Posted by jdemaris on September 06, 2010 at 09:18:21 from (67.142.130.19):
For the first time ever, my truck wouldn't crank over yesterday. That when I was in the middle of nowhere, in the woods, with a full load of maple and oak.
My first thought was, it would be the last time I'd buy a junk NAPA battery. It tried to crank and then it just petered out, just as if that battery was bad. Note the battery is only a year old.
Keep in mind that these 1st generation Dodge-diesels use one big battery like many farm tractors, not duals hooked in parallel.
Luckily, I was parked on a steep mountainside, and I've got a standard trans. Rolled and popped the clutch in 2nd gear and it fired right up.
Truck is now in my shop am I'm still perplexed. I load tested the battery and it's fine. I then load tested battery power at various points. No power when I hook my tester ground to the engine. I also noticed that when I tried to crank the truck, the 10 gauge ground wire started to melt - that connects the battery ground to the body of the truck.
So - the fix ought to be simple, right? Acts like an engine/starter not getting a proper ground connection.
The main 00 sized ground cable runs directly from the battery to the engine block. There it is bolted with a large 13 mm bolt. So, I load tested at the bolt head and it reads fine. Then tested at the engine block and got nothing. And, the bolt is tight. ??? I pulled the bolt out, wire-brushed the block and brass cable end, and still, no-good. That's as far as I got. A simple fix has gotten a little complex.
I'm now wondering if that bolt got so oxidized, the threads are actually insulated? Doesn't seem possilble, but I'll have to figure it out tonight.
I'm thinking of just making up a second cable and running it from battery NEG directly to the starter.
Funny after all these years that this, all of sudden happened.
By the way, just for a test, I stuck some Vise-Grips on a starter-motor bolt. I then ran a jumper cable from the Vise-Grips to the battery NEG post and it fires right up. Seems the 10 gauge chasis ground wire was smoking because the starter was trying to pull high amps through it - since it was starving otherwise.
Anybody else ever have this happen to an old Dodge-Cummins?
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