Electrical ground issues

[dripley]

I was going to revive an old thread on my issues but it seems ther are more than one. So I will give the Readers Digest version.

 

 About 4years ago I started having engine surging problems. It would surge about 3% to 5% and was annoying  and would set a couple of apps codes. But the problem got worse and would surge upwards of 14%. When it would go this far it would soon trip an apps code and would dead pedal. Always recovered, though it would take a few minutes. So I broke down and made my electrically challenged arse do some diagnostics on the apps and everything pointed to the sensor being bad. I bought a cheap one off of EBay installed and sure enough no surging. Ran that one a week or so and ordered a new Timbo. Installed it and bam right to surging again. Reinstalled the cheap no surging but now I have a p0222 code that won't go away. Cleared multiple times and it always came back immediately. And every so often I would get a MAP sensor code. I was not sure if the cheap apps was hurting anything so I put the Timbo back in

 Fast forward some and I decided to swap the MAP sensor with the spare I had to see if that was part of the problem. Well i broke that one and just had to stick the old one back in. I had to hit the road to go back to work and no surging and it has yet to surge since. The only I messed with was the MAP wiring harness, though I did have my hand shoved in around the ECM wiring harness at the ECM.

 Now on the trip back to Maryland I pick up another issue. CEL comes on with a p237 code and the engine is defuled and I can only accelerate at about 40 maybe 50%. Stayed that way for several miles then went back to normal. But it kept doing this on and off sporadically. This did morph itself into bouncing in and out of the defuel mode when ever I put much more than 40% throttle to the engine. No more codes either. I also noticed that whenever this happens the Scan Gauge is loosing the MAP signal.

 Fast forward to this week and I have the no start issue. I have messed with that for 3 days and after swapping the fuses around it has worked fine. One thing I did while messing with it Tuesday was grab the engine wiring harness near the ECM. I gave it good squeeze and moved back and forth what little it would move. Drove back to the motel and it ran like a scalded dog. No jumping in and out of the defuel mode and for now she is back to normal.

 My conclusion is that the grounds in the engine wiring harness that @W-T wrote about are most likely the cause of the multiple issues I have experienced over the past years. So i am going to take an extra day this weekend and see how many of them I can redo. 

[IBMobile]

@dripley I'm in the middle of doing this modification right now.  I took the old cables out last night and cut, striped and soldered the 4 ground wires into a 12 gauge eyelet that I split open to accommodate all of them.  I've made up a 6 ga cable for the ground from the case to the left battery and a 4 ga cable from the alternator to the right side battery.

 

Let me know if you need any in fo on this or what I can do to help.

 

@JAG1will probably want me to do this to his truck next time we go camping.  

[Red Rambler]

11 minutes ago, IBMobile said:

@dripley I'm in the middle of doing this modification right now.  I took the old cables out last night and cut, striped and soldered the 4 ground wires into a 12 gauge eyelet that I split open to accommodate all of them.  I've made up a 6 ga cable for the ground from the case to the left battery and a 4 ga cable from the alternator to the right side battery.

 

Let me know if you need any in fo on this or what I can do to help.

 

@JAG1will probably want me to do this to his truck next time we go camping.  

 

Following along. I am going to do this mod as well and install a new Nations alternator at the same time. Care to take any pictures of how you are routing B+ from your alternator. That is the only place I got lost is the B+ charge line, is that just running straight from the Auxiliary Battery? WT stated that the #6 wire that feeds through the 140AMP fuse is fully removed. Thanks.

[dripley]

50 minutes ago, IBMobile said:

Let me know if you need any in fo on this or what I can do to help.

Not sure how far I will get. I have a spare engine wiring harness that I opened enough to see the sensor ground splice at the ECM . Figured I would start with those since my sensors are having tough time. Then work may way to the others unless I am missing something. This was the portion of the harness I grabbed and wiggled. Your input is welcome.

[JAG1]

I bought all the stuff to do it. Its sitting there waiting because too many other projects. Waiting for nicer weather etc.

 

IBMobile, we might not get to stay long if we open a camp repair shop. 

 

Want to say its good we have older trucks that we know most the ins and outs for reliability. 

Edited April 5, 2018 by JAG1

[dripley]

21 minutes ago, JAG1 said:

I bought all the stuff to do it. Its sitting there waiting because too many other projects. Waiting for nicer weather etc.

 

Of course now that you have said all of the above, I check the weather at home this weekend. 1/2" of rain on Saturday and a 55* high on Sunday with clouds and wind. I think you did this on purpose ya scallywag.

[JAG1]

Don't ya' know guys live in Oregon are in charge of the rain coming over here first. Man, I gotta' remindya' all the time 

[dripley]

3 minutes ago, JAG1 said:

Don't ya' know guys live in Oregon are in charge of the rain coming over here first. Man, I gotta' remindya' all the time 

I guess you missed the memo. NO RAIN WHILE CHICKEN MAN IS HOME!!!please.

[JAG1]

I will try. No guarantees. You don't need rain when trying to do any kind of work. Like me, new headlights came in and we had rain almost all day.

 

 We do welcome it in summer, Especially last summer with smoke in the air throughout the entire NW. From California to BC, it was like you couldn't breath nor get cooled down as usual at night. It was like the air would not move for weeks. It was kind of strange.

[dripley]

Maybe I should not complain. It is supposed snow in Maryland Saturday. 5 to 8 inches. Man its April, winter does not want to let go out this way, This global warming is freezing me out.

[IBMobile]

                                                  @dripleygetting ready for the rain.

                                                  

 

I finished that grounding/alternator B+ modification that @W-T did the write-up on.  First time took a few hours to get everything right but now I could knock that time down to a couple of hours.

 

Cut the grounds here and throw the rest away.

 

#4 gauge wire from alternator B+ to aux battery.

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by IBMobile

[dripley]

4 minutes ago, IBMobile said:

.

                                                  

What more can you say to that.

 

What you show in the pictures could be done on wet ground or not. HMMMMM!!!

 

 

Still would like to address the sensor grounds too but that requires laying under the truck on dreary day.Thanks

[Dieselfuture]

9 hours ago, IBMobile said:

First time took a few hours to get everything right but now I could knock that time down to a couple of hours

I'm going to plan on hour and a half 

[dripley]

21 hours ago, IBMobile said:

#4 gauge wire from alternator B+ to aux battery

Can this be heavier gauge wire? I have my old battery cables and was thinking about using the old aux battery ground wire providing it is good shape and not corroded. It is a good bit bigger than the #4. How much bigger I dont know.

[IBMobile]

you can always go up in size but the limitation you will find is the size of the lug for the B+ terminal.  I used a #4 lug with a 1/4 screw size hole for that application and had to grind a few thousands off the sides to make it fit in the plastic isolator around the B+ terminal.  I think if you go any larger you will be doing a lot more grinding and may compromise the integrity of the lug.

 

I went to the battery shop I have an account with and bought 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 7, 2018 by IBMobile

[dripley]

35 minutes ago, IBMobile said:

you can always go up in size but the limitation you will find is the size of the lug for the B+ terminal.  I used a #4 lug with a 1/4 screw size hole for that application and had to grind a few thousands off the sides to make it fit in the plastic isolator around the B+ terminal.  I think if you go any larger you will be doing a lot more grinding and may compromise the integrity of the lug

Ahhh, I was not thinking about the alternator, only the battery. I have the military connectors with a 3/8" bolt. I will do a little looking as to what I can find. I like recycling old stuff if usable. 

[JAG1]

Hurry and get done Dripley, our 55 mile an hour gusts and rain are just starting. It will be at your place in 3 days. Don't blame me if smells a little like brake clean 

[dripley]

1 hour ago, JAG1 said:

Hurry and get done Dripley, our 55 mile an hour gusts and rain are just starting. It will be at your place in 3 days. Don't blame me if smells a little like brake clean 

AAhhhh!! The smell of brake cleaner in the morning.

[JAG1]

Dripley,

 

This morning I imagined running your creeper under a rain drenched truck, but the worse part is trying to roll over the chicken bones you use for gravel. 

 

Edited April 9, 2018 by JAG1

[dripley]

2 hours ago, JAG1 said:

Dripley,

 

This morning I imagined running your creeper under a rain drenched truck, but the worse part is trying to roll over the chicken bones you use for gravel. 

 

The beauty of the bones is that I can harvest the bones every other year and sell it for bone meal to the dog food plant.

Do you know where to get a creeper that rolls on chicken bones?