JHFIII

I should have enough slack where if I decide its ridiculous I can just go back to the stockish setup. That large open barrel with no weather protection just rubbed me the wrong way. Im pretty confident in the weather protection as it is now, though. The ring terminals are nickel and the 6a wire lugs tin plated, and the wire is all tinned. I think the strip is stainless. it has a cover as well.

So my G100 ground was in very sorry shape. I believed it to be the problem causing a no start issue I have been experiencing. Unfortunately it wasnt the proble, but I thought Id share anyway. The picture shows how I set it up. The materials I used were a Blue Seas bus bar (2300, included cover not shown), tefzel wire from mil spec wire 16, 14, 12, ancor marine cable for the 6ga ground cables, 3M High temp butt and ring connectors, and DSG heat shrink, tesa tape. The ground hardware is stainless steel 5/16 (bolt, washer, fender, star washer, nut, lug, star washer, nylock, nickel anti sieze). I put the new ground "studs" right next to the old for the top one, and back a little and on the slope of the fender for the original g100, to encourage drainage (one major reason my oem ground was so badly corroded was because water would pool there when the hood was cracked for the trickle charger and it rained) One interesting item of note is that where the wiring harness Y's from the G100 to the top ground, one of the larger 12ga wires that attaches to the top ground simply runs back down to the Y and to the g100 spot. I was able to simplify it a little with this set up. I wanted to be able to diagnose each of the ground wires separately. Let me know if I should change anything.

Am I correct with the WT wire mod, the stock 140 amp fuse on the PDC becomes useless? Circuit protection has already been added to new charge cable.

I read your write up before on that. I really like it. My truck is a sport model and I impulse bought a set of the hikari LEDs after seeing lot of positive reviews on them when they went on sale on amazon. If they dont pan out, I will do something like you have done. I have an space in my winch bumper for lights, and I recently busted on of my older baja designs HIDs. I am going to replace them with another set of Baja Designs (Im partial to them) LEDs when I get a chance. So point taken on reducing the load. Ive had to fix some stuff wiring wise and I cant resist overbulding the wiring (Plus Ive got a bunch of spare material). May as well address those when I do the W/T ground mod. I already had that half done unknowingly because my higher amp alt required a charge wire to the aux and fuse.

Which sensor ground are those? I making a mental list of things I should take care of. That list is getting long. Wiring with OCD can be a time sucker. I think what I might do it take the OEM block grounds I have in the garage and cut them down and make one ground from the body to block on one side and to the frame on the other, piggybacking to the same mounting bolt as my new battery to block grounds. Also, I have been rebuilding my G100 ground using a blue seas bus bar. I will make a thread about it in the next couple of days. I found a couple interesting things.

I recently built new battery cables when I changed to mil style battery terminals, 2/0 everything. Both neg battery grounds go to the block on my 01. Unless I totally misunderstand auto circuitry, anything grounded to the body or frame must come back to the battery somehow. I have to assume there is some path to the block, back to the battery negative. I cant imagine it all comes back through the small body to battery grounds.

Thanks for the replies guys. I am familiar with all of the stock cables coming off the battery. I made some 00 marine cable ground to upgrade the stock battery to block grounds, as well as one from the alternator body to battery negative on the passenger side, as well as the two body grounds on the driver side battery (again from marine wire, sized up one from stock). I also have a 16.5k winch, but that goes straight to battery (+ and -). What is confusing me is that the large cables go to the block, but I assume that the motor mounts isolate the block from the frame and body. So how does the grounds on the body and frame get back to the battery, apart from the small body grounds connected to the battery? Im admittedly shaky on auto circuitry, so this may be totally obvious. This is more of a theory question, Im not experiencing a specific problem. I just want to know how this works. Thanks for the FSM link, and I will definitely do the W/T mod soon.

Hey guys, On our trucks (01 specifically), how does a chassis ground return to the battery.? Lets I add a set of aux lights, or anything really, and I ground the piece to the frame or body. I know there are the two battery to body grounds on the drivers battery, and one (if I remember right) on the passenger battery. Are there larger ones from block to the body or frame somewhere? The reason I am asking is I am curious if you add something that has a little bit higher of an amperage draw (grounded to the frame) if there is enough ground going only through those body to battery (smallish) ground wires. Thanks John

Thanks for the reply Haggar, The testing referred to are Mopar1973Man's diagnostics I have done most of the FSM type stuff. I am going to run through it again this evening and see what I come up with. I know this is something that staring me right in the face, and Im just not seeing it.

Should that reading be taken with ignition on or off? I read the #5 step as meaning that I should have exactly 100 ohms, but sounds like I'm mixed up on that. Does ECM sending 8volts through the brown/white, ignition on sound correct? (measure with the ecm harness connected, igntition on) I have to check my notes, but I believe I measured the g100 gnd connector (disconnected) to relay 85 and got .1ohm. My confusion is that the wires all appear to show continuity, but something gives. For the record, I did clean g100 thoroughly. Once I got a surface rust and crud off , it actually looked pretty secure and clean.

Update to say that I got it running. The VP44 did indeed need to be replaced. With the relay bypassed it was only pumping lift pump pressure out of one injector line. The old one couldnt even be turned by hand, something definitely bound up in there. A little dab of yellow paint on the new vp44 key was definitely a big help to get it lined up right. Very happy to have it running. I still havent resolved my p0215 code, and I can only start it with the relay bypassed, but at least it roars once again. All signs say is has to be the brown white between the PDC and ECM. These are the results of the p0215 diagnostic: 1)Fuel pump relay 85(gd) to batt voltage =12v 2)Relay is good 75ohm 3)ECM 30/49 to batt voltage=12v 4)ECM 36 to relay 86 .2ohm 5)Relay 86 to G100 ground = 65ohm Im only getting about 8V from the ecm to relay 86, with the igntion hot. The brown /white from end to end reads .1ohm. The brown/white to ground does not register a reading on the multimeter. Im not sure what that means. Ive been hesitant to tap the brown white at the ecm and then the pdc connector and run an overlay wire to see if that fixes it, until I was absolutely certain (which Im still not, but I have a hard time blaming the ECM since its doing nothing else to make me think its on the fritz). Does anyone know if its possible to fish a new wire through the ECM loom? Or am I just better off running it on the outside. The last thing Id want to do is screw up other wires in the loom. Thanks guys

Finally got to the G100 ground. Nearly totally corroded. I'll be doing some wiring tonight and then I'll retest things with the voltmeter. Edit: Actually not as bad as I thought at first once the dremel wire wheel got done with it. Nice and shiny now, though.

It was outdoors. The ignition switch makes sense to me. It was a little musty in the cab. It wouldn't crank at all. Everything else electrical works fine. The only two things are the ECM sending low voltage through the brown white wire to the fuel pump relay, and the vp (which I suspect was on its way out when I parked it).

Hey guys, I think I may have finally found the culprit. With the ignition ON the ECM is only sending 7 volts to the brown/white, measured between fuel pump relay pin 86--->85. I'm guessing that is not going to be enough voltage to activate a 12v relay. Its strange because as I mentioned I can upload tunes with the smarty, no issues with the wait to start, I can read and clear codes etc. Does it sound like I have found it to you guys? Any similar experiences? Recommendations on testing or replacing the ECM? On to the VP. I drained my charged batteries today trying to get her started with the fuel pump relay bypassed (87--->30). I had injection lines 1,3,4 loosened. 4 spurted fuel immediately. 3 is weeping just the tiniest bit. 1 is still bone dry. I defintely have good fuel pressure 15+psi, and I cracked the vp return until had steady fuel coming out. It didn't take nearly as long to start when I actually installed the FASS when I first bought the truck. Ive read that if you aren't getting fuel spurting much quicker than that, you've got a dead pump. Sound correct? Thats a hell of a thing, to have an ECM and VP go out. Thanks guys