Hi All,

 

New member here, and relatively new Cummins owner. I have a 1999 24V, pretty much stock with 140k on it that I've owned for about 6 months. Last night I had an assortment of problems pop up and I'm not sure where to begin the troubleshooting process.  Unfortunately it appears to be electrical, which is my nemesis. The truck has been running great, no problems starting in cold weather, no smoke, etc. basically just runs great.  2 days ago I was in the process of moving and had my friend drive my truck home since I had the Uhaul. (Don't these problems always happen right after someone else drives your truck?) We drove about 200 miles, hauling a pretty heavy load in the bed, but not towing a trailer or anything. I've made several trips on the same stretch the previous week hauling a heavy trailer and the truck was fine. He told me that the speedometer started jumping around a little bit, the check engine light as well as the ABS and the parking brake light came on, and the check gages light. Other than the weirdness with the gauges the truck still drove fine. I figured I had an electrical gremlin and planned to deal with it when I was done moving.

 

So last night I had planned to take it to town and get the codes read, and I made it about 1/2 mile from my house and the lights started getting really dim, the voltage gauge went very low, then I started losing power, the engine changed sounds and made more of a bad rattling noise, it started smoking really bad, terrible smelling smoke (couldn't tell what color because it was dark), then it died completely. It wouldn't start again at this time, so I tried to put it in neutral and roll downhill to back it up off the road a little ways....The steering was totally tight, no power steering at all. I walked home, called a tow truck and went back to meet him. I tried starting it when I got back, and it started right up, smoked really bad, made the rattling engine noise, and drove about 10 feet before dying again.  The icing on the cake was the tow driver then proceeded to put my truck in the ditch, once we got it out he made it a little further then wedged it against a fence pole, then after i cut the pole down and he dropped my truck he got himself stuck on his way out, long night.

 

Anyway I thought that it was an alternator issue since the lights dimmed then died, and that had happened to me on a previous car I had owned, but I replaced the alternator today and it didnt seem to solve the problem. After replacing the alternator I jumped it to get it started, and it ran, but it still sounded different and was still real smoky. It didn't die like last night, but I was afraid to run it anymore in case I was damaging something so I shut it down.

 

At this point, I know it would be helpful to know the codes but I don't have a scanner and can't drive to town. I tried the key trick but cant seem to get the codes to show up.  I'm wondering if perhaps there is an issue with the computer? Is it possible the original alternator was bad and when it went it fried the computer? I'm not sure how to check the old alternator to see if it was in fact bad or not, but I thought tomorrow I would put it back in and see how it works. Any ideas on what's causing it to smoke so badly? And if I can't deal with the problems, anyone know a good mechanic in Southern Oregon?

 

If you made it through this long post, thanks for reading and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to offer advice.

Cheers

You really need to check the codes. For it to just start smoking real bad and then all the sudden die could be a few problems. Try and get a scanner so you can at least see what that says and save yourself some money instead of taking it to a mechanic. We should be able to walk you through just about anything you’re comfortable doing yourself.

You cannot do the key trick to read the codes on a 99 it does not have the capability. I had a similar issue with the CEL, Brake and Air Bag light coming on. However it never died on me or would not start. Ended up being my Alternator which I had rebuilt locally. Sounds to me like you have another issue going on......you really need to see what CEL codes are present.

10 hours ago, Crawdaddy said:

New member here

 

Welcome to the family. We'll do what we can to help you resolve the issues.

 

10 hours ago, Crawdaddy said:

He told me that the speedometer started jumping around a little bit, the check engine light as well as the ABS and the parking brake light came on, and the check gages light. Other than the weirdness with the gauges the truck still drove fine. I figured I had an electrical gremlin and planned to deal with it when I was done moving.

 

This is the important clue here. Check gages light means that either oil pressure, coolant temperature or battery voltage is a problem I'm going to bet alternator issues. ABS and Brake like and speedometer jumping that is going to be a speed sensor issue most likely the rear speed sensor is damaged.CEL light tells there is other issues involved but we are going to need you to scan for error codes using an OBDII scantool.

 

10 hours ago, Crawdaddy said:

I made it about 1/2 mile from my house and the lights started getting really dim, the voltage gauge went very low, then I started losing power, the engine changed sounds and made more of a bad rattling noise, it started smoking really bad, terrible smelling smoke (couldn't tell what color because it was dark), then it died completely.

 

ECM and VP44 require at least 8 volts to run. So I'm going to have to say your batteries are going to be damaged at this point being you ran till it died completely. Smoke I'm going to say was white smoke because typically white smoke has a nasty unburnt smell to vs black which is much milder. Still I would want error codes to verify there was other issues like P0216 code. 

 

I'm going to ask do you have gauges? (Boost, fuel pressure and Pyrometer?) The white smoke could of been the lift pump dropped out and the VP44 struggling to pull fuel on its own and the lack of power and smoke would be fitting to the behavior. 

I have to agree on getting the read or else you will be chasing your own and spending a lot cash throwing parts at theories.

 

Also welcome to the forum.

Did your buddy put gasoline in it?

Thanks for the quick replies everyone, and sorry for my delayed response, I've been working like madman and just now  finally have a chance to deal with the truck.  After replacing the alternator I haven't had much trouble getting it started, except it is a bit harder on a cold start than it was before.  After driving it for some time the smoke has mostly disappeared and it seems to run like normal, except for smoking on a cold start (which it didn't do before).  I did run some local biodiesel in it, which I'm wondering if it clogged up the injectors and is making it harder to start. Thinking about adding a quart of dieselKleen to the tank to clean out gunk?

 

The CEL is off now, but when I read the codes I had 21 errors, some repeat codes, but daunting. They include:

 

P0216 - Fuel Injection Pump Timing Malfunction

P0336 - crankshaft position sensor

p0234 - Turbo Boost Limit exceeded

P1698  - No Bus Message from PCM

P0522 - Oil Pressure Sensor Low

P1693 - Diagnostic Trouble Code detected

 

ABS Codes

 78 - Foundation Brake Partial System Malfunction

38 -  Wheel Speed Malfunction

23 - Right Front Sensor signal erratic

27 - Left front sensor signal erratic
35 - rear sensor circuit malfunction

36 - rear sensor signal missing

25 - left front sensor circuit malfunction

 

So I'm not sure if all these CEL codes came on because the alternator died and there were voltage spikes, etc. The brake codes are all still on. Going to order a repair manual which hopefully will be helpful as I start looking at things...I also have grinding from the front wheels, sounds like bearing noise, so there are quite a few things that need to be addressed.

You probably still have major issues but?

Clear codes and see what comes back when.

Replace the Crank sensor and hop the VP is OK for now, it probably is short for this world.

Load test batteries separately still.

Re Check and re Clean all cables and terminals for corrosion.

Is new alt free of AC and charging about 14+ volts?

Tach, temp, and oil pressure gauges working fine now?