Truck wont start

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Truck wont start

Postby mitchk » Fri Feb 07, 2014 10:37 pm

So i drove up to the garage me and my buddies are renting here at school no problem and when i went to go start my truck to leave, nothing. Turn the key to the aux power and let the glow plugs warm up an when i turn it to crank over theres nothing, no clicking from starter or anything. I thought at first it had something to do with the clutch saftey switch because whenever i turn the key to start it the wait to start and water in fuel light flash just as it does when i try to start it without the clutch in but even with it in nothing. doesnt make a sound or anything. im not to good with wiring but i pulled all the fuses and there all good. not sure where to go from there. any help very appreciated. this is my daily so im kinda screwed without it. Its a 93 reg cab 5 speed. thanks for any help.
Daily: 91 d350 727 gear vendors over drive, 3/8 feed line, THD lplp, maxed pump, Denny t 2, timing to head, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, arp studs, 60 horse injectors?(po), THD bahf, s362sxe

Project: 93 w250 5 speed, ground stock pin, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, THD lplp, intercooled compressor non intercooled turbine, diamond eye 4 inch, custom intake, south bend hd single
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby cmann250 » Sat Feb 08, 2014 5:48 am

mitchk wrote:...let the glow plugs warm up...

We'll pretend that didn't happen. :lol: We have grid heaters, not glow plugs.

Is the little trigger wire good that goes down to the starter? Mine's brown on my '89.

Second, check here: http://1stgen.org/viewtopic.php?f=30&t= ... ill#p86830
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby Tacoclaw » Sat Feb 08, 2014 6:18 am

If this is the '93, then on your driver's fender, right by the hood hinge, there will be a set of 3 black relays. One of them is the relay for your starter. I'll link a thread for you in a few minutes to show which one, but have someone turn the key and see if you can hear it click. If so, start your search at the relay itself, then follow the wires from it down to he starter.

If not, I'd suspect the ignition switch itself, the coil side of the relay, or the wiring from the ignition switch to the relay.

Here's the relay ID thread


Also, if your truck is like mine/Caleb's, that brown wire he's talking about runs into a connector right by the positive battery post. If you're not afraid, make sure your truck is in neutral and put a jumper in the plug. It'll put power straight to the solenoid, so it's an easy way to tell if the starter/solenoid is bad.
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby BobS » Sat Feb 08, 2014 7:20 am

What is the condition of your battery?

If that's not the problem the crawl under your dash and take a look for the clutch pedal safety switch. The switch is normally open and closes when the clutch pedal is depressed. The average life expectancy is around 120,000 miles. That is when mine broke. I bypassed this switch using a jumper wire since I have driven cars and trucks that were around a long time BEFORE this switch existed.
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby mitchk » Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:03 am

My bad on the glow plugs. still learning something about these things everyday. So when i turn the key to where the wait to start light comes on i can hear a buzzing sound from under the hood, not the cab buzzer as i dont have one, but would that be the grid heaters turning on. just wondering. Thanks for the links and all the pics to, should help alot. As for the battery its good. was new wen i bought the truck about a year ago and hasnt had any problems. all my lights and everything still work so theres power. Im gonna start with what caleb and tacoclaw said and well see where it goes from there. still kinda confused but once i get out to the truck and start messing around it should make a little more sense. Thanks, mitch
Daily: 91 d350 727 gear vendors over drive, 3/8 feed line, THD lplp, maxed pump, Denny t 2, timing to head, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, arp studs, 60 horse injectors?(po), THD bahf, s362sxe

Project: 93 w250 5 speed, ground stock pin, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, THD lplp, intercooled compressor non intercooled turbine, diamond eye 4 inch, custom intake, south bend hd single
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby mitchk » Sat Feb 08, 2014 11:48 am

So this is what my inner fender looks like. there is only two of those relays and the other is there just not plugged into one of those black connectors. i had my buddy turn the key and i could here something click.
Image

I checked the brown wire going down to the starter an it seemed good. didnt try and jump the connection to see if the soleniod was bad yet because as i was looking around i checked out the duckbill and the orange wire all the way on the right side was cracked and there seemed to be some corrosion coming out from it. and it looked like it might have been touching the inner fender and mabey grounding out. could this be the problem and if so is it ok to just replace the bad section of that wire. its the one with my finger under it.
Image
im gonna keep messing with it and see if i can find anything else. I am really not a fan of electronics so this stuff gets me pretty frustrated. sorry if im not giving enough info or anything just let me know what u need to know. Thanks,mitch
Daily: 91 d350 727 gear vendors over drive, 3/8 feed line, THD lplp, maxed pump, Denny t 2, timing to head, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, arp studs, 60 horse injectors?(po), THD bahf, s362sxe

Project: 93 w250 5 speed, ground stock pin, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, THD lplp, intercooled compressor non intercooled turbine, diamond eye 4 inch, custom intake, south bend hd single
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby PToombs » Sat Feb 08, 2014 6:57 pm

That's a fusable link, it's a fuse in wire form. Gently pull on it to see if it stretches, if so, it's bad. If they go bad the wire melts and the coating is all that's left, so you need to fix it. Sometimes you can twist the ends together to get home, some guys replace it with a new link or wire in a fuse.
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby Tacoclaw » Sat Feb 08, 2014 7:14 pm

I dunno what that one goes to, and unfortunately my wiring diagrams only cover the older trucks.

Ellis posted a bunch of wiring diagrams for the newer stuff, they may be in there.
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby mitchk » Sun Feb 09, 2014 9:21 am

Ok. i didnt get a chance to do much more on the truck yesterday cause i needed to take a brake from wiring and do something fun like work on a briggs on an old lawn tractor im trying to make into some sort of race mower. shaved down the head gasket, jetted to carb, ported the intake, no govenor, and now it will only run with an open carb and open exhaust. real loud and shoots a lot of flames. But back to the important stuff. I followed the wire in the link that caleb posted, the orange one all the way to the left on the duckbill in the above picture and it goes down to this.
Image

The red wire with a black tracer goes into the bulkhead on the firewall and then that brown wire looks like it goes to the one relay that isnt connected to anything.That white one.
Image

I also jumped the plug tacoclaw said to and it turned over so the starter is good. ill check and see if those wires can stretch at all and if so i would geuss that a start to my problem. and just to clarify i can just cut those wires and then put in a fuse instead. thanks, mitch
Daily: 91 d350 727 gear vendors over drive, 3/8 feed line, THD lplp, maxed pump, Denny t 2, timing to head, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, arp studs, 60 horse injectors?(po), THD bahf, s362sxe

Project: 93 w250 5 speed, ground stock pin, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, THD lplp, intercooled compressor non intercooled turbine, diamond eye 4 inch, custom intake, south bend hd single
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby cmann250 » Sun Feb 09, 2014 10:30 am

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=8411&p=60902&hilit=fuse+links+to+fuses#p60902

Check here ^ for the right size fuse for the corresponding fuse link.
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby mitchk » Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:13 pm

Thanks for that link Caleb. That answered a few questions. Now just need to wait till tommorow wen the parts store is open and get some fuses. I also tried pulling on the wires to see if they would stretch and couldn't really tell since they are in pretty bad shape and the rubber itself seems pretty solid. I did kinda feel a part that seemed softer then the rest while squeezing it so ill just get fuses and see if it does anything. Thanks, Mitch
Daily: 91 d350 727 gear vendors over drive, 3/8 feed line, THD lplp, maxed pump, Denny t 2, timing to head, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, arp studs, 60 horse injectors?(po), THD bahf, s362sxe

Project: 93 w250 5 speed, ground stock pin, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, THD lplp, intercooled compressor non intercooled turbine, diamond eye 4 inch, custom intake, south bend hd single
mitchk
fuel screw!!!!
 
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby mitchk » Tue Feb 11, 2014 1:18 pm

fixed it. Not sure if this is exactly how i was supposed to do it but it worked.

Image

All i did was cut the fusible link and put a wire in fuse and used some waterproof connectors. looks alot better than the electrical tape i usually just wrap around the splice. still wasnt able to tell if the fusible link had melted the wire anywhere but putting in the fuse made it work. now i can finally put in my new lift pump and valve springs and do some work i find fun instead of wiring. thanks for the help.
Daily: 91 d350 727 gear vendors over drive, 3/8 feed line, THD lplp, maxed pump, Denny t 2, timing to head, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, arp studs, 60 horse injectors?(po), THD bahf, s362sxe

Project: 93 w250 5 speed, ground stock pin, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, THD lplp, intercooled compressor non intercooled turbine, diamond eye 4 inch, custom intake, south bend hd single
mitchk
fuel screw!!!!
 
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Joined: Wed May 02, 2012 6:08 am
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby mitchk » Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:32 pm

ok. now this things getting me pretty frustrated. I got the new fuse in on moneday and got it to start. shut it off and started it again to make sure it worked. left it overnight and started it the next day and actually drove to make sure evrything was all good. shut it off a couple times and it started fine. now today i walked out and its doing the same thing. nothing when i turn the key. just lights up the wait to start and water in fuel and thats it. i guess ill start by going thru the fuse box and checking evrythig over again. also wondering if i put that wire in fuse in correctly. thinking about it more could i have just run a wire stright from the battery with a fuse and connect that to the two wires the fusible link connected to. dont know if that would mess anything else up. im really not good at electrical so id rather not just start trying things and end up really screwing something. thanks
Daily: 91 d350 727 gear vendors over drive, 3/8 feed line, THD lplp, maxed pump, Denny t 2, timing to head, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, arp studs, 60 horse injectors?(po), THD bahf, s362sxe

Project: 93 w250 5 speed, ground stock pin, #366 spring, 60# valve springs, THD lplp, intercooled compressor non intercooled turbine, diamond eye 4 inch, custom intake, south bend hd single
mitchk
fuel screw!!!!
 
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby cmann250 » Wed Feb 12, 2014 3:31 pm

Move to Peru, IN next to a gentleman named Philip. He's incredibly good with wiring.

If it "magically" works and then quits for no reason I think it's shorting somewhere. There's got to be a bare wire rubbing somewhere.
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Re: Truck wont start

Postby CumminsPower59 » Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:38 pm

mitchk wrote: run a wire stright from the battery with a fuse and connect that to the two wires the fusible link connected to. dont know if that would mess anything else up.


I did the exact thing, bypassing some of the fusible links. Works very well and eliminates that troublesome spot. Now, you have to factor in the value of the fusible link and use the correct sized spade fuse in it's place, otherwise whatever overloaded the fusible link can cause more issues if to large of a fuse is letting power through. Clear as mud?

The best thing to do is get a Factory Service Manual or even the wiring schematics for the year of your truck and you can make a small fuse block in place of the smaller fusible links. Then just run a heavier gauge wire from your alternator to your battery with a large, 125A fuse in it's place.

I hope this helps ya...
Ike

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