyone else ever ran across this or possibly know where I might start looking.
New batteries installed this spring and no corrosion on leads. Battery and connections are clean.
Appreciate any and all help from experienced mechanics.
Not too good using mobile features in this site so here's hoping it goes to right place.
Anyways it's a '94 2nd gen cummins. It's the 40A ignition Run.
This one has me totally stumped, I forgot to shut key off which I had in acc position, and it had been on for about 1/2 hr. I was sitting at back of house eating and all of a sudden I thought my neighbour turned his hip hop radio on in his backyard, when I walked towards back of yard and here it was my truck radio blaring away. Now how did that sit there all that time and then out of nowhere it found power. No vibration or wires being wiggled. Man I think I could be possessed haha. This is the very first time this ol truck has ever given any trouble
It would be important to know if the fuse blew when you went to the RUN position, or when you went to START.
If it did not blow until START, as your first post implies, then the circuit is pretty simple.
FSS, start relay, starter solenoid, some fairly short wires.
I would start by a visual inspection of the FSS and starter solenoid, and the wires feeding to them.
Then unplug your FSS, and unplug the wire from the PDC fuse #2 to the starter solenoid (it looks to be a black two wire connector on the fender shield near the PDC, that only has one wire to and from it - a 12 gauge brown wire.
You can look at page 8W-58, figure BR9.
If it is the FSS you can just wire it in the up position and leave it unplugged, unwire it to drop it and kill the engine. Maybe take a cutter and several tie wraps? Or just use bailing wire.
I hope this helps. I've got to run, won't be available for several hours.
That pretty much means it is the starter solenoid, starter relay, or wiring (mounted in the Power Distribution Center - PDC with the fuses under the hood.
If you lift the wire off the starter solenoid, and risk another fuse, you can tell if it is the starter solenoid.
If you have a good ohmmeter, you can verify that the starter solenoid coils are not shorted. It takes a good meter and clean surfaces for the measurement, because the expected readings is probably about 0.3 to 0.4 ohms. (I could not find the spec in the manual - that is my estimate.)
Wow Dan, great info. I was wondering if I pulled the large cable going to the starter and install new fuse, use a separate battery and try and jump with booster cables to see if indeed it is the starter faulty. $250 for a new starter
Guess the reason I hadn't suspected the starter is because the truck has always started great and never shown signs of a weak selenoid or starter components but my gut tells me it cold very well be starter issue.
You can also just jumper from the large power terminal on the starter to the smaller solenoid lead (remove the 12 gauge brown wire first) to see if the starter would engage and turn. Use a very heavy conductor, like a screwdriver shaft or thicker. Expect sparks, protect your eyes.
Keep your old starter, if it is OEM, and have it rebuilt locally, It is cheaper and better than the replacements usually available, though the replacement may be needed to get you going today.
Still don't understand but pulled the starter and tested it on the ground with jumper cables. Bendix jumped out and turned great while jumping both solenoid and armature but there was substantial black carbon at front of starter. I thought I'd take a chance and go get a new one from local Napa store. Shook the new one and tight as expected, shook the old one and sounded like a bunch of marbles inside. Truck started immediately and very thankful she's running again and truly appreciative for you helping me diagnose it Dan.
NOW if I can figure out this plaguing radio ghost. What the heck would cause it to mysteriously come on like it does.
If aftermarket, it is probably bad wiring. Just slip it out and look at the wiring with a bright flashlight. If you see any Scotch splices then pull them off and put on a good splice.
It is indeed a factory radio, nothing fancy but it made noise in the cab whenever we wanted to hear some music. Speakers are terrible, cracking and popping but hey. I'm just confused as to what caused that last night to have key in accy position then out of nowhere 1/2 he after I walk away from truck and left key in the radio starts playing. Tried it again today and it's still working but know that won't last long. Just hate intermittent issues like this one.
My factory speakers are still quite serviceable.
I would try to pull the radio and check the connections. I would also replace any fuse mounted on the back panel, or in line with the harness.
You have to remove the Instrument panel bezel to remove the radio. Instructions are in the manual, and the manual also has instructions on verifying the electrical feed connections.
Tnx Dan, ya I pulled lower dash panels to gain access to radio and all connections look solid but need to check fuses. I pulled that metal block outa the side of fuse panel back few yrs ago to stop that annoying door chime only to find out the compass and instrument panel at top of windshield stopped working. Thankfully I kept that metal box but was a brute to remove as it was attached to side of fuse box and sandwiched tight against E brake pedal. Just a tiny brittle wires going into back side fuse panel and hard to tell what's what
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