Mopar1973Man

Typically it because the coolant sensor lead is unplugged. Double check the coolant sensor right near the thermostat housing for good connection. Use a live data tool and see what the value the ECM is seeing. Remember sensor ground is not body ground. Basically, the ECM creates 5V signal and sense the voltage on the same connection. So the ground side of the sensor is the negative side of that 5V circuit. This why I say that sensor ground is not body ground. This is also why sensor are 2 or 3 wire and provide the separate ground because it's not part of the 12V system at all. If you look back in time to the older vehicles the older dodge vehicles had 1 wire temperature sensors because the ground of the sensor was part of the 12V system. Even though the older vehicles still used a modified low voltage signal.

Interesting...

The only reason I did the HX35/40 is because I wanted to keep my exhaust brake. If I didn't have the exhaust brake I would of jumped for a 62/68/12 most likely. Here is the VCO vs SAC...

Actually no. We tried the 6 hay bails. The trailer tongue was too light and dangerous. Pulled the top hay bail off and just strapped 5 down I was good to go. I hauled 3 trips like this and pulled like a dream.

After 15 years of service my doors and now clunking, rattle, wind noise etc. I've been pretty religious about keeping the hinges lubed up and checking for door sag. Actually, my issue was more so in the rear doors which the lower latch was a bit sloppy. I did a bit adjusting to align the striker pin in the middle of the latch gap and make sure the door made a full cycle in on the latch (both latches). Then you have to re-adjust your main door striker pin the same way middle of the latch notch and enough that you get a full cycle of both latches. This really tightens up the doors a bunch and seem to shut solid now and tight. As for door sag, you can check this by having the door open and lifting at the outer bottom corner and seeing if the hinge moves at all. If it does that means you'll need to do a door hinge rebuild. Don' let this go it will ruin your door latch eventually because of misalignment of the striker pin beating the top of the latch. https://www.dormanproducts.com/p-24617-703-273.aspx

Basically if you do the Blue Chip hot wire test will omit the entire ECM. The VP44 is powered separately and there is no connection to the ECM. As for the ECM if the APPS sensor is in "Idle Position" on the Idle Validation Switch (IVS) then the APPS sensor voltage is ignored and the ECM idle software is used. ECT does control idle speed on a cold startup. So if you going to pull this sensor I would do it after the truck is fully warmed up. I wouldn't want you to think you got a false positive. Colder temperature the higher the idle speed. MAP sensor has no effect on idle controls. Just like Edge Comp with a Smoke Switch it fools the MAP to full boost constantly. IAT only affects the timing of the injection pump. I would only pull this after the truck is fully warmed so not to get a false positive. Hence the MPG fooler switch holding 143*F IAT temp year round. All these sensors will throw a code of some sort being unplugged. You will need to reset all codes afterwards. The VP44 is smarty enough to start and idle by itself without an ECM. The only thing the ECM does at idle time is adjusting the idle speed and pump timing (cold engine and cold IAT).

Simple, he cleaned it and then never drove it. Ask him he doesn't really use his truck much.

I want to bring up something that happened to me. Now last night a friend showed up with one of his friends and we started talking shop, trucks and diesel be exact Cummins in a Ford. Of course I open the hood on both the 2002 and 1996 Dodge let this other guy preview the trucks. After it was all said and done it was getting late the guys packed up and left. I went out and locked up both trucks and had to roll up the windows on the 1996 Dodge. Went in for the night. Got this morning hauled some trash down to the trash can and hear faint music playing to me it sounded like across the road from me. Disregarded the music being its Jet Boat Race weekends figure people are parting somewhere. Fast Forward. Still hearing the music and walked a package down to the mailbox but didn't hear the music come back up and realized its the 1996 Dodge was the source. Unlocked the door and sure enough, the ignition switch was in ACC position and the key was there. So that means last night when I reached in and turn the ignition on to roll up the windows and turn the key to OFF i managed to pull the key out in the ACC position and the radio played all night long and half of today. Funny part the truck started right up. So be aware of your ignition switch and make sure you get it turned OFF after your done in the truck.

Basically, it ohm test from pin to pin from the VP44 plug to the ECM plug. The ohm value should be below 5 ohms for all. Now as for pin to ground with both plug unhooked yet you should get infinite ohms in other words, no shorts to ground. Beyond that, I would do the BlueChip hot wire test and see if the VP44 will fire up as a standalone. https://www.bluechipdiesel.com/

This is something I got a member for the other day. Most people don't get the terminals down all the way. The barely grab the top of the battery posts and tighten down terminal. I typically loosen the clamp bolt wide then using a socket and rubber hammer smack the battery terminal down on the battery post fully then snug up the terminal clamp bolt. I know this is not the recommended method of doing this. I just need to buy a pair of terminal spreaders...

Manuals are not a guarantee either...

As long as you don't let the magic smoke out of the wires your doing good... Now we come around full circle again. Dodge managed to produce a charging system with loads in excess of what the alternator can handle and let "The Magic Smoke" out of the alternator diodes. My previous post was in jest but also holds some merit...

You'll make it. Even without the education on electrical. You are at what 4xxk miles? I'm chasing you down at 340k miles now and still rolling.

Did you add yourself to the 911 Database? https://mopar1973man.com/cummins/911-support.html/

Another one of my favorite pictures. 5 one-ton hay bails.

Here is a tidbit I found that sheds a bit of light on the grid heater element. https://goodsonengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/FiresCausedbyFracturedResistanceHeatingElements.pdf In Photo 1, we note that the coils (loops) of this element are relatively uniformly spaced. Such uniform spacing creates a relatively constant surface temperature for the element. At 240 VAC, with a fan blowing (as in actual use), surface temperatures were approximately 470 deg F when measured with a thermocouple. This temperature, however, will lessen as the heater element is used. A nominal 5000 watt heater will drop in wattage (and thus heat output) as a function of time. As with the lightbulb filament, the heater element becomes smaller in diameter over time. On the heater element, this reduction in cross-sectional area is due to oxidation. The smaller cross-sectional area increases resistance, which thus decreases wattage.

Most likely not. Now if the coolant sensor was not tripping codes and was offset in normal range it will either raise or lower idle speed that's all. Since the coolant sensor is tripping an error code then the value is disregarded and normalized value is used in place to produce a idle speed number. You could disconnect all sensors on the engine except one (cam or crank - tach signal) and the truck will start and idle just fine without all other sensors present.

I wish you would done just the alternator to verify the AC noise first then the ground wire mod. I've got a few fears about this yet. The fact we never found the cause the diode failure for sure yet. So doing the ground wire mod might keep the noise from hoping in the ECM as quickly. So if we do the ground wire mod and have a failing alternator diode will it give you any warning or will it just torch off your ECM? This is a reason I'm looking for a solution to the diode issue first before resolving the ground wire issue. Still in all my truck ran 10 plus years without any mods and the alternator continue to function fine and no AC noise issues. Still, I'm going to hunt down the noise issue first.

Stock Injectors can do this. Just install a boost elbow and it will hit the ECM limits. It won't trip a light per say or error codes but it will start defuelling at 18-19 PSI if you happen to make it past 25 PSI then the P0234 code will be set. With my current setup of DAP (7 x 0.0085) injectors, HX35/40 hybrid turbo, and the Quadzilla Adrenaline I'm snapping 45 PSI of boost then settling at about 40 PSI at a full run.

Yes. You'll need both. Typically we all use a tuner to take care of boost fooling and fueling control.This provides the boost elbow and the boost fooler. Then on top of that as injectors get bigger you need to be able to set the timing correctly to keep the smoke down. You are going to need the electronics. If you run the injectors you going to find you hit 18-19 PSI and it falls on its face. Boost fooler is needed. Then the fuel map on the ECM is going to be to aggressive and be smoky. Like I said before with bigger nozzles you going to need to add some more timing that stock which is rather on the retarded side.

It happens. My first time installing injectors I had a gnarly rough off beat miss.

That only leaves replacing injectors. Highly doubt its a VP44.

Most likely never see the smoke. Some pressure and spray bottle full of soap water mix works just fine.

Most over the counter data tools will NOT read the ABS speed sensors. Even my more expensive Innova doesn't read ABS on my truck. You'll either have to go to shop that handles ABS modules or go to the dealer to have that tested. Sorry...