Good evening everyone,

 

This morning I went to start my truck and it just cranked but never fired.  I noticed smoke coming from engine bay and it was coming from ground cable from passenger side battery negative post that connects to body.  It was extremely hot and was smoking.   Truck started and ran fine yesterday.  

 

Really need my truck back up and running, please help! 

 

Tim

Sound like your starter motor circuit is looking for a ground.  There might be a loose or broken ground cable.   Start with checking the battery cable condition both positive and negative at both batteries and the negative cables where they are bolted to the engine. 

I agree the ground cable sound to be rotten and should be replaced most likely. I've seen cases where the cable broke in the middle and the vehicle would randomly start. Away to check this is to take a set of jumper cables and go from the negative post of the battery to the block if it starts better then the cables are damaged or shot. 

Thanks guys for the feedback.  I assume I need to use 2 sets of jumper cables to test your method since I have 2 batteries?? Or can I just jump post to block on one Battery?

You should only need one set. You’d do one at a time so you could know which terminal was affected. Bypass one and it starts then that’s your problem

cable.

thanks.  I went to test start issue with jumper cables and noticed that check engine light was on.  Didnt see it on yesterday.  Code was for crank sensor.   Cleared code and truck fired right up.  Would a crankshaft sensor code tell ecm or vp44 not to communicate thus not start truck??  And by continuing  to crank truck with engine not firing cause ground issue that I experienced??  

 

Tim

A non working crank sensor will stop the engine from running. But I do not think it would cause the ground issue you experienced but not positive on that part.

47 minutes ago, Collinst15 said:

Would a crankshaft sensor code tell ecm or vp44 not to communicate thus not start truck??

 

If there is no tach signal the ECM will not turn on the VP44. 

Thank you everyone for the help.  I will let you all know if I have any more problems. My truck started right up this morning with no issues.

 

Tim

 

Edited June 8, 20186 yr by Collinst15
Double post

Keep an eye on it. She might just fail again. It could be a loose wire or bad connection. I would at least invest in the crank sensor.

Good evening everyone, 

 

Big update. My VP44 died. Truck wont run again and now is showing a P1688, P0251 and P0252 codes.  Looks like my VP44 has died.  Any suggestions on where to buy a good one at an affordable/decent price?  Looking to replace injection lines also since mine are corroded.

 

Tim

Diesel auto power is my first choice.

How corroded are your lines, if it's just surface rust I wouldn't worry about it. They are double wall with some type off rubber in between. 

Here is a picture of my #5 line that broke. I would ignore the rust on the inner tubing beings that it has been laying in the bed of my truck for a couple months. The rest of the line has no rust on it but the original coating is mostly gone. This failed, as best I can tell, because one of the clamp blocks was missing and another was loose.

The replacement line from Cummins cost $93. The clamp blocks, clamp and screw were $7 each for a total $28 for the one clamp that was missing.

Edited June 11, 20186 yr by dripley