CSM

Great photo... I made the mistake of buying a new radiator before I pulled the old one to see if it was clogged. :spend:However, the fluid I had was really ugly as well, so I may have had some gunk in the radiator. Kinda funny that I feel that I go through fewer radiators (none), heater cores, and water pumps since I started flushing my coolant annually.

Yes, I would just unhook it, though I would wait a bit to see if it went off eventually (voltmeter check) and if not, I would disconnect the batteries first. That should eliminate the issue, although it makes me suspicious that there is something burned out in the edge module.

#1. http://articles.mopar1973man.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29:antilock-braking-system-abs&catid=23&Itemid=107 #2. Could be a lot of things, from a misalignment and trac bar to ball joints and lower control arms. Tires will deform at speed, and some knobby tires will wear odd. Are you doing the rotations every 3000 mi or less? I recently went through lower control arms, ball joints, 2 trac bars, and a bunch of links.

This is a symptom I am seeing intermittently as well. It IS an edge problem. Neither Edge or I have been able to fix it yet on my truck, or get the CTS working at all. I have been through a new ECM, and I have a 5th new edge module to try. 4 of them got burned out. Plus some other stuff. Power is flowing through the turbo timer circuit to keep the truck running. This will drain your battery even if you kill the truck. DO NOT shut the truck down by yanking this wire out. First dump it in 3rd or 4th gear, and then go under the hood and pull the fuse tap from the main fuse / relay box under the hood. If you pull the wire from the fuse tap, you may create a big spark and power jump that you don't want running around your PCM and whatnot. You can verify this by putting a voltmeter on the tapped fuse in the dash on the turbo timer circuit when it happens. Usually, this circuit is switched on when the ignition is on, but the Juice module fuel it feeds 12V into this fuse to keep the truck running on the turbo timer. This caution may be overkill, but since going through an ECM recently and all this edge crap, I have become paranoid about maintaining electrical integrity... Your mileage may vary.

Anybody know where I can get a bonnet for my truck? I've been thinking of upgrading from my stock hood. :spend:Mabe that will fix my electrical woes.

As for the original post on fuel life & degredation... Talked to a friend of mine (super smart chemistry whiz and energy industry guy) and he gave me the below information regarding bacteria and "algae" in fuels. Water is the root of the problem with bacteria growth in petroleum. Mostly anaerobic bacteria. Regardless, they live at the water-oil interface. Algae require light, the scum in diesel with water live in total darkness. Aldehydes, typically gluteraldehyde, work well and are tolerated by the engines/fuel pumps etc. Takes about 50 ppm to be effective. The most effective is prevention. Varnishing of gasoline is from oxygen. Keep air off gasoline (like argon/nitrogen blanket/purge of storage containers) and it will last much longer. Same thing with diesel. I bought a 5kW diesel generator, military surplus. Its 6.75 gallon day tank is nearly gone from rust, the fuel in the filters smells nothing like diesel. There are three filters, a strainer and two cartridge types. The cleanest one? The middle one as it still was full of fuel. Without air, the fuel could not react. But the strainer and the final filter were nearly dry, meaning air reacted with the remaining diesel, turning it into varnish. So, how did I clean the housings? Pro Shot Copper Solvent IV. Yeah, a gun cleaning product works without effort. Wet the dirty part with it, wait 30 minutes, rinse with WATER. Dirt gone. Also works on engine varnish. About $14 a pint, and it works good on guns too. Doesn't smell bad either although not like Hoppe's perfume. I will add though, that gluteraldehyde is very nasty, and isn't something I would want to keep around or breathe. I think the take aways from this are when storing a vehicle for long periods, fill the tank, drive for a bit, let it sit to let the water settle out, drain the sumps, and then drain the water / fuel filter. Fuel stabilizers like Sta-Bil (according to the msds) do not include the gluteraldehyde mentioned above. Moar! CSM - I wonder if the recent spike in contamination that we are seeing is from the mandated bio diesel having water in it. I have been seeing a bunch of clogged filters from the diesel generators that get filled up in bio diesel states. Thanks! Certainly. Also, bio-diesel has oxygen in it and it a much better bacterial food. All it takes is a single drop of water for the fuel to turn into a bacterial zoo since the oxygen is used by bacteria to MAKE MORE WATER! There is plenty of hydrogen in the fuel. Also, many more types of bacteria can grow in fatty acid methyl esters (bio-diesel's technical name). Think of esters as salts of fatty acids and alcohol, oil of wintergreen (Ben *** smelly ingredient), that lovely smell of Hoppe's #9 and the smell of bananas are all examples of esters. Fatty acids have TWO oxygen atoms per molecule. I'm no fan of bio-diesel for this reason. Two stroke engine oil, one ounce per 3 gallons of fuel. Good stuff. I asked about the 1oz/gal of 2 stroke oil, his reply. You won't have an issue with that much oil, the VP44 can deal with it. Just cost. My diesel is a 2000 VW TDI. Yeah, towing 1400 pounds is a piece of cake, it still gets 35 MPG if the wind isn't much. But I had a headwind and was doing 75 MPH so it dropped to 28 MPG. Electric trailer brakes too . It can tow 2000 pounds but with a weight distribution hitch which is big bucks from Germany. Oh, I also clean out the catalytic converter on my diesel by towing the generator (960 pounds) about 200 miles. Instead of running 1-2 PSI average boost, it was 5-6. EGTs were in the 1100 F range for hours. Normally, the exhaust soot is visible after that much driving, not this time.. And no soot haze when doing full power launches, just wheel smoke.

I haven't had a plow on a truck... However I do live in very snow prone areas. I doubt 2WD would do much with a plow. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't want to do much serious driving with 2WD without chains if it gets too ugly. And if its that bad, chains may tear up any pavement or road base.

I was just thinking that... Makes sense. I was kinda confused earlier when I put the DVM on it and it showed 0V from the red to black. I also think I found my voltage woes... Bad voltmeter. I went and used a couple from work, and lo and behold, my DVM shows 18-19V (symptomatic of an overcharge) and the two DVMs from the shop show 12.5V when the truck is off and 12.9 - 13.9 when the truck is running. The bad part, is that I still don't know why I have burned out multiple Edge chips. :banghead:

So... In the relay / bus box on the drivers side behind the battery. There are two leads, going into the box. A red one, and a black one. The red wire, goes to the drivers side battery, and the black one goes where? I can't seem to find it on any of the wiring diagrams. (if i am missing it on one of Mike's diagrams, please help) I am showing 12V on the black wire as well as the red, and before putting a DVM on it I had always assumed it was a ground. Does it go to the curbside battery? http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1689&d=1301768556

Does anybody know the filtration particle level of the stock filters or the other BHAF filters? I am currently running a Napa Gold 6637 (WIX 46637) and I was trying to find the specifications, but can't seem to find them anywhere.

Thats awesome... But good lord! Where do you weld? That thing would make it up just about anything in the oilfield that I see.How far do you commute to your jobs?

Part of the reason why I am trying to become a USAF reservist. Never forget.

Possible clogged IAT sensor, bad sensor or loose connection would be what I would check.

All, In my area, its not unusual to find a craigslist ad for complete suspension for a 3rd gen Ram. Usually they put a lift kit in and then the flip the suspension on Craigslist. I ended up buying everything (3rd gen track bar, shocks, shock towers, springs, steering dampener, track bar...) for less than it would have cost me to buy new control arms from Chrysler. So not only do I have lower control arms, i am halfway to a trackbar mod and I have softer 3rd gen springs if I decide to make the truck ride nicer. The LOWER control arms on the Ram 2500s from 2003 - 2009 work on our trucks, and they are completely boxed in and appear to have a stronger bushing than the stock control arms. The upper control arms from the 3rd gen trucks are 1/2 in shorter than the 2nd gen arms and won't fit. The front coil springs will fit, although they are a lot smaller diameter than the stock 2000 springs. It also appears that the rear springs will fit dimensionally, although I am not sure if the pinion angle will be correct... But that is fixable with a good spring shops shims. I will add pics when I get a chance, probably a couple weeks, as work is going to be murder for the next couple.

Update. I took the truck in and assumed I would get a new PCM, and drove it in reading 18-19.5V on the voltmeter plugged into the power outlet. The tech took all the battery connections apart, all the PCM and alternator connections apart, and cleaned the crap out of them. It hasn't overcharged since. If the thing overcharges again, I am either going to put a new PCM in it or pull the voltage regulator & plug out of one of the 70s mopar parts cars I have and try the mechanical regulator out for size. I am certain some parts of the PCM are fried, as the voltage on the dash didn't match what the DVM showed and it didn't throw an overvolt code, but if it runs good and everything else works, why pay for a new PCM? I am going to install a voltage gauge that works and drive it and see what happens. I am very afraid to install the new Edge CTS that I was sent. I am not confident that there may not be a voltage or current spike in the truck somewhere, as this will be my 4th or 5th edge module.I really need a good oscilloscope or a data acquisition board and plug it into everywhere the edge taps into for power while cycling the truck on and off... Then I can see if I am getting any weird spikes and I can guaranty that the chips power supply is sound. Mabe I should just sell the module to recoup some losses and call it a day.

prayers sent.

Well, I am sorry to hear that.

+1

You do pretty well for yourself out there in the sticks. To be honest, I am impressed that a guy that uses a walker makes it work out there. With all respect intended, I hope I am that bold when I am your age.

Not to be a punk... But you could just do a convertible?

Nice 70.

JLWelding,How will you cut a sprial? I am trying to visualize that... Can you help me with that?

Good luck ISX. All of the jobs I have had since college, (engineering, project management) have had 2-3 separate interviews. It sounds like that job is pretty cool.

The new wheels look good. I wish I knew the legalities to cut wood like that in the Colorado Rockies.

Which cam did you get?