Squirrels Got Me Good

[LorenS]

I finally tackled this project today since it got up into the upper 40s and was sunny.  It looks horrible, hence no picture being posted.  The truck started, but the alternator wasn't charging, based on volt gauge.  CEL was on, but I did not take the time to plug in my OBDLink to check the code(s) to see if there was a companion to the obvious.  That will come tomorrow when I'm outside tending to some ribs on the smoker.

 

One thing that really got me was that plug C126 has two dark green wires going to it, and the rodent chewed them both!  They are wires D20 and K20, both are 18 gauge at that location.  K20 goes to the PCM and alternator for the field, and D20 is something I don't understand.  "SCI receive" or something along those lines.  I'm certain I didn't switch them when putting them into the WeatherPak connectors, but that will be the first thing I check tomorrow, followed by making sure I did a good job of building the connector.

 

No idea if this has anything to do with it, but I also noticed my fuel pressure (on the gauge) absolutely would not go above 12 PSI when I bumped the starter, then even dropped to 7 PSI when it started, and it started great, far less than 2 seconds of cranking.  Not bad for sitting several weeks.  I had disconnected the batteries back when I discovered this varmint mess.  I will put a trickle charger on the batteries tomorrow, I'm hoping the low fuel pressure reading was just because of low voltage.  Fuel tank almost full.

I also took @IBMobile's advice and spray a little critter ridder under the hood.  Hopefully the next time the engine gets up to temp I'm not run out of the cab by the smell of black pepper baking off of the intake manifold!

Edited January 30, 2022 by LorenS

[Doubletrouble]

Soooo, what time will the ribs be ready? 

 Sounds like your close. Maybe 1 wire somewhere just didnt get a good contact on the new plug setup? 

 i have no idea what "sci recieve" would be. Sorry

[LorenS]

47 minutes ago, Doubletrouble said:

Maybe 1 wire somewhere just didnt get a good contact on the new plug setup?

That's what I'm hoping.  That or a fuse from when the wires were all dangling there, possibly hot.  I don't know if it's possible, but I really hope it's not something like the PCM got a circuit smoked due to a short.

[Mopar1973Man]

Alternator charge is based on the blue and green wires from the PCM. The PCM has to see tach signal first BEFORE it turns on both the green and blue wires. The blue wire is +12V after tach signal. Then the green is variable ground also switched on after tach signal. If the blue wire shorts the 20A fuse is too big and typically burns the tracer out of the PCM so the blue wire never powers up at all. The green will work just fine with no issues. So verify the green and blue wires of the alternator first. Make sure the blue wire is +12V after starting and then reverse yourself around and test for ground on the green wire being the field is unplugged it should show as a solid GROUND being the voltage will be below 13.5 Volts.

[LorenS]

I fiddled with it some today, also checked my add-on PCM fuse and it was fine. After havin small charger on it all morning took a trip to the fuel station, came back and still no alternator.

 

Only after scrapping plans to haul my trailer tomorrow and driving the trailer around back of the house... Only THEN did the alternator start working! So aggravating, but at least it seems to work - until it doesn't again.

[Doubletrouble]

 So it just began working out of the blue? Weird.......

[LorenS]

3 minutes ago, Doubletrouble said:

just began working out of the blue

Basically. I'm assuming some wire somewhere shifted and finally made contact - which worries me even more about when it will shift and NOT make contact.

[Doubletrouble]

Exactly,  maybe when it's running reach in and wiggle some wires around. If she shuts down you'll at least have an area to look at.

[LorenS]

They got me again, as I mentioned in a partially hijacked thread. I had put mothballs on the driver's side, so this time mama squirrel built behind my BHAF and decided to not only give birth, she had a snack near my PCM.

@Auto Computer Specialist, do you sell the plug covers? Madam squirrel got the middle cover, too, the white one. 2001 PCM.

 

EDIT: I had sprayed these wires with Critter Ridder, but it had been a month or so.

 

Edited April 16, 2022 by LorenS

[Doubletrouble]

 OMG! That sucks! 

[Max Tune]

Ya it does!

I was just complaining that I have a sparrow trying to build a nest under the hood of my Ford. Left the hood propped open a bit and it seemed to have deterred her....... until I looked today, now she decided that under the radiator support, on top of and between the various coolers would be a better option. This has been going on for over a month, but I definitely will take my sparrow over your squirrel any day. When you get it all sorted again, cover everything in Cayenne Pepper and reapply once in awhile. Couple bites of that and they move on.

 

I spray wires and connectors with WD-40, then get the pepper on it while wet. It sticks better.

Edited April 16, 2022 by Max Tune

[LorenS]

14 minutes ago, Max Tune said:

I spray wires and connectors with WD-40, then get the pepper on it while wet. It sticks better.

That's some great advice!

 

Here's where I am now.  Thankfully I didn't have to lean much, back still hurts from my adventure a couple weeks ago with the fractured vertebrae.

 

[W-T]

@LorenSsorry to know of what has transpired under the hood. I lost my garage and have been storing my CTD undercover at the west side of my home. I too noted the issues with rodent wild life but, not to the extent of your situation. I elected to use electronic Ultra Sound with random flashing high intensity LED's

 

 

This is very inexpensive and arrives with two devices in a single package. The current draw is very low as I elected to tie them both directly to 12 Volts DC and my BatteryMINDer provides pulse-width float for my AGM's

 

The threshold of charge demand or extraneous parasitic current demand from both of these devices does NOT trigger the BatteryMINDer when they operate to emit Ultrasonic audio and flashing LED's in the sequential staggered order. Each unit sinks no more than 35 milliamps.

 

I mounted both small packages to the side of each battery so the LED's distribute light from opposite sides of the engine compartment. They both have miniature power switches to allow powering each one up with a 30 second delay between each unit to allow for separate sequential operation between the two units.

 

These devices will allow various DC supply levels 5 to 16 Volts or 4 AA batteries to operate. The package arrives with the various DC miniature cables and zip-ties to quickly provide operation.

 

All, wild life daytime and nocturnal avoid my truck like a plague...it has been extremely effective. No smelly chemicals or doping required.

 

W-T   

[Max Tune]

I haven't heard good results from ultrasonic repellers. 

[LorenS]

1 hour ago, W-T said:

wild life daytime and nocturnal avoid my truck like a plague...it has been extremely effective

That's all I have to hear, will order them ASAP, immediately if possible! Thank you for the suggestion!

 

I love my battery minder with the desulfator. I wonder how long my last set of batteries would have lasted if I hadn't had to fight a terminal off the post and thus cause a leak at the case-post interface. Or maybe the leak was there already and that's why I had to fight it, who knows. This was fairly early in my ownership.

 

EDIT: hopefully these are similar. The above example was sold out everywhere I looked.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07D118ZRJ/ref=cm_cr_othr_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8#cm_cr_carousel_images_section

Edited April 17, 2022 by LorenS
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[W-T]

@Max TuneI too was skeptical however; in review I found some of the YouTube short videos depicting the operation of these devices with caged critters reacting in very uncomfortable reactions once the devices were triggered into operation to be quite revealing. The package has warnings of not to torment domestic pets by exposing them to long term exposure.

 

@LorenSI should clarify that these devices have a vibration-control so, when you power up your given vehicle the device(s) shut down and remain dormant during vehicle operation. Once you arrive at a given destination the internal timer will begin the operational sequence at approximately ten minuets of "still time".

 

The operation is NOT constant, it actually goes on and off in a preprogrammed sequence to cause an uncertainty in it's operation to alleviate the animals from becoming accustomed to the annoyance. 

 

Also, I too, strongly rely on BatteryMINDer product and design. I eliminated the Fred Flintstone wet-cells shortly after purchase of this CTD to avoid the long term effect of sulfuric acid pheromones destroying the electronic aspects of this vehicle. Under-hood conditions are poor without volatile gasses being a continuous volatility that leads to uncertainty in the long term.

 

I achieved 16 years of flawless service from my first pair of AGM's religiously utilizing BatteryMINDer disciplines and carefully engineered platinum coated battery connectors to insure current flow integrity. Owning this CTD has been a pleasure and I believe conscientious forethought for longevity has paid off.

 

W-T             

[Great work!]

I have some kittens someone dumped they are eating lots of critters now even a mole. I keep them slightly hungry so they learn to hunt.

[LorenS]

2 minutes ago, W-T said:

I achieved 16 years of flawless service from my first pair of AGM's

Wow, that's amazing! I first learned about these desulfators actually being worth it from the Turbodiesel Register, it may have been Moses Ludel.

[Max Tune]

From everything I've seen, the rodents are repelled or react to them, but they become accustomed to the noise and ignore it. My dad put a few plug in ones in his garage that had a rodent problem. He said they worked for about a month, then they started coming back. Hopefully they work for you.

[Mopar1973Man]

Must be LOUD. I've got a few that are loud and when animals can't sleep they move on.