ezzmoney

Hi I have a 1992 Dodge Cummins 350 2 wheel drive dually with automatic tranny. Its a low miles truck and so far has been a good truck. Last nite I was coming home and the lights blinked a couple times and the truck died. I coasted to a stop and tried to restart it but it acted like it had a dead battery. I got out and checked the battery cables and all seemed well but it has no juice at all. It allmost seemed like a circuit breaker had tripped. Is this a common problem? And if so what is the fix. I am going out now to start a basic troubleshooting procedure but thought I would ask you guys for help. This forum has been of much help to me in the past and I thank you for that.
I just went out and cleaned the battery cables. When I got in the truck the lights in the cab came on and the buzzer was working. I hit the key to try to start it and everything went dead again. The battery seems to have plenty of power so I don't think its the battery. Is this gonna be one of those gremlins that drives me crazy LOL. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

Jim Lane

Check and clean your battery cables, clean any corrosion.
With your headlights on and you crank the starter do the lights go out?
Could be an internal connector problem in the battery.

Jim

ezzmoney

The motor wont turn over. No headlights. Nothing electrical is working. I cleaned the cables and that didn't help. The battery seems to have plenty of power but its not getting to the components. Allmost like a circuit breaker kicked out. Thanks, Dan

DodgeFreak

one of the fuseable links??

maybe368

Do you have a volt meter? If so put the meter on the battery and try to start it or turn on the lights. Sometime batteries fail inside and show a voltage until a load is put on it. I had an Optima do that to me when I was 15 miles from the nearest good road in Mexico...Mark

TLRMAN

There are several fusible links on the drivers side under the hood. If you have blown one you must find the short first then repair the link.

Two of the fusible links are at the batter and are black wires. The others are about 12" back under the relays should be 5-6 of them. You can feel them and put a slite pull on them to check to see if they are connected inside.

If you have a blown one goto auto store get some new ones and wire in.

jimlj

How are you testing your battery? Using a volt meter won't always tell you the true story. Test with a load tester. Most auto parts stores will do this for you.


Have you tried to jump start the truck? Use a good set of jumper cables (Read Jim Lanes write up on some he built) and try jump starting from a good battery. It sounds to me like you have a dead battery. It could be as simple as that. If it is just a dead battery, you will have to find the cause of that, but I'd start with a pair of jumper cables if you haven't already.

BearKiller

If I read this right, the engine shut-down while running; that don't read like a bad battery to me.

My guess is either the fusible-links or that connector in the fattish-black alternator wire that connects to the battery, which routes through the fuse-links.

The other two not-so-fat black wires at the battery go to the grid-heaters and have no effect on any other part of the system; best to dis-connect them and leave them off.


Another thing to check, The GROUND cable on the larboard-bottom of the block and the body GROUND on the radiator support just next to the battery.

If one of those GROUNDs came loose, it would kill everything the same as if the HOT cable came off.

If it sort of has some electricity, but not enough, the big GROUND could be loose and it trying to GROUND through the engine-mounts, transmission, and such.

If the truck had been sitting not running and acted as you describe, I would suspect possibly the starter or the battery or the cables.

BearKiller

Once you get it back to running, it would be in your best interest to familiarize yourself with that fat black alternator wire and do a bit of research on here on completely eliminating that entire fusible-link mess.

Far better than fusible-links are breakers and maxi-fuses.

The wife's truck was one electrical issue after another until I took time to do away with the whole fuse-link mess and splice in longer wires routed through breakers and fuses.

It has been a few years and nary an electrical issue since.

One end of the new wires connects directly to battery HOT; a HOT junction stud is advisable.

The new wire is then routed through an appropriate breaker or fuse and from there to the clipped end where the fuse-link was removed.


That fat GREEN fuse-link is the alternator charge-wire; replace it with a 120-amp mega-fuse or the like; better yet, replace the entire alternator cable with a bigger one.

jimlj

I don't want to start a argument here, but the engine shutting down while running is exactly what happened to me, and a bad battery was the cause. Dead truck on the side of the road. I could jump start it and it would run for a few minutes and shut down again. New battery and the problem was solved. A 12 valve Cummins will run with no power as long as you have the fuel solonoid open, but unless you have made that modification, no power, no fuel, no run. It could very well be an other problem, but I like to try the easy things first.

maybe368

I agree, if the fss is not gutted, it would shut the engine down with the loss of 12 volts. When my optima failed, it showed 12.8 volts, but when there was ANY load put on it it dropped to 0 volts. When the load was removed, it showed over 12 again. Internal failure of the battery...Mark

ezzmoney

I fooled around with the truck yesterday and noticed when I got in it the interior light didn't come on. I turned on the key and in about 10 seconds heard a click from under the hood and everything inside the truck came on. I turned the key to start and the engine started. I ran it a few minutes and shut it off and everything went dead again. I turned the key back to on and waited a few seconds and heard it click again and as before everything came on and when I turned the key to start it started. I tried this several times with the same results. It allmost sounds like a relay or circuit breaker is failing and I don't even know if my truck has circuit breakers. Anyway just wanted to let those of you who responded know what was going on and to Thank You for your help. I will keep you informed of how this works out. Thanks Again.

BearKiller

These long-distance diagnostics are somewhat stabs in the dark.

It would be much easier if the truck was right in front of me.

It almost makes me think that some previous owner has installed possibly an auxilliary battery isolation solenoid, maybe didn't really know what he was doing, and never did finish.

Can you have someone else work the key while you listen for the click ??

Jim Lane

Ok, now I will show you another device that I have stowed away on my truck for emergencies and is stored nicely along with my emergency battery cable wrench.

Here you see them held onto the fender by 2 rare earth super magnets.



Here you will see a jumper wire, it is 14-gauge on one end I crimped on a good quality 1/4" female spade connector and to the other end a good insulated alligator clip.

Now what is this for you ask.

Answer,
I am prepared for the next EMP Burst for when my electrical system fails and I need to run my truck.



All that I will need to do is to locate my FSS on my injection pump,
Now simply unplug the factory connection at the top of the FSS,



And then firmly connect the one end of the jumper wire that has the female spade connector back to where you previously disconnected from the stock harness.



Now all that you need to do is to attach the alligator clip to a source of 12 volts to engage the fuel solenoid, now all that is needed is to start your truck and now it is running completely independent of you trucks electrical system



I really hope I do not have to use this in the event of an EMP but I have it just in case I am driving somewhere and I have a failure in my ignition system either intermittent of catastrophic.

It also will connect to any of the numerous relays controlling various functions of the truck such as headlights, blowers, ignition circuits, compressor clutch allowing me to activate them manually.

If you have this jumper, and your truck suddenly dies, you could run your truck totally independent of your trucks electrical system.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Jim

Jim Lane

Try connecting your truck to a good working donor battery using a good pair of jumper cables and see if you still have your problems.

If I could see the truck I would bet you I could have it running in a matter of minuets.

Pull out your battery and have it load tested before you spend too much time on it.

Jim