My first "real" problem

[The Pawnbroker]

Hello,

I need some help please. I recently started driving my 1009 after it sat for a few years. It has been running like a top and starting with no problems. Over the last few days I've put quite a few miles on it (~200 miles). Today when I went to start it I had a pretty big problem. I turned the key on and everything seemed normal. When I turned the key to start...nothing happened. All the dash lights came on like normal and the Volt meter showed just under the green at the top of the yellow. I've never really looked at that gage when trying to start it before so I have no reference point. I didn't even try to turn over. After trying about 3 times, I started to smell and see some smoke. I quickly popped the hood and disconnected the batt. The smoke seemed to come from near the master brake cylinder. I felt all the wires in the area and found one that was extremely hot. It is attached to the 12V post on the firewall. It's blue for about 4 or 5 inches and then is spliced to a red wire that travels down behind the valve cover area. It has a black "block" that looks like a fuse-able link. Unfortunately, I don't know a lot about wiring so I can't say for sure what it is. The splice is covered by electrical tape. It looks like the tape may have been what was burning. I haven't crawled on top yet to follow it. I was hoping someone here knew what wire it is and could help me solve this problem.

Thanks very much,

Dave.

 

[mistaken1]

Welcome to the site. Have you downloaded the free manuals from the resources section? There are wiring diagrams in them. Search for user unclesam, he colored the diagrams and posted them here.

Could be the glow plug feed or the the 12V bus feed.

 

[The Pawnbroker]

Thanks for the reply. I checked the suggestions you made regarding the 12V feed and glow plugs. I also downloaded the manuals and such but I haven't learned how to read schematics and so I'm at a bit of a disadvantage. I'll do a search for "unclesam" and see what info I can find. I was hoping this was a common problem and would be recognized right away for what it is. I did a search of the forum and am wondering if it's related to the starter solenoid. Like I said, although I had plenty of battery power, the starter never even attempted to crank. I've never done anything to the starter solenoid but think I better replace it with a better quality unit like many of the posts recommend.

The wire that appeared to have been burning is a fairly large gage (thick) wire attached to the 12V bus and goes down into the plastic wire loom right at the rear corner of the engine. I'll have to try and trace it tomorrow. It's not the feed from the battery to the 12V bus. It is attached to the same post as the 12V feed though. I don't think it's the glow plug feed because that still comes off of a resistor behind the engine. That's still set up as stock also. I did read where people were suggesting to simply connect the glow plug feed directly to 12 volts and bypass the resistor.

Does anyone know off hand where exactly the starter relay is located? And if anyone has any more suggestions they are all appreciated. I will make sure to continue to follow up and post the fix when it's done.

 

[The Pawnbroker]

In my above post I meant starter relay in all cases not starter solenoid.

 

[CycleJay]

Pawnbroker,

I believe the wire you are talking about seems to me like the fusible link wire that
goes to one of the posts (not sure which one at the moment) of the rear battery.

The starter relay is located on the backside of the panel that the STE/ICE port hangs
down from, just under and to the right of the steering wheel, it is seated next to
a pair of small square relays.

So it seems to me, that your problem may be related to the starter relay,
it may be sticking on you.
Do the Doghead mod, and confer with Doghead for confirmation of my advice.
As it is always a good idea to get a second opinion, and let me know how it goes.

Good luck...

 

[Barrman]

Several post above mention the manuals. The manual ending in -20 has a great 70 some odd page trouble shooting section. It also has all the wiring diagrams in the back. I would suggest again that you download or print out the manuals and follow the steps. While it sounds like you have a fuse able link burned and maybe some starter relay issues. You will have to be the one to follow through and test them.

Because you could also have just a bad starter motor, bad battery connections, bad ignition switch and about 15 other things.

 

[swinters]

You mentioned what looked like a splice wrapped with tape. Some are factory and others are not and are often just where someone twisted wires together and wrapped with tape. These kinds of splices often corrode and will get hot enough to use as a cigarette lighter. Not sure whether that's the case here but it's not uncommon and worth checking. I worked in an Army General Support shop and rebuilt more Army vehicles than I can remember. Years ago one of the oldtimers told me to always look for tape on wires and if I found any to take it off and check the repair to be sure it was properly soldered and so on. I don't think I ever unwrapped a splice and found it done properly and many times the tape was melted to some degree. Crimp style butt splices were a definate no-go too, but then we were preparing the trucks for a combat environment, much like driving in California as I remember my trips there.

 

[original]

Follow the link below to solve your problem. You can remove the resistor or just bypass it. Very easy, cheap, quick fix. Good luck mate.
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/cucv/87434-resistor-bypass-questions.html

 

[original]

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/cucv/63366-glow-plug-pass-help.html