In reply to Ben_Modified :
Glad you're enjoying the thread! I did notice when I checked the oil last that it was overfull. I chalked it up to oil slinging up on the dipstick tube, but yeah, I bet it's dumping fuel in the crankcase.
In reply to Ben_Modified :
Glad you're enjoying the thread! I did notice when I checked the oil last that it was overfull. I chalked it up to oil slinging up on the dipstick tube, but yeah, I bet it's dumping fuel in the crankcase.
Tonight after work, I swapped the fuel pump.
(Not so) Old and busted. Less than a year old and dead as a doornail.
The new and old pumps. The gold one is a Carter, which the truck came with from the factory. Hopefully, it likes it better than this Delphi one.
New pump mounted with a new filter. I also checked the oil, and it smelled a little stinky, so that will get changed soon.
The good news is that it runs perfectly again. No starting fluid needed to start it, either. A few cranks and it fired right up and settled into a proper idle. Now I can do truck stuff again, and just in time for Spring!
As a follow-up from yesterday's post, I was able to tune the carb a bit today. Idle speed on the fast idle cam and at normal was now WAY too high with the engine getting actual fuel. I was able to set it to factory settings and tune the idle circuit screws properly, and man, what a difference in everything. It drives so much better than it ever has now. After fueling up and dumping a can of Seafoam in the gas, I decided to drive it all over the place today. So far, the gas needle hasn't moved. Either the gas gauge is broken again or the thing is consuming fuel at a much more normal rate.
Also, I changed the oil tonight. The oil smelled NASTY. It smelled like fuel and starting fluid. Yikes. I also dumped a qt of Lucas in it because it's been getting a bit clattery on startup lately, so hopefully that helps. Now I can focus on all the other stuff I have planned in the coming weeks.
Yesterday morning, I got up like I do on most weekend days: get dressed, pour some coffee into my travel mug, and go do Truck Stuff.
I get in the Power Wagon, pump the pedal, and CLACKCKCKCKCKCKCKCKCKCCKCK. It wouldn't turn over.
Ugh. Now what?
Immediately, I started thinking of things that would make this thing, which worked perfectly a few days ago, not start.
-Bad battery? It's about a year old, but it's been fine. It had 12.4 volts at the battery, but was there a dead cell? My charger/tester said otherwise. That's not it.
-Alternator? This is the 3rd alternator that's been on the truck since I got it, but it's been good at doing alternator things. Battery tested good so scratch this off the list as well.
-Bad starter? I bought this cheap, questionable mini-starter for $39.99 NEW on Ebay a couple years ago. Did it die?
-Starter relay? I haven't touched the thing since I got the truck. Did it fail?
If you guessed that a wire from the horn relay fell out of it's butt connector repair, you win!
Not sure if this is this way with all old Mopar trucks, but I completely forgot that if this horn relay wire is disconnected, the truck won't start. I learned this back when I was replacing the horns a couple years ago. I re-acquainted these wires with each other, and a touch of the key and the truck fired off.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
Simple fix FTW
My '77 Ramcharger and '77 D200 Do not have Horn Relays from the factory - I am pretty sure that the '78 and Older Trucks Do not have a factrory horn Relay ??!?!? Some things began to get upgraded in the -79-81 Era before the Facelift of the bodies that was in effect until the end of the '93 Model year.
My 78 B200 does however have a factory horn relay like the Cars do.
My '77 Will not "beep" unless it is running. Key can be "on" but the battery or volaage drop etc. is enough that the horn will not beep until it's started and the alternator is charging.
That part of it is goofy, for sure.
I have less 1sthand knowledge of the 79 and newer trucks with regard to the horn relay. The state inspection garage was arguing with me one year when it would not beep with the engine not running, and I explained that whole mess above ↑↑↑, they eventually passed it after I explained the whole no relay thing, but really didn't believe it either.
Greg
In reply to slantsix :
To be honest, I'm not even sure it's a horn relay. There's a plug on the side of the radiator shroud where that wire goes, so I always assumed it was the relay. Mine also doesn't "honk" unless it's running. That threw me off when I installed it, I'll tell you that!
Another quick update: just got gas for the 1st time since the fuel pump swap. Went from 5mpg to 8.5mpg. That 8.5mpg was also with a lot of idling and some light carb tuning, so it runs better now than during half of that tank. I bet I can crack double digits now! I'm also on my 2nd tank of fuel system cleaner, so hopefully that should clear things up a bit. Fuel coming out of the tank is looking better and better.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
I'm a firm believer fuel system cleaner does wonders.
Last night, my wife needed to pick up a huge canvas for her work at a craft store. It wouldn't fit in her CX-5, so she asked if we could use the truck. Store was a couple towns over, so no big deal. We get there, and although they said they had it in stock, nope. Next closest store was about 30 miles away, and we had to get there before they closed. That meant the only way to get there was... gasp... the highway.
I try not to take the Power Wagon on the highway. It has 4:10's and a 727, which means it screams at highways speeds, and for an elderly V8 with lots of blow-by, that can spell disaster. Well, I figured if it was going to blow up, I might as well make it spectacular.
No such thing happened.
In fact, for the first time ever since I dragged it home, dare I say it LIKED the highway. The new fuel pump combined with proper carb tuning made it run just fine. It cruised nicely at about 60-65MPH and didn't fuss at all. I mean, the truck overall is still as sloppy as a wet noodle, but it tracks straight and cruises decently at highway speeds now. That's amazing considering its history.
That said, there is much room for improvement. For one, I HATE the shocks on the truck. I got the cheapest Monroes to replace the rotted ones it came with, and they are terrible. When I do the front springs, I'll probably pencil in some new shocks as well. The steering is sloppy, and I can't tell if it's tie rod ends or the box. Everything seems tight enough underneath the truck and it goes down the road straight, and I just greased it all a few weeks ago. And then there's the tires. They are super old, but still in great shape with no tread cracking or dry rot. I'll be replacing them eventually with something bigger. I still have a long way to go, but looking back, the truck has come such a long way from when it came home.
Another thing while it's on my mind...
Still planning on bypassing the ammeter and installing the voltmeter. I pretty much have it figured out wiring-wise, but I've been thinking about another part of the charging circuit lately: the alternator.
This truck has the 60A unit, and at some point in the future, I'm going to to add some more electronics/lighting, and it's barely adequate now for what's there. Someone really early on in the thread mentioned using a GM CS-series alternator from a FWD 1993ish Buick Park Ave. How hard is this swap? IIRC, that's also an internally regulated alternator, so it would replace the troublesome external regulator these trucks have. Are we talking a bolt-in affair with some light wiring, or do I have to swap brackets and other stuff?
I have 4.10's in my 77 'ol Blue with the Manual Trans and 285 85 -16's It screams on the highway but I have towed all over the east cost.
No Issues.
Greg
One thing I've been meaning to do is clean up under the hood a bit. Although it's a lot cleaner than it was 2 years ago when I dragged it home, I do want to make it look more presentable under there. One sore spot is the valve covers. Here's an old shot:
Here, they just look like they have some patina, but they have gotten progressively rustier since this pic. While I could just pull these and paint them, that leaves the truck down for a couple of days, and it's Truck Stuff season. I decided last weekend to stop by the town junkyard and snag a pair of valve covers to paint up and swap.
I got these real cheap, and yep, they are UGLY. Also was able to grab 9 out of the 10 bolts with the spreaders and all of the wire holders, which are getting tough to come by, so those were worth the price alone. But I was in a hurry, and I didn't notice that the one on the right has some dents (look at the front). Bummer. I will use this as an excuse to get a hammer and dolly kit to try and get the dents out.
Also, since when are stock, undesireable LA 318/360 valve covers so expensive online? I was looking at getting just one to replace the dented one, but the cost for one is TRIPLE what I paid for these! Even if I just repaint the ones on the truck, it's always nice to have a set of spares on hand.
Oh, and I almost forgot! Check this out:
We're up to 9mpg after all that fuel system work. I strongly believe I can hit 10+ now. That's a Herculean feat for a full time 4wd, 5000lb truck from 1979 with a loose-as-a-goose V8 topped by a 2bbl carb, but we're almost there! It still starts kinda funky due to choke weirdness, but once it's warmed up, it's as smooth as it gets for one of these things. Runs great on the road too.
This morning, I went to the Hammer Store to... well... buy some hammers. And dollies.
I've never used these before, but I've always wanted to learn. My first victim were those valve covers I got last week. The driver's side was crunched a bit, but that part will be toward the back of the engine by the booster, so if I can bang out the dents to be "close enough", that would be cool.
After some wire wheel action, this is what we were dealing with. Yuck.
After some massaging, I decided to file some of the high bits down. A little better, but those creases were concerning. MOAR HAMMERS (and dollies)
WHOA. This is after some more tappy taps, some additional filing and wire wheel cleanup. Not perfect, but so, so much better than what I started with! I can work with this.
I'm going to use either body filler or some JB Weld to fill in the imperfections, sand it down, prime, and paint after I clean the rest up, of course. My concern with body filler is that the heat will make even a skim coat crack, but I've heard of people using JB Weld as filler in situations like this. I have both in the garage, so we'll see.
Why am I bothering with this? Well, two things:
-Body work has always interested me. I've never done dent removal and paint before. This is as good an excuse as any.
-A "nice" set of valve covers for these trucks has become pretty expensive. Of course, I have the ones currently bolted to the truck, but I want to swap them quick and not have the truck down for days during paint prep and all that. It's Truck Stuff Season!
Looking good. For that small an area, JB Weld should be fine.
They make a high-temperature version of JB Weld...
Today, I continued working on those valve covers.
While the aircraft remover was "removing all of the aircraft" from my valve covers, I realized I had given away my last pack of JB Weld to a GRMer during the last New Years Game. So, I hopped in the truck, and CLACKCKCKCKCKCKCKCKCKCK.
Again? REALLY?
A couple weeks back, the positive horn wiring splice came loose and for some reason caused the problem. I fixed that, but did it come loose again? I stripped the wire splice back again to solder it this time (I had used a butt connector last time) but it was still connected. So, I started looking around. I didn't have to look long before I saw this:
Well, this is not good.
Thinking back, when I was helping my wife with an errand a couple weeks back, we did smell a burning smell on the way home. We chalked it up to a plastic bag getting wedged up underneath the heater box in the cab. Once we pulled the bag away, the smell went away too. But yeah, I'm thinking this was the culprit.
Now... what the berk do these wires do?
There are four wires in this part of the harness: red, green, brown, and black. Red is obviously the hot one, as it melted. The other three seem fine.
The wiring diagram I have isn't helping a ton, although that connector I am pointing to seems to be the "red wire" that melted. And looking on the left page shows that it may be related to the horn wiring. Hmm... did that wire that disconnected from the horn wiring cause this? It's quite possible, but I'm not sure.
So now, I need to figure out what those wires do, and seeing if I can fix it easily. Ugh...
EDIT: Upon further review, this circuit has to do with emissions controls and the choke thermostat. If that failed (again), it may have back-fed and overheated the power wire, thus causing this melty mess. And yes, that wire is part of the ignition circut, so if it's disconnected or damaged, the truck will not start. I should be able to replace that wire as well as any other damaged wires to get the truck running again, but I'm thinking it's time to start thinking about a new engine bay wiring harness. This one was sketchy before this happened! That's going to be a custom job, since no one makes one off the shelf.
Ok, so more detective work on my lunch break today (one of the benefits of working from home).
Noting that the wires in the harness were red, also red, brown, green, and black, I looked around for where they went. And I found myself here:
This is the wiring for the EGR Timer.
That thing leaked out all its potting material at least two decades ago and wasn't doing anything, so I tossed it shortly after getting the truck.
Tracing that harness down near the bulkhead led to the red wire with the barrel connector. This is where power comes from to feed the choke thermostat, I assume. The green connector goes to nothing, BTW.
This seems to come out of the bottom of the ballast resistor wiring and then carries ignition power over to the choke thermostat. Working theory is that the choke thermostat failed and gave this wire ALL the juice, causing the meltdown.
With that mystery solved, what about the rest of the harness? Tracing it along the firewall and over to the choke area, I found this welded splice:
Lordy. What does all of that do? Well, it does a few things.
Some of it goes down to the oil sending unit (unplugged under the distributor vacuum canister, as seen here). That melted wire connects to a bracket that bridges to the choke thermostat, and other emissions stuff like a Charge Temp Sensor and EGR Solenoid. Knowing that, and the fact that it was fried, I yanked the harness.
Here's the business end on the choke side.
This whole thing was loose on the intake! And this is where the power transfers to the choke thermostat.
So, looking at the whole deal, that barrel connector near the ballast resistor is the key here. That needs to be connected to, well, something to complete the ignition circuit. The other side of that harness goes right to the starter relay, so with an open connection, nothing happens. I hooked up the battery and tried cranking, and got nothing. Also, the lights no longer work.
The question now is where to connect that to in order to complete the circuit.
My '79 F body volares and aspens have that stuff but my 77 ramcharger, d200 and the 78 Van do not.
You hit the jackpot... I guess all of that emissions control wiring migrated to the truck chassis in '79.
Good luck rewiring to do truck stuff.
Greg
So, after days of messing with the wiring, trying to run a jump wire from that open ignition connection, and more, it runs.
It shouldn't according to the service manual.
I was doing some Key On Engine Off voltage testing, and went too far on the ignition cylinder, and it started cranking.
Huh? Ok.
Checked for spark, and yup, spark. Gave it some gas, and it fired off.
I am beyond confused.
I mean, it makes sense: the "ignition" wire on that harness is a 12v key-on circuit that powers up the choke thermostat. It doesn't seem to loop in a circuit, so disconnecting it should theoretically not affect cranking and starting. The coil, the ignition box, the starter circuit, and the charging circuit are completely separate. But according to the manual "An electric short in the wiring to the heater or within the heater will be a short in the ignition system". It's possible that it wouldn't start without it because I didn't connect the battery terminals tight enough. It's also possible that the starter relay needed the terminals cleaned up a bit. What I do know is that all of this got me more familiar with the wiring of this truck and wiring in general, and I have a lot more to clean up on this old thing.
Getting caught up on this thread. It sounds like, in your testing, you gave common battery positive to the ignition circuit. I don't really understand the "an electrical short in the wiring to the heater will be a short in the ignition system" quote.
Building an engine harness to replace the existing sounds like the right idea; there's a lot of funky stuff in those pictures. Not sure who to recommend for wire so that what you end up matches the factory diagram for color and gauge. Same with connectors. Seems like you're going to need a few.
pres589 (djronnebaum) said:Getting caught up on this thread. It sounds like, in your testing, you gave common battery positive to the ignition circuit. I don't really understand the "an electrical short in the wiring to the heater will be a short in the ignition system" quote.
Building an engine harness to replace the existing sounds like the right idea; there's a lot of funky stuff in those pictures. Not sure who to recommend for wire so that what you end up matches the factory diagram for color and gauge. Same with connectors. Seems like you're going to need a few.
To be fair, Mother Mopar's creations are known for funky wiring...
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
A lot of the "funky wiring" near the bulkhead is from the plow light harness. I plan on getting that out of the truck soon. Once that's gone, it will be much simpler. There's really not much going on under there, but having that connected into the main harness really mucks it up.
pres589 (djronnebaum) said:Getting caught up on this thread. It sounds like, in your testing, you gave common battery positive to the ignition circuit. I don't really understand the "an electrical short in the wiring to the heater will be a short in the ignition system" quote.
Building an engine harness to replace the existing sounds like the right idea; there's a lot of funky stuff in those pictures. Not sure who to recommend for wire so that what you end up matches the factory diagram for color and gauge. Same with connectors. Seems like you're going to need a few.
That quote is direct from the service manual. And it was right; after the harness burned, it would not start, since there was a short in the ignition system. But once I removed that run of wiring, the short was gone. In my head, that makes sense, since there's no longer a break in the wiring. It just ends at the connection of that harness which is now gone.
Let me reiterate that I suck at wiring. I assumed that if that harness was disconnected, it wouldn't run. But that's not the case. Dusterbd13 mentioned early on in this thread that wrenching on an old Mopar made him a pro at wiring. I am fully understanding that statement now.
A friend of mine who is currently going through his own wiring nightmare (he's LS swapping a Grand Wagoneer) picked up a decent universal engine harness from Ebay recently. He seems to like it so far, and it's affordable, so that might be an option to rewire things a bit more reliably. It would also add an auxillary circuit with a fuse box right under there which would be nice for troubleshooting.
I believe on the mopars there is a separate switched ign feed for both the start and run positions. I have had trouble with this in the past.. Getting 12V + to the coil when cranking, but not when running and vice versa.. I also believe that there are 2 circuits in the 4 wire ballast resistors again one for start and one for run.
I am fortunate to have always bought old MoPars that did not have too much funky wiring going on with them as they were usually nicer factory examples to start with.
Greg
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