No Start, no check engine light, no 'wait to start' - Code 1694

[Old Blue - 1998.5]

Any ideas? Truck sat for a month, batteries disconnected. The fuel tank was topped off before it was shut down, and the darn thing seemed to be running fine. Return after a month down South, charged batteries, reconnected them, attempt to start. No wait to start light. Electric lift pump ran for maybe a minute, not much fuel pressure. Bump starter, wait for fuel pressure...nothing. Crank engine, fired once and disengaged starter but did not run. No check engine light. Tried several times, but now not getting any fuel pressure and no fire from engine. Finally dragged out my DRB III (its the only tool that can reliably read these early 1998.5's) and can see message:

 

PCM DTC's 1 of 1

NO BUS MESSAGE RECEIVED

FROM COMPANION MODULE

 

CHRYSLER HEX CODE $DE

SAE TROUBLE CODE  P 1694

 

I expect I'll be cracking the big Dodge book and sorting out my testing procedures, but I would appreciate any helpful hints about things to look for. 

 

Old Blue had some trouble about three years ago when the computer failed in the fuel injection pump. At only 29,200 miles, It got a Blue Chip Diesel injection pump, a Reman Auto Electric ECM, a Glacier Diesel Power mechanical lift pump, and Airtex-Wells electric lift pump for priming, a fuel pressure gauge, and a diode bridge replacement for the alternator. Last year it got the harmonic balancer replaced after a curiously strong vibration at idle was noticed; the old one was shot with bonded rubber swollen and displaced. It did stop lighting the 'wait -to-start' light about a year ago, and the temperature display in the overhead console started not to function from time to time. I also noticed that the transmission seemed to be acting like it was hunting between the two top gears from time-to-time. I usually drive with the OD off since it rarely sees more than 55 mph on limited road system where I live up North. I've taken some hints here and since the new fuel injection pump was added, it has had a diet of 1 ounce per gallon of very high-quality PennzOil two-stroke oil blended at every fueling, to compensate for the lack of lubricating sulfur in the Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel.

 

Any Help or advice is certainly welcome and appreciated.  I have had a lot of help here from you Good Folks.

 

Thank You.

 

[kzimmer]

I had similar issues when my fuel system relay failed in the fuse/relay box under the hood. I swapped with the fog light relay. Still need to order another one.

[Mopar1973Man]

6 hours ago, Old Blue - 1998.5 said:

NO BUS MESSAGE RECEIVED

FROM COMPANION MODULE

 

Then the CCD Network wire map.

 

[Dieselfuture]

Possible mice chew through wires 

[Old Blue - 1998.5]

Howdy all, So here is what happened.  I did not identify any problems with wiring.  I had gone through the tests, clearing out the steps in the first procedure that Mopar1973Man had posted above, one by one, and finally got down to the Step 5 - (Using ohmmeter, check resistance between ground and terminal No. 30 (Black/Tan wire) on ECM connector. If resistance is less than 10 ohms, replace ECM.)  and with my ohmmeter showing less than 10 ohms of resistance, determined that it was appropriate to replace the ECM. Contacted Auto Computer Specialist, and after a week or so delay, received the rebuilt ECM and installed on truck.

 

So the CCD Bus seems to be communicating as that error code cleared, but now it shows a 0387 code "Crankshaft Position Sensor Supply Voltage Low" along with the 1693 code "DTC Detected in PCM" - the engine cranks but will not fire, and the lift pump is not priming. I used the DRB III to activate the lift pump and fill the filter can with fuel, but engine will not start, and lift pump will not run and pump fuel while cranking and attempt to start - Does it make sense that the presence of the sensor DTC is preventing the engine from firing?

 

How common is the failure of the Crankshaft Position Sensor?  While reading around the net, it seems like a bunch of folks have had to replace them, and judging by what I have read so far, it seems like it can be a real pain.

 

Any advice or knowledge about this would be helpful to me, and is appreciated. Thank You to Mopar1973Man.....

[dripley]

They do fail and the engine won't run with no input from the sensor. The lift pump issue could be the ECM or other wiring issues. If you look at the articles section under 2nd gen 24v, engine, and error codes you will see the procedure for checking the 387 code. Sorry I cannot link it.

[Old Blue - 1998.5]

Thanks dripley.....

[Old Blue - 1998.5]

Found another thread about this and learned that the if the ECM does not get an RPM reading from the crank sensor then it will not pump fuel...which makes sense.

 

Learning all the time....

[Old Blue - 1998.5]

An update. I had purchased a rebuilt ECM from Auto Computer Specialist. It turned out, after all the trouble-shooting steps and verifications were gone through, that there was no problem with the crankshaft position sensor - the problem was with the 'rebuilt' ECM from Auto Computer Specialist - (The old ECM that was on the truck was purchased from Reman Auto Electronics in Pennsylvania in 2016. I think it had been failing slowly over time, and I finished it off by attempting to start the truck with low batteries.)

 

So, as I was in a big time crunch at the time, I had Reman Auto Electronics overnight an ECM.  I can't say enough good things about RAE. I was able to confirm that that they had the ECM I needed in final testing, and that it could be buttoned up and sent out literally within two hours of my phone call. After I replaced the Crankshaft Position Sensor with a new one (I wasn't going to go through all the work to pull the old one just to test it, then put it back in), and installed the 'new rebuilt' RAE ECM, the truck told the DRB III that all the codes were cleared. I used the DRB III to activate the electric lift pump to prime, watched fuel pressure build, and fired Old Blue right up.

 

I still have not gotten back back with ACS over the defective 'rebuilt' ECM - Been too busy.

 

Anyway, Old Blue is going to be loaded down with a lot of my tools, equipment, fishing and outdoor gear and ladders and will be making the trip down to Oregon at the end of the month.

 

Thanks, guys for your help and advice, and for sharing your experiences, so we can all learn.

[Chiefn24v]

Great to hear about Reman Auto Electronics!  I have had a terrible experience with ACS over a very very similar situation.  I will not give ACS another penny, and customer service has been terrible.  Ill be calling RAE for sure.  

[Mopar1973Man]

Just sent in another ECM for 2012 Ram 6.7L with a p0606 code. No start or run condition. ACS is handling the repair as well speak. There was a slight pause in this being the truck is deleted and wanted to make sure the owner could reproduce the delete code for the ECM being the code / software is damaged. 

 

On 9/18/2019 at 9:37 AM, Chiefn24v said:

Great to hear about Reman Auto Electronics!  I have had a terrible experience with ACS over a very very similar situation.  I will not give ACS another penny, and customer service has been terrible.  Ill be calling RAE for sure.  

 

Make sure to tell @pepsi71ocean about this and get the information on the rebuilder list. I know not everyone can be pleased 100% of the time sorry ACS didn't hold up for you.