4th gear hunt back again

[JAG1]

Glad you got it fixed and shared experience with how many alt's are actually not right before finding a good one.

As far as I know, Mike is one of very few people teaching about checking the Vac.

Of all my diesel truck readings, this site has helped me understand so much more than all others.

Edited June 9, 2014 by JAG1

[Dave3500]

I totally agree Jag1. If I have a problem or just want to heck out whats new for our trucks I come here 1st!

 

Just cleaning up all the grounds made my truck run better, wasn't really rust so much as it was oil. Some of it is from the engine but I also oil spray  the entire underside & inner panels.

 

There has to be something that's blowing out the diodes that's causing the problem. Maybe on the remans the diodes are 16yrs old too. In my case the Alt was changed in 99, the hookups are different, so in my case I've been getting 16yr old 200K rebuilts!

 

Thanks again guys,

Dave

[Ilikeoldfords]

That is the other problem with reman starters and alternators. I sell plenty of both and have noticed a few things with them. Most of the time, when they are being "rebuilt", they are only replacing what actually went bad in that particular unit. There  are a couple of things that get replaced in all of them like bearings but for the most part unless it is truly bad, everything else just gets left alone in there.

[Dave3500]

So I took it out today to pick up some fence on the way, about 20 min drive, country roads it was perfect. Shut the truck off, got it loaded up, set for maybe 20mins, pulled out of the place & it was slipping/hunting like crazy. Now what should I do? I don't have a tester like Mikes. Pull the alt off & get it rechecked or take it to someone that can put a scope on it.

 

Did anyone ever fix this problem? Does anyone recommend the use of a TC lockup switch? I sent a PM & the reply I got was that was the only way he can get his truck down the road was to install one. It's coming to that point here. He also yanked his Auto out & put in a 5-speed manual, hope I don't have to do that!

 

What next,

Dave

[Dave3500]

That is the other problem with reman starters and alternators. I sell plenty of both and have noticed a few things with them. Most of the time, when they are being "rebuilt", they are only replacing what actually went bad in that particular unit. There  are a couple of things that get replaced in all of them like bearings but for the most part unless it is truly bad, everything else just gets left alone in there.

That's what I sorta figured! In my case the new one was bad & the reman was OK, or at least until I drove it for 20Mins! Could I have killed it?

[Mopar1973Man]

Remember all grounds for the ECM, PCM and VP44 are the actual battery cables. The body ground that you see under the hood is for auxiliary things like lights, horn, etc.

[Dave3500]

Hi Michael, my battery connections are perfect, cables in great shape, & the batteries themselves don't have many hrs use, most is when we drove it to Tybee Island, Georgia! 

 

Anything else you can think of? I bought my 14G blk stranded wire & a toggle switch to do the TC lockup switch, because it's undrivable now! I'll let you guys know how it all works out. I'm still going to take the truck back to the guy that pulled my tranny, he will scope it for me just to make sure my newest Alt is still OK after just 20mins of driving.

 

Thanks,

Dave

[pepsi71ocean]

Hi Michael, my battery connections are perfect, cables in great shape, & the batteries themselves don't have many hrs use, most is when we drove it to Tybee Island, Georgia! 

 

Anything else you can think of? I bought my 14G blk stranded wire & a toggle switch to do the TC lockup switch, because it's undrivable now! I'll let you guys know how it all works out. I'm still going to take the truck back to the guy that pulled my tranny, he will scope it for me just to make sure my newest Alt is still OK after just 20mins of driving.

 

Thanks,

Dave

 

 

Dave,

 

I just went through this with my oem starter.

 

Pull your alternator off and then take the back apart, and look at the diod bridge, and then look at your brushs, if they are worn replace them, my alternator had good diodes, but the brush pack had almost a 1/4 inch gap between the two in height, the one pack was still touching but barely.

[Mopar1973Man]

Dave,

 

I just went through this with my oem starter.

 

Pull your alternator off and then take the back apart, and look at the diod bridge, and then look at your brushs, if they are worn replace them, my alternator had good diodes, but the brush pack had almost a 1/4 inch gap between the two in height, the one pack was still touching but barely.

 

Alternator typically is the the cause of all torque converter lockup issues. I was shock with Pepsi about the brushes being wore out but totally forgot about them being a cause of AC noise. I've now heard of 2 cases of alternator brushes being a cause and rest of them tend to be diode issues.

[Dave3500]

Alternator typically is the the cause of all torque converter lockup issues. I was shock with Pepsi about the brushes being wore out but totally forgot about them being a cause of AC noise. I've now heard of 2 cases of alternator brushes being a cause and rest of them tend to be diode issues.

[Dave3500]

The TC switch has helped the most so far esp on the highway. But if I use it like the guys do on YouTube, it just goes immediately into OD at any speed. So if I turn the switch on in 2nd going 20 MPH it skip the ready of the gears.

I did take it back today & the guy adjusted my throttle cable. I will have him scope it to rule out the 1hr old reman.

So if I leave the switch off it won't go into 4th just slips back down to 3rd, so at that point I just hit the switch!

I have some farm maintenance issues to do for the next few days so it will just be sitting in the garage till next week!

Thnx,

Dave

[Dave3500]

I decided to do some more PM canged the fuel filter, my fuel pressure dropped to 11 PSI, since I haven't done it for awhile. I bumper the starter a few times to get the Raptor working to refill the canister. But while cranking my batteries lost there power, no problem, I connected the jump box & it readily fire up. So now I get the check gauges light on & no charge on the volt gauge. I went to Advance & they just told me what I already knew, 11.2 Volts.

 

This gets interesting, the gat me a name & number of a new diesel shop in town, Unlimited Diesel Power. They were able to take me right a way to check my Alt. I was thinking that something was causing me to lose these Alt so quickly. But after they hooked up the meter my alt was putting out 30 Volts so I blew the regulator. They told me to get my money back for the Advance Alt & get one from NAPA.

 

To make a long story short, he just took a 6-speed out of a 2001 truck, he is getting a price together for the swap, I'm excited! 6 years of on & off 4th gear hunt may finally be over! YES!!!!!!!

 

I'll keep you posted,

Dave

[Dave3500]

Hi Guys, put in a Brand New NAPA Alt, I'm not getting anything but fully charged Batt reading on my volt meter.Guess I'll have to go back to NAPA tomorrow. On my 98.5, what's the little in line black box for? What damage could have my other Alt done by blowing out my regulator?

 

Oh Boy,

Dave

 

Nothing on the 6-speed trans yet!

[eddielee]

4th gear hunt to alternators, 

I assume the alternator drawing energy from the engine will reduce the power available causing a downshift.

 

Honestly, towing in OD has never been recommended by any auto manufacturer...

 

If driving an auto while towing a trailer or a heavy load I recommend that if you do use OD that you drop the gear manually once the trans has shifted down the first time to gain power for the hill.

 

This will prevent any vehicle from hunting.

 

Remember you are the operator of said vehicle...

 

I have always down shifted my auto trans for preferred performance and to prevent hunting.

Driving up hill is one of the worst at causing an automobile to hunt, even, and especially, passenger cars.

Edited June 9, 2014 by eddielee

[Dave3500]

My truck is at the shop waiting for it's turn  in a bay. It's going to happen, the rebuilt Auto will be for sale by the end of the month on craigslist

 

My new motto:

 

6 in a row, makes it go,

6 on the floor, gives you more!

 

Can't wait to tow the pontoon up to Canada w a 6 speed. Getting a 13" South Bend single disc clutch to control the lock up! Should be more than adequate for what I need. Won't have to baby an automatic for fear that it will 4th gear hunt any longer!

 

So I no longer have to be concerned w a throttle position sensor?

 

Dave

 

 

[Dave3500]

Well, ran into problems in the shop, hydraulic clutch wouldn't bleed so it had to get

Swapped for another. They also had to custom make a 2 piece drive shaft, because

Mine is 2wd reg cab. So after all that had a bad vibration & already missed two days

of vacation, so we had to rent a 10' box truck to pull the pontoon up here to Canada.

Truck is now done waiting for me to pick it up.

Dave