Hi all,

   First post on MoparMan's site but I have been reading this forum and many of his threads from diesel resource for quite some time. First things first a little background on the truck. The truck is a 2004.5 SLT, I do not have a lift pump it has been converted to in tank fuel pump, it's a CP3 injector pump system. I run a Edge CTS on setting 3, Timbo APPS installed last October, Transmission was rebuilt less than 2,000 miles ago, batteries were replaced at the beginning of October. If any other info is needed just let me know. Now down to the problem at hand when I went to pick my truck up after the transmission rebuild my batteries were shot so I bought 2 1000 CCA batteries to replace them and fired the truck up and left. Since I picked the truck up it was having intermittent dead pedal issues just as it did previously when the APPS when out so I reset the APPS and re-calibrated it. The problem went away for about 2 weeks, then on a trip back from Savannah the problem reappeared so upon returning home finally I reset and recalibrated the APPS again. The problem went away for about a week, I made another trip out of town this past weekend with 0 problems, but Tuesday morning I get in my truck to go to work and the dead pedal issue is so bad that I can't get out of my driveway. Every time I would attempt to accelerate it would throttle up and begin to accelerate but then drop back to idle and would do this up to 4 times in a distance of 8-10 feet. My fuel pressure is good as my gauges show 6.8k at idle and then appropriate numbers with the increase of RPM. My MAP readings seem to be good as I have been watching those and my Fuel Pressure since the dead pedal came back. So I stayed home yesterday and started trying to diagnose the issue, I started by checking my voltage on the APPS while moving the accelerator through it's range of motion. At "Idle" I was at .664v DC this is normal for the Timbo or so I've read, once engaging the accelerator it ramps up voltage smooth and steady all the way to 3.2-3.3v DC at this area my multimeter jumps out of range and doesn't read anymore. Once the accelerator reaches 3.4v DC my meter returns to reading the voltage and it continues to 3.83v DC just as smooth and steady as before. Also my meter isn't cheap it is a Fluke 77 and I've never encountered problems with it giving bad readings. Guys do I need a new APPS or is there another underlying issue I need to be concerned with? Thank you for your help in advance if any other information is needed just ask.

Also there are no codes other than Intake air heater #2 low voltage (P2607)

 

On 11/10/2017 at 5:46 AM, TooTallCTD said:

This is the first cold morning I've had since the "fix". What could relate this problem to cold weather?

 

Double check that alternator. I've seen alternators fail in short amounts of time. It could be the heavy draw of the grid heaters causing the alternator noise level to rise too high causing the dead pedal. 

I'll check it when I get home. I do have a code for intake heater voltage low. 

 

I'm honestly thinking of deleting the grid heater anyway. Is there away to do it without the delete block?

Edited November 11, 20177 yr by TooTallCTD

 

 

3 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

 

 

Double check that alternator. I've seen alternators fail in short amounts of time. It could be the heavy draw of the grid heaters causing the alternator noise level to rise too high causing the dead pedal. 

Checked the alternator it's good. Putting out .010-.012. A bad grid heater wouldn't cause this would it. Looking more and more like a ECM for me. 

 

Would having the ECM flashed help?

Edited November 11, 20177 yr by TooTallCTD

No. If the RAM or the PROM are damaged flashing won't fix damaged hardware. 

 

I would check the TPS signal with a live data tool.

I've been doing some more reading and what do you think about it potentially being the fuel control actuator?

 

Also I'm trying to get in touch with a friend of mine to see if he has a live data tool as I do not. 

Edited November 11, 20177 yr by TooTallCTD

Ive got a FCA that has been used once less than an hour. It's brand new Bosch unit.

 

As for live data tools look at OBDLink they got some good Bluetooth or WiFi dongles that work good. I've got one use it for diagnostics on all vehicles.

I also keep reading that something in the transmission could cause this problem. Mine is an automatic and was recently rebuilt and I wasn't having these problems until I got it back. What is in the trans that could cause this issue?

 

I ask because I just left to go to the gas station and on the way back it started the problem on a hill. After it finally finished it's episode it wouldn't down shift to first on it's on or when I did it. So I had to back down the hill and get a running go to climb it. 

Edited November 12, 20177 yr by TooTallCTD

It could be the output speed sensor... Gamble I've seen a few of these on the 2nd Gen but not sure on the 3rd gen...

Edited November 12, 20177 yr by Mopar1973Man

I tried unhooking the wires to my intake heater yesterday just to see if it helped with it out of the system. After I unhooked the wires I turned the ignition on and the fuel pump was only working at a third of the speed as usual and my Edge Evolution couldn't communicate through my OBD port. The screen said to make sure the ignition was on like it wasn't getting a signal from the ECM. Do the wires connected to the grid heater double as signal wires for the ECM?

I would unhook the trigger lead on the relays (smaller wire) I know it will trip a code. For testing purpose, it will do. Another way is to pull the field lead from the alternator and go for a test drive. 

I've got to go back out after lunch. I'll pull the field leads and give it a shot. 

 

What does pulling the field leads do?

The alternator is dead. Then you're running strictly on the battery (clean DC power). If the problem goes away then the alternator is to blame again.

Wasn't able to work on the truck for a few days, but I got to tinker a bit today and got what I hope to be some valuable information. The issue will consistently present itself at about 1800 rpm in drive but not in park or neutral. So I did this a few times just to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Now as you can imagine doing this raised my trans temp pretty quick as it wasn't able to shift. Once the trans got to 185+ the problem was consistent from idle onwards in drive and reverse. I didn't test in reverse at 1800 rpm but I'm assuming the same results. So this leads me to believe it is in the trans. Any ideas guys?

Edited November 16, 20177 yr by TooTallCTD

I suggest you talk to @Dynamic he's our site transmission guru here. 

https://mopar1973man.com/forum/173-dynamic-transmissions/

So I did a little research on output speed sensors and their symptoms of failing. One of those symptoms was the cruise control not working. With my dead pedal issue if I have cruise control engaged it will knock the cruise out when the issue starts. With that information do you think this could be my issue?

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond back. Work and the holidays have been keeping me mighty busy.

Edited November 30, 20177 yr by TooTallCTD

Finally got a live data tool on the truck and I checked the absolute throttle position and it doesn't fluctuate when the issue happens. All that changes is the load percentage. It drops completely to 0 since the truck is dropping back to idle. 

While I was doing the testing in the driveway last night I got my trans temp up to 250-275 so the trans temp warning light flashed on my dash. After this happened the dead pedal went away completely. I shut the truck down and let it cool to 230 then I went for a drive. It did the normal limp mode shifts for a overheated trans until it cooled then everything was fine. I drove the truck for close to 2 hours and the problem never came back. Then I jump in the truck this morning to go to work and the problem is back and I can't get out of the driveway. Starting to think the thing is just possessed.

I'm going to have to say something electronic is liking the heat. When the engine is cold the problems start over again. Being there is only the ECM that is the only place I could even think of. See if there is a friend or someone else with a like year truck you can swap ECM for a test.

Finally got a breakthrough. Truck finally threw p0148 so I started in on the fuel system. First stop the inlet line to the cp3. Unbolt it on the IP and the O-rings are shot. So my question is do y'all know where I can find these O-ring washers?