After 18 years of interesting CTD enthusiasts and transmission specialty outlets all contributing their method, or fix, to the well known TC lock unlock syndrome, I can no longer remain silent.

 

Extensive review of many posts regarding TC lock unlock, the rerouting methodes, the add on filters for APPS and last, but not least,...the "tin-foil hat" brigade. I do realize that each individual or company that contributed to the vast amount of information on the web had good intentions and I must acknowledge that some of the procedures caused me to closely examine what these people were trying to do. I believe it is well known that even a blind mouse occasionally finds a morsel of cheese.

 

Again, as it is well known @Mopar1973Man  was the only entity who positively identified the instigating source of this key issue. My entry today is not about alternators...it is about what Daimler/Chrysler did in regard to production of these Cummins powered platforms and the complete disregard of common sense Electronic Engineering.  Please note, this applies to automatic and manual transmissions as each platform is plagued in the same manor with different quirks. 

 

This Blk/Tan #8 gage wire is quite critical in the scheme of things. It is contained within a 1" plastic conduit passing along the front of the engine. It contains water temp sensor leads, air conditioning leads, alternator/PCM leads and the #6 gage alternator charge line to the PDC. This #8 gage Blk/Tan passes over the top/backend of the alternator and is "eventually" connected to the Auxiliary Battery (passenger side) negative terminal.

  

This snapshot of the Factory Service manual documents "four critical ground leads" that are "spliced" in an unconventional method.

 

This photo depicts the three #18 gage wires and the single #14 gage wire entering the shrink-tubing where the "crush-splice" occurs. This bundle exits the large plastic conduit below the VP44

 

This again is a most disturbing depiction of the Daimler/Chrysler method of splicing critical ground leads and then routing this across the top of the alternator and "eventually" bringing this to ground reference. 

 

This photo depicts where this #8 gage Blk/Tan first connects on the way to "eventual" ground...yes this is the Auxiliary Battery tray connector. Please note: it is spliced again and joins the PCM circuit board grounds...which are critical in their own nature...and "eventually" terminate at the negative post of the Auxiliary Battery's negative terminal.  

 

This photo is very interesting, it is the Factory Service manual and the assembly line documentation follows this as a road map in the matrix during production. Please NOTE the title "NAME" to each battery...I looked at this for a considerable amount of time before I realized the assembly line coordinators tried to work with the documentation from the Engineering Staff to "make it as it looks"...Could this single oversight be the reason of a four foot ten inch critical ground wire combination traveling the distance to "EVENTUALLY" terminate at ground? From a basic engineering standpoint regarding ground...you "NEVER CHOOSE THE PATH OF EVENTUAL GROUND" !!! 

 

It is to be the shortest and most concise connection in reference to ground...this is biblical in ALL ELECTRONICS...including pickup trucks.  !

 

Here is the Factory Service manual documenting the PCM circuit board reference ground starting as a pair of #14 gage wires being spliced into a #10 gage bundle and arriving at the Auxiliary Battery through another connector that joins a #8 gage wire that is "splice-joined" under plastic conduit in a Y configuration joining the rouge #8 gage "after passing over the alternator" traversing the entire engine compartment from the driver side of the vehicle. Seriously 

 

I have been drinking excessively, most recently, due to the nature of this blatant discovery.   

 

This is the hidden Y splice at the Auxiliary Battery where the "mess" EVENTUALLY terminates for ground reference.

 

This photo shows the correct "HOLE" of where to apply ground for the VP44, ECM and the PDC...note the logical location

 

It took a little research to find the size and proper thread-pitch.

 

Metric M5 with a 5/16" hex head is perfect

 

This is where you apply a fresh "quality" #6 gage ground and terminate this at the Main Battery negative post on the drivers side for absolute ground reference for the VP44 and ECM 

 

This is a very short and concise reference to ground.

 

This is the corrected procedure for a rather critical ground.

 

The two largest wires originally contained within the 1 inch conduit are no longer present and located well away from the alternator.

 

My alternator B+ "charge" line is now a #4 gage line directly connected to the Auxiliary Battery and when my new battery terminals arrive and they are secured, I'll provide photos of a completed Master Power Supply System within this engine bay. 

 

With these corrections, I would hypothesize that a poor ripple specification on a given alternator would be overcome by the immense capacitance of the parallel batteries and would become less prone to causing the dreaded TC lock/unlock for automatics and cruise-control abnormalities for the manual transmission platforms. 

 

The #8 gage Blk/Tan passing over the alternator as an "EVENTUAL" ground is gone...the PCM, ECM, VP44 and the PDC are now grounded in accordance of standard Electronic Engineering practices.

 

Respectfully

W-T  

Edited September 3, 20195 yr by IBMobile
spelling

4 minutes ago, RipnRam99 said:

I have no idea how to do that... I am sure I don't have the tool... I was interested in the thread about upgraded alternator though... I have a bi-amped stereo, and plan to add extra lights in the future.

Thanks for letting me know though. It seems I might need to find a good electrical shop to have them test that.

It is not hard to do and only requires a good volt meter.

9 minutes ago, RipnRam99 said:

I have a bi-amped stereo, and plan to add extra lights in the future.

 

This might be good time to talk to @W-T about abandon the stock alternator and head upwards to a quality alternator like he's done being he powering high power ham radios.  The stock alternator tend to be dirty power and the diodes are marginal for hold barely the truck without grid heaters but fo you have all that extra lighting, dual stereo amps, grid heater then alternators diodes are going to fail quickly. 

Ah... Well, an ex-employee just recently stole my Fluke meter, so I'm still screwed till I Dole out for a new one.

So... If, when I start the truck, and it takes several seconds for the amps to come up (sometimes it trips the check guages light for a second) ... And.. if when it's idling, or driving at low speed (10-15 mph on the dirt road) and my guage goes up and down, and the head lights dim and get bright over and over again... Is that normal? Because my old truck has been doing that ever since I can remember... The new truck sort of does that too, bit I don't notice the head lights, I think because they are LED...

11 minutes ago, RipnRam99 said:

If, when I start the truck, and it takes several seconds for the amps to come up (sometimes it trips the check guages light for a second) ... And.. if when it's idling, or driving at low speed (10-15 mph on the dirt road) and my guage goes up and down, and the head lights dim and get bright over and over again... Is that normal?

 

Yeah and no. 

 

If its the grid heaters then the load is pulling between 95 to 190 amps on a 140 Amps just with the grid heaters. Then you stack on the dual stereo amps now your well over the stock alternator limits of duty. So this why I suggest going up in alternator or remove the grid heaters as a band-aid. Still this will not fix the diode issue currently happening there is no magically cure that will fix burnt diodes. 

 

 

So to keep the stock alternator you'd have to ditch your stereo amps and the grid heaters at the bare minimum.

Edited March 24, 20187 yr by Mopar1973Man

So... Trying to follow... Here's what i got in my head.... The alternator wire is pulled out of the loom and now connected to passenger battery. Then the ground is pulled out of the loom and the group of grounds is connected under vp with a jumper to drivers battery? Sorry lots of info that is slightly over my head so trying to follow along 

That's it in a nut shell.

8 hours ago, Dodgeih said:

So... Trying to follow... Here's what i got in my head.... The alternator wire is pulled out of the loom and now connected to passenger battery. Then the ground is pulled out of the loom and the group of grounds is connected under vp with a jumper to drivers battery? Sorry lots of info that is slightly over my head so trying to follow along 

I was having the same problem following along... I read it 3 times, and I just about 99% sure you've got it right... I believe he is also saying to replace the positive cable, leading from the driver side battery to the passenger side battery, with a larger higher grade cable as well.... 

Am I right guys? 

Edited April 9, 20186 yr by JAG1

Here are my notes on this....... a quick summary;

  1. Remove Alternator charge wire from harness, remove connection to the PDC. Using #4 wire run the B+ charge wire to the passenger battery.

  2. Make the 4 grounds existing in front of the VP44 gathered with shrink tube go to a 10-12 ring terminal that bolts to the vp44 housing to the left and down from the overflow valve(see pic). Run a ring terminal using #6 wire from that same location and run to drivers battery .

  4. go with 8 gauge wire from PCU ground to negative side on passenger battery.

 

 

Edited June 10, 20186 yr by JAG1

I hunt been following this for long but what’s the purpose of these mods ?

Edited June 10, 20186 yr by JAG1

It's a fix to try to eliminate unwanted signal noise, due to improper grounding. The excessive noise screws with the signals being passed between the PCM/ECM and various sensors. This causes a variety of issues... Most notably are torque converter lock up issues with auto trans trucks.... Atleast, that's the reason I've been following this... I have a ridiculously expensive trans made of unubtanium, with unicorn blood for fluid (LOL!) And, if my battery terminals aren't clean as a whistle, it can't decide wheather to be in 3rd gear or overdrive at speeds between 40-50 mph... It's annoying as hell, when it happens... This is supposed to fix that.

2 minutes ago, RipnRam99 said:

It's a fix to try to eliminate unwanted signal noise, due to improper grounding. The excessive noise screws with the signals being passed between the PCM/ECM and various sensors. This causes a variety of issues... Most notably are torque converter lock up issues with auto trans trucks.... Atleast, that's the reason I've been following this... I have a ridiculously expensive trans made of unubtanium, with unicorn blood for fluid (LOL!) And, if my battery terminals aren't clean as a whistle, it can't decide wheather to be in 3rd gear or overdrive at speeds between 40-50 mph... It's annoying as hell, when it happens... This is supposed to fix that.

I don’t know if you know this but squirt motor oil on your terminals and they will stop corroding.

Edited April 9, 20186 yr by Marcus2000monster
My spelling sucks

2 hours ago, JAG1 said:

3. Use #4 wire from battery ground to battery ground.

I missed this part. Are you sure about it?

56 minutes ago, dripley said:

I missed this part. Are you sure about it?

I think W-T means to do this #4 wire from batt to batt ground in addition to what is already there. 

Edited April 9, 20186 yr by JAG1

3 hours ago, Marcus2000monster said:

I don’t know if you know this but squirt motor oil on your terminals and they will stop corroding.

I've never heard that one before.... I usually use permatex terminal dressing. That redish spray on stuff... Most of the problem really was from the worn out cable ends... I tried to order all new cables from Napa, but they didn't even have half of them... Found a place online that had a complete set, spacifically for 2nd gen dodge diesel. But they were wildly expensive... Like $400! I can't remember where I saw them, but that was pretty much the only place I found all of the cables in one place.

Try cleaning them well and hit them with oil. See what happens. 

11 minutes ago, RipnRam99 said:

I've never heard that one before.... I usually use permatex terminal dressing. That redish spray on stuff... Most of the problem really was from the worn out cable ends... I tried to order all new cables from Napa, but they didn't even have half of them... Found a place online that had a complete set, spacifically for 2nd gen dodge diesel. But they were wildly expensive... Like $400! I can't remember where I saw them, but that was pretty much the only place I found all of the cables in one place.

You can make them yourself for about $120.

I've done mine already.  This is what I did.

1  Disconnect batteries

 

2  Unplug ground wirer, the one (black/yellow) that comes by the alternator, at the aux. battery.

 

3  Remove the charging wire from the B+ terminal of the alternator.

 

4  Remove alternator top bracket.

 

5  Remover the ground and charging wire from plastic conduit removing the 3 clamps as you go.

 

6  Remove the 10mm nut that holds the charging wire at the PDC and throw the wire in the trash.

 

7  Cut the ground wire where the 4 wires are spliced into it and throw the old ground wire in the trash.

 

8  Strip the 4 ground wires an solder the in to a #10-12 1/4" eye lug.  You may have to spread the end of the lug open to fit all the wires be for you solder.

 

9  Install new 1/2" conduit on remaining wire that are in front of engine and reinstall the 3 clamps. Tape ends as you go with quality electrical tape.

 

10 Make the ground cable from engine to main battery.  Cut #6 AWG cable 18-20" long and solder lugs on.  I used a small butane torch to do this.  Don't for get to orientate the lugs for minimum cable twist and slid the heat shrink on the cable before you put the lugs on.

  

11 Attach ground wires and cable to engine case with the 5mm x0.08 bolt an a flat washer and attach other end to main battery negative clamp.

 

12 Make the B+ charge cable from alternator to the auxiliary battery.  Cut the #4 AGW cable 20" long slide on the heat shrink and solder on the lugs.  The sides of the #4-1/4" lug that goes on the alternator B+ post may have to have its side ground off by a few thousands to make it fit in the insulator.

 

13 Attach the B+ charge cable to the B+ terminal of the alternator and the auxiliary battery positive clamp.  Refit alternator top bracket.

 

14 Inspect all work, reattach all battery cables to the batteries and rest APPS.

 

15 Start engine and test DC and AC voltage at B+ terminal and both batteries. 

   

A battery shop has the cable and lugs.  The rest of the materials, (solder, heat shrink' cable cover, #12 -1/4 lug, bolt and washer), came out of my supplies, 

 

2' #6 AWG        $5.54

2' #4 AWG        $5.54

1 #6 -1/4" lug        .47

1 #6 -5/16" lug       .47

1 #4 -1/4" lug        .47

1 #4 -5/16 lug        .47

             TOTAL 12.96

 

Edited April 9, 20186 yr by IBMobile

@IBMobile. No need to connect a ground to both battery neg posts, correct? I did not read that in @W-T's original post.

No   Just the new ground, #6 AWG cable, to the main, left side battery.  

Then do you just hook up the ground that runs back behind the air cleaner back up to the battery on the passenger side? Since that ground splits into a y