Mopar1973Man

Just to make a serious jump I would suggest just gettng a Quadzilla Adrenaline which is a nice 180 HP jump in power. Fully adjustable tuner that adjust not only thre fuel but also can adjust timing for the VP44 trucks. I'm running 150 HP injectors (7x0.010) popped at 320 bar, with the Quadzilla and my Economy tune I'm right at about 500 HP and 19 to 21 MPG. I got the best of both worlds good economy and more than enough power to light the tires up on dry asphalt. Just to give you a feel... As for all the mod check my sig for my modification list and there is 4 pages worth.

Yes and no... Yes if you disconnect the little leads on the solenoids. That will trip both the P0380 and P0382. No. if you disconnect the battery power at the drivers side battery and pull the main power leads. This will not set any codes and allows for normal operation but there is no power to the solenoids. ECM is still hooked up and triggering the solenoids but just no power to the grid heater. This is what the solenoid is suppose to do as well. You can switch on and off the power to the main leads. As another member posted up that the solenoid burned. With my method there is no contacts to burn or have to toggle the solenoid on and off. For me April is the spring start and typically the weather is above +32°F outside there is no need for grid heater all spring, summer, fall. Then in October the weather get cold and I hook them back up and run them again till April. This saves the contacts in the solenoids on the fender not having to preheat and post heat every start. PRE-HEAT is most done with the IAT. The post heat is done by BATTERY TEMP sensor. So like I could be fully warmed up, MPG fooler ON (143°F IAT) and still end up with post heat because the battery temp could be below 60°F which will cause post heat regardless of ECT temperature and IAT temperature.

I was handed a rather good challenge to fix. I needed to have a pedal assembly rebuilt being salvaged pedals assemblies tend to all have the same fault wore out on the clutch bellcrank pin and bushings. I did a bit of Google search and turned up a guy named "Altered Ego" that does awesome work. When he got the assembly I sent in he called me and told me it was the worst one yet to see and totally wore out. Now after 2 weeks of freight time and waiting for pedal pads I got it back and it looks excellent. Even with grease zerks in the pivots. All upgraded with brass bushings, removed all the plastic. Total Cost $460 for the rebuild and upgrade.

OEM VP44 should have a VOID sticker wrapped around the VP44 connector preventing removal of the plug without tearing the sticker off.

I'd love to give you +5 likes for that... That is one of my biggest factors is to make sure to allot enough time to do quality work and cover all bases. It when you pressed for a time schedule then you start to screw up rushing a job. One of the few jobs I got hired to do was working at the local Chevron Station for a summer. It was really tough to hold to a narrow slot of time to do big job. This is why I went into doing my own business and no longer held to a tight time schedules.

Still to this day I do the control of the grid heater manually. April I will disconnect the main power feed to the grid heaters. Then in October I will hook up the the power lead again. My truck will start as low as +20°F above without grid heaters. I stumbles a little but starts fairly easy. At +32°F starts like a summer morning. I don't even consider block heater till below 0°F.

They use tons of salt out here in Idaho now. That is one of the biggest problems I face is rusted fasteners for suspension and other thing external to the cab. For all that stuff like the camber adjustment you could pull the bolt out and mop on the anti-seize and reassemble.

Now the bad news it snowing... Ugh! Now I get to work in the snow and cold today. For the moment I'm happy as heck to sit right here at my desk where its warm and dry. Last thing I wanna do is get dressed and haul out to the yard to install a pedal assembly in a Ford Powerstroke.

That's what it feel like for me now. Seem like I run my tail off all day and still get stuck with one issue or another preventing me from completing a job (wrench work). Then like this morning I'm up a bit early and working the website making sure the server is running top notch. Still finding weird issues and configuration issues. This is why I'm looking at the hotshot angle it would allow me to do jobs possibly local to me and in the spring of the year be a good time to break free after a long winter of being cooped up.

I get it on the road repairs are a pain and yeah I get that the idea of rebuilding a hydro booster in a hotel parking lots isn't happening either. 423k miles later it might be on my list of things to do in the near future too. I've been keeping my fluids changed and flushed out often so maybe I can get it to hold up a bit longer.

I'm about ready to follow the same idea. My plan is to find a standard cab 2nd gen Cummins. Then remove the bed and install a utility box and load it up with tools, welder, etc. Now travel around my own area doing wrench work. I figured if I built the truck right I should be able to haul my RV as well. That way say I could drive out to @JAG1place to do a set of ball joints for him. Then have another job in Oregon and job form job to job till it leads me home again. Then other idea would be to fix up my truck but hook up with U Ship and start doing hot shot work with what I got. I've seen a job about hauling a small dog to Colorado. I'm like no problem. Just would plan better so when I left that job I would hook up another job to bring me back home again. With everything I done to increase the truck longevity I'm in good position to start do that kind of work too.

I bought 4 sheets of 3/4" OSB board and it cost a bit over $39 a sheet. OUCH! On that note if I order anything from Oregon it got to make a trip all the way past me in Idaho to Utah to come back to Boise. Adds about 2 days to shipping. Thankfully enough... I already loaded up with shooting supplies while back. Not one of my common activities so my stash will last awhile. Good News. The pedal assembly for the Ford Powerstroke came in last night at like 6pm. I know what I'm doing today.

Man I'm getting rather wore out on everything being late and held up because of COVID... I know I posted this on a few other threads. Like @Wet Vette ask me to fix the old dish washer in the house. I did a few simple repairs of the float switch and the water line. Got it to run once again last for about 2 weeks and then the motor locked up. I tore apart the pump head and found a scrubby pads wound up in the pump head. Clean it up and it last another wash or two and then the bearing froze up in the motor. Ok. We both agree to replace the dishwaher. Head to Home Depot and looking at dishwashers and there is huge sales on some quality units. We got our eyes set on a LG that is all stainless steel body and door. Caught the black friday sales and now reduced to $498. Asked if there any units in stock. NOPE. I pay the bill and found out it will not come in till FEBRUARY!!! What?! OK... COVID... OK. Another common repair is replacing a fan belt on a 2003 Dodge Dakota. Called the local NAPA store. Typically if they don't have it the store they can get it from Spokane by the next day. NOPE. They had to get it from another store in another state outside the normal travels. So its takes 1.5 weeks to get a fan belt. OK. Now I've got my steering box pulled out and shipping it back to Blue Top for rebuilding. Got it down to the US Post Office for shipping in a flat rate box which is normally 2 or 3 days. NOPE day 4 and notifying it will be late and still in transit. Man just to get a steering box from here to Blue top is now taking a week just about. UGH. Still got to wait on the return trip after he gets the part and ships me a new one. Now my truck is trapped in my shop till I get the new unit. I can move my truck till I do. OK. Another one. I got a job on a 1995 Ford Powerstroke that need a pedal assembly rebuilt. I found a guy in Arizona that rebuilds pedal assemblies and he got the old one and notified me that was the worst one he's ever rebuilt. Now he called me last week telling me he was shipping it back I'm still waiting on the rebuilt unit to get back. This is making job super long. As your seeing I'm super done with all the COVID issues in the world and its making my job slow and just can't get anything done being parts are just tough to get and get them shipped in a timely fashion.

Alternator could be hook to a shorted battery and still won't blow during normal run. Fuse is 140 Amps and the alternator is 136 Amp Wide Open Throttle. Hence why the grid heater come on demand 195 amp (both elements) and alternator does not blow the fuse or trip the breaker. Now say your front end collision and the alternator snapped off the mount slammed into the block that would be a dead short on the charge lead now the battery will out power the fuse and blow, not the alternator. Being the batteries total are 1500 amps (or more) with both batteries (stock CCA). See the battery cause the fuse to blow not the alternator. Being the alternator on high idle still can reach 136 Amp with the grid heaters but doesn't blow the fuse or breaker. Not suppose too... Technically the grid heater are a dead short of sorts being that it draws 195 amps (both elements) at 14.0 volts that is 0.071 ohms. Yeah that's a in a nutshell is a controlled short that creates roughly 400*F to 500*F temps in the manifold.

Bingo. I've done that already with ground cable and positive cables on my own trucks. One of the few reason I'm getting 9 to 11 years out of my batteries because the charging system 99% efficient. Then add in that I've reduced my electrical loads with LED lights and HID headlights so no the diodes stay cooler and alternator temps are down as well. This why I challenge the "ground jumper" between batteries be even adding that same jumper using jumper cables there is no change in voltage drop to the block period. Before adding I've got 3mV (0.003 volt) drop between block and the either battery. Add jumper cables to both battery grounds still measure 3mV (0.003 volts). Voltage drop test is way I test for cable resistance or loss. Anything over 0.2 Volts is a fail for sure. 3mV (0.003 volt) loss is not even on the radar as a problem. For some of these older truck that have been abused and let the terminals corrode, oxidize, etc. Then if you measure 0.2 volt drop on any cable regardling the charge circuit or main battery cables its a fail without thinking. I would REPLACE any cables at that point that don't meet the mark. DO NOT ADD extra grounds or paralell cables to fix a bad cable. Fix the bad cable first. Then retest again.

Your case the battery shorted out and overheated the alternator. Hence why the alternator was hot, and the fuse connection was hot. Still in all the alternator is only 136 Amps so it will never charge any more than that period even with a dead short. That fuse will never blow. Now if the diodes shorted to ground, like you mention in the PM with @W-T yes it does cover the shorted stator and shorted to ground diode. But it does not protect the armature which burns up the PCM voltage regulator circuit.

Cummins is just as bad I paid $132 dollars for mine. One of my reason for not buying Cummins parts. Then top it of for 6 connector tubes I was quote a crazy high price like $67 a connector tube. There is way cheaper solutions for even the pigtail. I could get the plug numbers on Mouser and then order a 2001 MAP plug and just cut off the old 2002 plug and wire in a 2001 plug and its a permanent solution. Being the 2002 MAP sensor and plugs are no longer produce why keep mess around with old pigtails... Wire it once and never look back.

Amazon way better you can just about pick the day you want it.

No that not what is for again...The fuse or circuit breaker is not for overcharging alternator. It to stop the circuit flow if thew alternator shorts out.

Dorman's Engine Air Intake Heater Relays for '94-'02 Dodge Cummins trucks effectively controls the intake heater. https://www.amazon.com/Dorman-Solutions-904-308-Intake-Heater/dp/B00Z7O4M4Y/ (Cheaper yet!) $49.95

Not good if the diodes happen to short to ground for what ever reason. (Poof! up in smoke). Why I still got that 150A circuit breaker.

The stock OEM lasted 180k miles. Back then I was still running 265's. Since then I dropped to 235's tires and now later on yet switch to 245's tires. Never ran large tires since then. Ditch the aluminum wheel for stock steel wheels that are 16 x 7 wheels slightly smaller, the aluminum mags were 16 x 8.

When I'm doing a oil change typically... I will park the truck in the shop and pop the drain on the pan. Then I move on to lubing the steering and suspension linkage. I will jack each side up and pry a bit to see if there is excessive play in anything. Tie rods, track bar, ball joints etc. If anything is wore or looks to be getting loose then I just replace it. My problem is everything on my truck last a long time. Ball joints are going past 200k miles now (cheap RockAuto). Track bars yeah don't last nearly as long but still good life span. Little trick for future info... Sharing my shop tricks. After my little ball joint explosion. I realize that you don't have to press the old joint out in one piece. You can cut the cap end off with a saw, grinder (cutoff wheel), or a torch. Then push the ball stud out. Then using a hacksaw do a relief cut in the cup body strike the cup on each side and it falls out. Then you can take a hone brush and hone the hole out just a little to remove the rust and junk. Now lube it up with plenty of anti-seize and press the new one back in. Much easier way. Half the time as usual. Just like next wheel joints (u-joints in the axle) I will just take a torch and cut the cross out and let it fall out and then drive the bearing cups inward till they fall out. Then using a hone brush again and clean up the holes a little bit and press in new u-joints. I learned this with the 3rd gens and there crappy way of using plastic to hold the bearing caps in place. Just another way to do the same job.

Yup... just updated the alternator part listing.

Sound like something wrong in the hydroboost to go both ways. Like the spool value is stuck why the brakes are lock. I'll keep my hydrobooster and just rebuild it. Already done one. Not bad but be aware of the input rod seal you might need to cut and weld the rod.