OverToyed

CTcummins24V - You might have hit something. Disconnected the alternator fuse and the problem seems much less. Now what? Score a real, new, Bosch alternator?

I'm not quite ready to surrender on it just yet. I think I can feel it waffling at the 1800-ish RPM range at other times now. Maybe that's because I screwed up my tuning, but the electronic noise affecting something else is an intriguing thought . CTcummins24V's thoughts have my interest on that piqued. Now, if there's was only a smart way to test.... Where did I put my oscilloscope and my knowledge of how to use it..... I guess disconnecting the alternator and running on batteries for a while would be the best way. I swear I've done it before but its such an easy (cheap) test I might as well try twice.

By Me78569 in Axles, Suspension & Brakes, January 26, 2016 You can use this Spreadsheet to change the Gear ratio and tire size on your Cummins powered Truck You will... I shudder to even start down that road until I have this problem worked out and I'm really rich and really really bored.

410s(?) 355(?). That's about 65mph? I think? I did not get the lower geared diff for towing. Seemed like overkill way back in 1999 since after buying the truck I couldn't afford to buy anything to tow anyway.

Standard gears, Just bought new rims and tires two months ago - no effect on the problem though they are about 4" taller. It seems to go away if I can shove it through about 2100 RPM. Putting it in third with TC lockup (turning OD off with TC lockup switch on) sets it to 2100-2200 RMP and no problems there. That's why I was considering compression stall since the motor can consume more air at 2200 RPM. Problem with the overdrive? Complete guessing.

It did seem to start with the cam, but I hadn't towed for a long time before I put the cam in so it could have been there all along and I didn't notice.. I've talked to Hamilton and all they could offer was to install a less aggressive cam, because, you know, changing a cam is just like changing an oil filter. Right? They didn't say anything to me about changing the valve adjustments. First I've heard of that. It will do it under those conditions without towing but it's harder to generate the problem then. TC is a triple disk from Suncoast with about 200 RPM lower stall. Managed to talk Suncoast into a warranty exchange so it's actually on it's second one with no change in symptoms. TC has less than 15k miles on it. The TC was the first thing I suspected. Injectors have about 30 k on them. Is it possible that at a certain RPM/Fueling one of them has a problem and that one cylinder having a problem is what I'm feeling? It does seem that if I dial down the fuel from 1800 to 2100 the problem decreases so it could be a fuel problem and nothing to do with timing? As for disconnecting the alternator I think I already tried that once with no effect but it's such a simple test it couldn't hurt to test that again.

Me78569 - Looks like I have a one piece drive shaft and no center support bearing? Mine is the quad cab - short box model. There's about 1/4" of play when I twist the shaft with my hands (on jack stands in neutral). Mopar1973Man - Are you thinking AC noise causing the TC to lock/unlock? Wouldn't the bypass switch eliminate that from suspicion? I did replace the alternator just for grins and it had no effect.

Driveshaft re-balanced and all u joints replaced. I haven't actually blocked the wheels and aped the shaft sideways to test the center bearing support. I suppose I could get dirty and do that. But I would think I'd have the problem in a lower gear at the same speed and load since the torsion would be the same on the shaft? But, after not listening to you guys on the grid heater issue, I better shut up and test. Thinking gets me into trouble.

Ok. Quadzilla is installed and now I'm chasing the problem that I think started when I had the Hamilton cam put in. The truck shudders, like it's in some kind of harmonic, when: * Towing uphill (under load - it will do it when not towing but it's barely noticeable) * 4th gear in TC lockup (I have a switch to force lockup and it makes no difference if forced into lockup) * Starts at 1800 RPM, about 21# Boost, IQuad says 18 timing If forced into third and TC lockup problem seems to go away (but RPM boosts to about 2200) I've tried increasing ans decreasing timing at the 1500 and 2000 mark. It seems less if I set the timing to max allowed, but if thats the solution its not enough. It could be a compression stall and the moter just cant consume that much air at that RPM but I'm hoping I can solve this. Any ideas?

Jackpot!

OK. New Iquad is installed. I wish the mods you guys have installed were easier to follow on the mod database page. It's hard to figure out who has what, also I see only about 9 setup parameters for custom tuning on my android unit. I have a starting point tune that tech support sent me nut only a few of the fields they sent are available on my unit to change. Here's what they sent:, but I don't see most of these settings available. Fuel Load Timing:2 Low PSI Timing Reduct:2 Timing Reduct Scaling: 100 Cruise Timing Adv: 3 Timing vs rpm 1500: 16 2000: 18 2500: 23 3000: 25 Timing Max: 26 Pump Stretch: 1750 TPS Pump max: 100 TPS Pump Min 20 Pump Low Boost Limit: 8 Pump Low Boost Scale %: 0 Boost Scaling: 40 RPM Limit: 3400 Power Reduction: 35 0 PSI %: 87 1 PSI %: 88 2 PSI %: 89 3 PSI %: 90 4 PSI %: 91 5 PSI %: 92 6 PSI %: 93 7 PSI %: 94 8 PSI %: 95 9 PSI %: 96 10 PSI %: 98 11 PSI %: 100 12 PSI %: 102 13 PSI %: 104 14 PSI %: 106 15 PSI %: 108 16 PSI %: 110 18 PSI %: 114 20 PSI %: 118 22 PSI %: 122 24 PSI %: 126 26 PSI %: 130 28 PSI %: 134 30 PSI %: 138 "This is designed to be a daily driver tune on a truck with a VGT and 120HP injectors. Your twin setup and size of injectors should be compatible with this tune. The only thing that I think may cause you any kind of grief is the timing just based off your Hamilton Cam. I'm not sure how it messes with the timing, but if it adds or retards the timing you should take that into account when building your timing section"

I don't have anything clean to catch the antifreeze in except an oily bucket when swapping them so yep, used fresh fluid every time. I'm pretty fast at swapping them now. The cheapo replacement I just got from Auotzone didn't go in nearly as easily as a Mishi as the drain valve just barely clears the intercooler outlet pipe. But, all's well that ends! I hope!

My guess, and this is just a guess, is they have a high profit margin and a warranty replace deal with the factory in China. They certainly aren't going to send it back to China except as beer cans. But they send my photo of the leaky unit to china as evidence,. Since China is covering them with a new unit and the $100 covers shipping of the replacement they've already banked the profit and don't much care. I should add that they were pretty quick with the replacements, typically no more than a week with UPS ground shipping, and they did give me a full refund when I asked for the first time after installing the fifth one. I did not need to get upity or push them for it. They were not difficult to deal with at all - just leaky.

Mishimoto radiators for second gen dodge: I just pulled out my FIFTH one in a bit over two years. Hoses are new, no galvanic issues, even replaced the water pump once while I had it out just for fun. With me swapping out so often the coolant can't possibly get old. Their radiators blows a hole in the core after anywhere between 2 and 4 months. They'll pass an initial pressure test but will fail pretty soon after the install. It's almost always in the same location but since there's 4 ways to orient the core when attaching the end tanks I can't tell you exactly where it will blow on one you might buy. There's a mechanic at the shop that does a lot of my work with a Ford and he's on his third Mishi radiator - I wonder if it's the same core with different end tanks? It's not a big hole so you'll have plenty of time to wait for a warm day and for the warranty swap to arrive. They will insist on a photo of the leak so hopefully you won't have to pull it out for the photo then put it back until the replacement arrives. I only had to do that once. They will ask you to pay them $100 for every warranty swap, and they won't ask for the old one back. It's a great looking unit and the fit and finish are outstanding if you can get past the "doesn't work" feature.

I installed a second MAP type sensor on the turbo side and the pressures are the same. I can't measure flow volume, of course, but the air would have to go somewhere or pile up so that's what I was figuring. Thanks!

TFaoro I tried sending a PM but the site won't let me. Did you notice any difference with upgrading the intercooler? I've been through 5 Mishi radiators so I would go Spearco but that's a spendy chunk of aluminum!

Ok. Quad (non 4k) with the iQuad is on order and will be here by the weekend! Now I have to figure how to yank the Edge and put in the iQaud. At least it will be a warm weekend! Thanks for the help fellas! Next time I'll listen to you first before over complicating things.

Quadz actually recommended the non 4k unit and I have an email into them to be sure which product is for me. Thanks so much for the feedback TFaoro!

And now that I can start it, it's time to replace my Edge Juice CTS with a programmable tuner that can accommodate all the mods I've done. I'm thinking: QUADZILLA IQUADBT4K00 4K and start with a tune from the folks at Quadzilla?

I think a lot of people DID suggest checking them but I was too busy looking for complicated answers. I did notice that there are separate relays and separate control wires to those relays for each grid heater. Could I guess that both fire for a cold start and one fires continuously based on the Incoming Air Temperature sensor to keep warming the air until the manifold warms up? That's the reason for two solenoids and two sets of control wires?

Its not cold enough for a serious test yet but I may have found the cold start issue. I replaced the grid heater relay and one of the two solenoids looked like it had exploded inside the housing. after I removed it I tested it with a battery and an ohm meter and one relay worked but though the sploded one did clunk it didn't actually make any contact. So I guess one grid was heating but one was not. It was about 38 here this morning so not really cold but it started right up and I think it wouldn't have without replacing the relay. By the way, relay bought through auto parts store (which takes three days to arrive) - $75. Relay bought through PartsGeek.com which takes three days to arrive - $45 including shipping.

That's a tricky one jlb. Mechanic has no receipts from his parts distributor for the head gasket. Its from a pretty reputable, local shop but they don'tr see where they bought it nor where I paid for it. We know they sent the Hamilton Cam required clearances to the machine shop for the correct depth so that's where the assumption of stock thickness is coming from. The work was done back in April. So memory isn't serving well. Here's a video of what a cold start without a block heater looks like, when you can get the truck to idle. This was back in the spring right after the new VP44 was installed. About 30 degrees outside, after being out all night. These days it won't lope along like that without the starter continually engaged. Cold_start.mp4

Ok - head gasket is apparently stock thickness. Possibly an injector malfunction? Yeah, I know, jumping at shadows over here.

Yes. it does start better after grid heaters function but I wanted to test if the IAT was reading a false and that was shutting off the grid heaters. It would seem not. Me78569 - how would I check the timing? I can put my finger on the outside of the grid heater and I can feel it get warm. It's possible only one of the grids is working so I still have to test that. But this hard starting stuff is a pain in the *** since I have to take my honda generator with me if I go camping in winter.

Starting issues showed up after the cam install but cam was installed in summer so no symptoms until I went camping in the rockies and the weather got cold. I'm getting in touch with the mechanics that did the head work to find what thickness of head gasket they used. I though I had a bead on the problem when I enabled the IAT monitor and saw the manifold air temp at a stead 5o degrees regardless of boost. But, this morning, I intentionally didn't plug in the block heater. I turned the key straight to start to see what the IAT would read without letting the grid heater warm. The IAT read about 30 (28 degrees out) with a sudden burst to 300 degrees when first starting after grid heaters warmed up. Voltage draw kept battery levels at about eleven volts while trying to start mot motor. Motor wouldn't run until water temp hit about 65 degrees from the plugged in block heater. LOTS of smoke. Yes, smoke does burn off after motor runs a few minutes. I'm assuming there's unburned fuel in the exhaust manifold?