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W-T ground wire mod - Popping 150A circuit breaker

Mopar1973Man
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Mopar1973Man

Mopar1973Man

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Ok. 

 

I did the ground wire mod for my landlord Cummins Truck. He had a bad alternator (Bosch) which was crossing the 60mV line with AC noise. After the the mod it dropped to 10 to 12mV AC. Typically it does make a huge improvement.

 

Next day it pops the breaker. I assumed the diodes are bad enough to blow the breaker from shorting diode. Changed to a brand NEW Denso alternator.

 

Drove the truck to my house and the alternator was hot and pop the 150A breaker again. At this point its my breaker from my truck in place and it popped again which my truck has never popped the breaker.

 

 Found out a sticking grid heater relay could produce a enough current draw at 95A to overheat the intake horn (clue) which melted the back of the vacuum valve for his exhaust brake. So I unhooked the grid heaters from the drive side battery problem stopped. The other clue was the truck ran the batteries dead a few times which is weird to have him complain about dead batteries? Now with the grid heater out of the loop seems like the problem is resolved pointing out the grids heater have possibly been sticking. Remember boys and girls grid heaters on post heat do NOT light any thing on the dash showing the grid heaters are running other than the batter voltage is typically low. In this case the volt gauge would hang low for several minutes before popping back up. 

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Mopar1973Man

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Not really. 

 

Like my truck I've never had a issue being in the summer I unhook my grid heaters. Then in the winter hook them back up. In his case his relays that control the grid heater are arcing and sticking after 350k miles. Kind of would look like the worn contacts in a starter after a while. He needs to replace the grid heater relays. 

 

Remember it more about fixing the problem than drilling holes and adding bulbs on the dash that were never needed till 20 years later. Problem is the grid heater relays are shot. 

 

I posted this so people fighting a 150A circuit breaker issue with it popping is most likely the grid heater sticking for excessive long periods. In this case it popped a breaker so hard it trashed it in 2 days. Won't reset again (broken internally). This is why my breaker is installed in his truck. My new one is here I just got to install back in my truck.

 

My last step for him is to fix the P0341 code which I thought was AC noise because of how random the issue was. Seems like I've got my first cam sensor to replace ever! I can reset the code and drive for long periods no issues and then restart later on trip the CEL and the tach drops to zero. Then when it drops it limp mode and lacking power bad. When the tach comes back it jumps back up to reading correctly and the power is back.

Edited by Mopar1973Man
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Mopar1973Man

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In the this case the cam sensor got replace that stopped the P0341 code. Then the grid heaters remain unplugged for now and still the circuit breaker is holding. My new one is here on my desk waiting to be installed.

 

Oh just for teaser...

 

Cam sensor on a 2001 truck can be changed in under 30 minutes. 

Edited by Mopar1973Man
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1 minute ago, 01cummins4ever said:

Yep been their done that one, a 1/4 drive ratchet with a couple flimsy extensions for flexing 

 

Bingo. I got lucky here was enough dirt on the allen socket that it wedged up and stayed on the socket. The biggest part was lining it all back up and getting the screw back in.

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Dieselfuture

Dieselfuture

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I changed mine with no issues, was always wondering why people say you need to remove the vp, I think it took me like 15 minutes total. All about practice working on other vehicles all this time among other things. I can see it being a challenge for someone that is just now figuring out what tools are. 

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