Time to MegaSquirt it? All those finicky "factory computer" doodads just get in the way of a proper project if you ask me. Unless they work, which case I grumble a lot less about it. Although, if HP Tuners is expensive (not judging) then an MS swap is properly in the very expensive category.
Error404 said:Time to MegaSquirt it? All those finicky "factory computer" doodads just get in the way of a proper project if you ask me. Unless they work, which case I grumble a lot less about it. Although, if HP Tuners is expensive (not judging) then an MS swap is properly in the very expensive category.
It might come down to that, but I want to give the stock wiring a go first. Speaking of that, I picked up an ignition switch at the junk yard this morning and headed back over to the car to give it another try. Sadly, no dice. I got a messge saying it couldn't read the fob and from then on, it would only display this message (sorry about the bad photo):
I ended up with a slightly different part number for the ignition switch as the junk yard didn't have anything that new. I got a "68299961AB" when the correct part number is "68299961AC". The guy I got it from is still looking for the original. If he hasn't found it by this weekend, I'll order the correct one online. I'm hoping the different part number means it can't read the newer key fob. Otherwise, I may have been given the wrong key or am wrong about the switch also being what reads the key and I'm missing some other module. Fun times.
Since the engine's on hold, I'm going to tackle the headlights tomorrow and try to button up the other small things needed to pass safety inspection.
I had a pretty good idea why the headlights worked intermittently:
So I fixed them:
I couldn't fit my heat shrink tube over the copper connector, so I ended up using electrical tape. I forgot to take a picture.
I had a safety inspection done on it and it failed. Needs a cat, it's Y pipe sealed better, and a sway bar link reattached (broken)
Today was a E36 M3 kind of day. I had the donor charger towed to my brother's garage from my folks place. I was driving the dodge down to my brother's to meet the guy. I got maybe 30 minutes into the hour drive when I noticed the temperature climbing. Which was odd since it had never move past a quarter on the gauge.
I decided to keep an eye on it and continue. It got a little past middle when things started to sound "wrong" and I headed for the shoulder. Just as I did, she shut down. Great.
Luckily my brother was on his was to his house so I called him and asked him to take car of the tow guy while I called brother #2 for a ride.
I ended up having tow guy come get the truck. $316 in to tow two cars in on one day. My pocket book is not happy.
But the truck and donor are now both at my brother's garage and I'm off work until the 2nd. So maybe I can make something happen.
Ugh. Merry Christmas indeed. Fingers crossed you can reach a reasonable fix before you have to go back to work.
A lot has happened since my last update.
I bought one entire Harbor Frieght garage section.
I sold my beloved Rambler Rebel. The car was too original and I like to tinker. So I was just letting her sit. It was time to let her go. Luckily I found a guy that's gonna make her his daily driver! His family had one just like it growing up, same color and everything. That was super cool.
Just like I stocked my brother's garage, I so stocked his new house.
Now that the creature comforts were sorted out, I could get back to the project at hand.
I needed the drivetrain out of the charger so I can get rid of the carcass. My brother gave me a month to do so before he scrapped whatever is left in the car. So that was first on the list. The only problem is the tow guy couldn't get the car into the garage, so it was parked outside in the gravel. I started to put it up on jack stands with intentions of pulling it where she sat. But both jack stands sank unevenly into the loose gravel and dirt. I do a lot of stupid things, but crawling under a car with no suspension while it sits on leaning jack stands is not one of them. I was going to have to get the car in the garage somehow.
Since it was late and I needed to brainstorm how to move a car with no front suspension, I decided to tackle the sagging, ill-fitting doors. It is at this moment I would like to take time to curse the engineers at Dodge. To adjust the door hinges, you must remove the dash. And as I learned a couple hours into that process, you have to remove the windshield to remove the dash. uh huh.
At this point my brother had come down, so I recruited him to help me pull the windshield out. I was pretty sure the gasket was on its last legs anyway.
That turned out to be a bad idea. In the process of trying to remove it, we managed to crack it. No pictures, sorry. As we were standing talking about how stupid we were, I started to smell a foul, rubbery burning smell.
Sigh. I'd had all the setbacks I could handle for one day, so I threw the truck up on wheel dollies, we pushed it to the side of the garage, and called it a night.
A new day dawned and with a renewed spirit, I avoided the problem completely.
Instead, my brother and I ran to town to get more provisions for his new place. On the way back we talked about our options for getting the car in the garage and hatched a plan.
It involved a tow dolly, a scrap hood, and a ratchet strap. We essentially ratchet strapped front wheels on to the car. It worked better than I expected. Unfortunately, I failed to take any pictures until the car was in the garage. It was quite a sight. I'm sad I didn't take any.
By this point we were both freezing. I could hardly feel my feet. So I headed back to town to buy the finest waterproof boots and wool socks Wal-Mart sells. Along the way I picked up some gloves and a coat that was better at blocking wind.
Morning brought some winter weather and I was glad to have those boots and socks. He really picked out a nice place. It's beautiful.
After enjoying my surroundings for a little bit, I hooked up the new shop heater I'd ordered on amazon. Roasty toasty! Time to work!
After running to the store to get larger torx bits, I removed the front driveshaft bolts only to find it won't come loose from the transmission. So I removed the 8 loctite-ed bolts from the rear diff, each one taking considerable torque to remove and not getting loose until the bitter end. But in the end, I prevailed!
I also went to the junkyard and procured the 5 low-frequency antennas that talk to the key for the "Enter N Go" keyless ignition system. I believe these may be the reason the car doesn't recognize the key. I also signed up for a subscription to AllData's DIY service for the 2018 Dodge Charger. I think it's going to end up helping a lot.
That's where I currently sit. I'm itching to get down there. I want to see if I can get it to recognize the key so I can try to communicate to the ODB-II system and maybe even start the engine. But all of that will have to wait. I have till this weekend to get my house ready for the realtor to stop by and it needs my attention.
Next steps:
Oh! One more thing. While trying to figure out why I couldn't get the driveshaft to come loose from the transmission, I came across this video.
I learned two valuable things:
But my god, chock your wheels!
If you were closer I have a windshield in my barn.
In reply to chandler :
I forgot to mention that I picked up another windshield when I was at the junkyard getting the antennas. But I definitely appreciate the offer!
I'm going to be ordering a bunch through LMC truck. I've already order the windshield gasket, windshield gasket locking strip, and the rear window gasket. I'm a little frustrated that their "tracking number" has no other information with it. I've tried the number at USPS, UPS, and FedEx and all three come up with nothing. I aslo googled the number and got nothing. I have an email in to their support with hopes that will bear fruit. You'd think the shipping service would be in the order information. Ho hum.
Engine swap is a no-go at this point. The antennas didn't fix the "key fob not detected" so I either have the wrong key, mismatched components, or bad wiring. Without a proper scan tool, I'm at a standstill. On top of that, it's looking like the front axle must be in place for the AWD trans to work, which complicates things.
Maybe someday I'll try out a megasquirt or find another pentastar donor that has complete electronics, but for now I'm going to stick with the 318/a999.
Progress will probably be slow for a while. I'm in the process of selling my home and looking for a new place with a garage. My brother is letting me temporarily move in with him so I can empty my current home of all my junk and sell it. I have a lot of packing and moving stuff to storage to do.
I was able to spend some time getting the windshield out the rest of the way. I also removed the bolts holding the top of the dash. The new front and rear windshield gaskets arrived from LMC Truck, so I have everything I need when it's ready to go back together.
The current plan is to finish removing the dash, align the doors, put the dash and windshield back in, and then address the exhaust and sway bar link that caused it to fail the safety inspection.
Welp, a lot has happened in the last year and half. Not much happened with the truck for the rest of 2021. I was house hunting, working 16+ hour days, and working through a slowly disintegrating relationship. I closed on a new place in December and would finally have my own insulated, powered, attached garage. I was excited to move out of my brother's place and start the new year with optimism.
But life had other plans. I was just getting settled in my new place. I'd bought some furniture and since my brother was ok with my projects staying at his place until I was ready, the truck stayed there. But the new year would not be kind. I can't get into details because it's active litigation, but the seller and I have a dispute that could see half of my yard lost and another house being built 40 feet off the side of my house. If that wasn't enough to sour the new year, my younger brother, the one I was living with and whom I've lived with close to 30 of my 37 years, suddenly passed away. I've never felt more lost and empty. I don't want to turn this build thread into a therapy session, so I'll leave it at "I didn't feel like working on projects".
But his passing did accelerate my schedule. The original plan was to have a parking area built to accommodate my collection of trailers and vehicles. I was also going to go through things and throw out what I didn't want or need anymore. That wasn't possible now. We had to get his house ready to sell and my houseful of stuff that was stored in his garage had to come over here. My new garage quickly got stuffed.
My house was also the only house with enough space for all his stuff, so the remains of his life were unceremoniously dumped in my basement. Life was hectic and hard.
Fast forward a few months and it's getting warm out. Usually my favorite time of the year. It did lift my spirits some, but I still didn't feel like working on anything. I did work on my antique amusement park go kart thingy a little, but the truck mostly sat. It wasn't until a couple months ago that I started to get that itch again.
My older brother and my dad have been incredible. My brother lives 3.5 hours away but still makes time to come down and visit and my dad comes over regularly. We started working on the truck as a reason to hang out and feel alive again. I need to sleep, and I'm terrible about keeping to plans, but I'll try to post some updates tomorrow. But here's a pic of the truck I took the other day.
In reply to Coder :
Wow dude, that's a lot of life experience in just 9 months. I'm sorry to hear about your younger brother. Thanks for bumping this truck back to page 1.
Sorry that you have had to go through all that. I am glad you came back to update us. I am happy for you that your dad and your other brother have been supportive.
Thanks, I appreciate that guys. Sorry it took 2 years to say it, lol.
Small update. I pulled the truck back into the garage and replaced the transmission pan gasket for a second time. The first one was a cheap rubber gasket and never sealed properly. This time I went cork and used gasket sealer. It seems to be holding this time. I forgot I had a freeze plug rot out and still had it removed, so wasted a bottle of perfectly good 50/50 premix lol. That's the next project. I have the old one out, but it's under the passenger exhaust manifold, so I can't get a hammer in there to put the new one in. I'm hoping the manifold and exhaust flange bolts cooperate and it gives me enough room to do it without pulling the motor.
When I started it to check the transmission fluid running, it had a nasty lifter tap that didn't seem to want to quiet down. I went to the parts store and picked up some Barryman B12 and went full Vice Grip Garage on it. I didn't expect positive results, but I'll be damned if the tap went away. I might have a new tool in the tool belt.
I desperately want to drive it, so I'm gonna try to get that freeze plug figured out quick. I've had this thing for too long without driving it!
I realize I never updated on the truck's progress.
After moving the truck from my brother's place to mine, my dad and I installed the new windshield. My brother changed the leaking transmission pan gasket, but it leaked almost immediately. It may have been the installation, but he's usually pretty good at this stuff. So I just replaced that gasket with the new cork one. The truck is mostly put back together. The interior is still taken apart, but I have everything in storage. The engine developed a loping issue. I suspect a vacuum leak of some kind. The brakes need attention now, as well. It pulls to the left pretty hard. So the list still has some things to get done, but it's pretty small and I'm feeling pretty optimistic.
In reply to Coder :
Any progress is good progress. We will be watching this thread with interest.
Never have I had to fight so hard to save a vehicle from the scrap heap. At this rate, the heap may win.
Since my last post, I've been trying to get it to run well enough to drive. The symptoms I'm dealing with are:
Things I've tried
Things I still need to look into:
This is what the reluctor looked like before I cleaned it up. Sorry, didn't take an after pic.
After installing the pick up coil, I reinstalled the distributor with the engine at TDC on cylinder 1 (compression stroke). But when I went to start it so I could set the initial timing, it turned very slow and then stopped like the battery was dead. I tried jumping the battery, but still only got "click" when I turned the key. It had been seeming to turn slower and slower as I worked on things, so I suspected a bad starter. I needed to run to the parts store anyway, so I crawled under to pull it out. And I found this:
Yup. Starter's leaking. No wonder it's not working. Better get that sealed up!
In all seriousness. I didn't like what I was seeing. Nothing up top was leaking water. So I either had a bad freeze plug or a cracked motor. I admit. It sat with water in the block for a winter. So both were possible.
After pulling the starter, however, I found it was just a rusty freeze plug.
Minor oil leak.
So I ran up to the parts store and had them test the starter while I picked up a new freeze plug and some other parts. I guess I should say I think I had them test it. They seemed to have trouble figuring out where all of the wires connected on their fancy pants testing computer. Ultimately, they decided it was bad. But they didn't have any in stock. I wanted to tear it apart before spending $100 on a "cheap" rebuilt one, so I just brought it back home.
Once home, I tore into the starter. The solenoid looked ok. There was some oil inside the casing, so the seals are starting to fail. I cleaned it out and moved on to the motor portion, where it was immediately and unmistakingly obvious the problem actually was. I give you my starter:
Yikes. You can actually see part of the problem in the picture of the starter on the truck where it's dripping water. There's a round hole in the casing that has become plugged with oil and gunk. I'm pretty sure this is a vent hole that doubles as a water drain. Since it was plugged, all that water that was making it past it's worn out seals had nowhere to go.
At this point, I just wanted to know if the pickup coil fixed my stalling problem, so I decided to clean everything up and see if it would work for a little bit, at least. Two cans of brake parts cleaner later and it wasn't looking terrible. The brushes are pretty worn out and unevenly from each other, but will work for now. I plan to replace the whole thing eventually.
I put it back together and reinstalled it (without replacing the freeze plug, of course). To my surprise it worked! The engine turned faster than it ever has with this starter and sprung to life. I adjusted the timing and tried to go on a test drive. But no, the pickup coil didn't fix the stalling issue. Back to square one.
Well, square 2 because you no longer have a bunked starter!
curious what ever happened with the yard and potential setback issue you mentioned a while back??
That's true! Minor victories are victories nonetheless.
The suit drags on, unfortunately. The judge wants us to attempt mediation, but the other party has not been very realistic with our previous negotiations. So I'm not that optimistic. But hopefully it will move the needle.
Attempted a compression test today. Halfway through the tester started leaking. Of course. I still finished the tests and can at least see that the cylinders are all high enough that I don't think it blew a head gasket when it overheated. The set I tested before it started leaking were 125-160 PSI. Not as even as I'd like, but all healthy enough. I'm going to run up to the parts store today and rent another tester just to verify.
I'm beginning to suspect a weak fuel pump. I've had the gauge inline while I've been trying things and noticed it was only at 10 PSI when I was running it last. It makes the most sense for the symptoms I have, too. I'm going to double check that after the compression test this evening. If it's actually that low, I'll drop the tank and see what's going on. Hopefully it's just dirty or clogged.
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