Died unexpectedly. First thoughts? (1 Viewer)

[abuck99]

Regardless, at 19 years on original , you’re due for a FP and a fresh fuel filter in the engine compartment. You will be surprised at the small but noticeable improvement a new FP delivers in on throttle acceleration and drivability. It’s an easy job.

If it were anything alternator related chances are your batt/charging light would Illuminate - unless it’s burnt out. You’d also notice a new noise when alt fails- kind of a whining noise.

 

[e9999]

Medtro, I did check just now and disconnected fully the battery. Not too sure about the radio stations cuz I have not used the presets in a long time, but the trip A and B and the mpg and distance since refueling all got reset to 0 (or no number).
So if the trip A and B odos did not get reset during the incident (sure thing), that would in turn suggest there was no complete electrical system shut down. Of course, it could be any nymber of other electrical glitches like the immobilizer, ECU, relay etc, short of a full electrical dead state.

Abuck, I would indeed much prefer a fuel pump/sender issue than an intermittent short in some unknown place.

So, does anybody know if a fuel level sender/pump intermittent failure would reset the mpg, and distance till refueling, on the Trip info screen ('03)?

added: now I'm even more confused. Turns out there is no Miles since refueling on that screen, I was thinking of another truck. So what I probably saw, was miles to refueling earlier. But if that was 1 mile, then that must mean the ECU thought the tank is empty. Well, unless, the one mile was the Cruise distance at the bottom of the screen. I just can't remember exactly, dang it. What a mess.

And then, today, I took it around the block a few times. All was good. Except that I had a voltmeter on and from the corner of my eye, I think I saw it dip to 12.1V for a brief (<1s) instant when I was parking then went back up to 13.8 or so. I think I'm beginning to hallucinate... (Could this all be due to a misspent youth? )

 

[e9999]

update: everything is fine for now. It did start and drive OK after that one incident. I'm hoping this may have been a fluke computer glitch after the battery died. Not that that would explain why it died fairly fast but I can hope...
Have since also put a new battery in - cuz I could. It did actually struggle for a minute or 2 after starting for the first time, but that settled. One other thing I noticed is that with the new battery, the voltage would go down to 13.5V at idle after some driving, whereas with the older one I don't think it ever came down below 14 or 13.9V. Maybe cuz it holds a full charge better somehow (yup, very vague...)?

Lesson learned: if something weird happens to the truck, don't rush out, take a good look at all the info on the dash, navsys, and devices. Less uncertainty later.

 

[2020 Rocks]

update: everything is fine for now. It did start and drive OK after that one incident. I'm hoping this may have been a fluke computer glitch after the battery died. Not that that would explain why it died fairly fast but I can hope...
Have since also put a new battery in - cuz I could. It did actually struggle for a minute or 2 after starting for the first time, but that settled. One other thing I noticed is that with the new battery, the voltage would go down to 13.5V at idle after some driving, whereas with the older one I don't think it ever came down below 14 or 13.9V. Maybe cuz it holds a full charge better somehow (yup, very vague...)?

Lesson learned: if something weird happens to the truck, don't rush out, take a good look at all the info on the dash, navsys, and devices. Less uncertainty later.

You might want to consider upgrading your ground from the battery to the chasis, or just throw an extra thick 2nd ground wire on in addition to the existing. Funny thing happened recently when I installed my winch, after wiring it up, the dash lights in the cab were noticeably brighter than before ( assume additional ground from winch and bumper to battery further ground the circuit). The original grounding wire over time can degrade a bit, or if you are running additional accessories the demand can be greater than the original ground wire gauge provided.

 

[e9999]

come to think of it, I don't know where the main ground wire ends. I see it going down behind the battery. Does it go directly to the alternator? There is also a dinky little wire from the negative terminal to the fender right next to it, IIRC, but that can't carry much current.

 

[TriumphToys]

come to think of it, I don't know where the main ground wire ends. I see it going down behind the battery. Does it go directly to the alternator? There is also a dinky little wire from the negative terminal to the fender right next to it, IIRC, but that can't carry much current.

Big 1 goes to Block/Starter small 1 goes to Frame. Best to spray terminal (& we have almost 1/2" formerly of exposed twisted copper I put a heat shrink over & "shrank" for additional insulation), w/"Corrosion Block"/"Corrosion X", helps immensely for connectivity and reduces corrosion to nil (on + as well as - on batt. terminals), both Lge & Sml Grounds are critical for Your 'grounds'. w/o body 1 You'll have all kinds of body/light issues, & w/o the Big 1 Your engine won't start (Really Big Issue). HTH?

 

[leveeguy]

Unsure if you have ruled out an alternator issue, if not:

With cruiser running and in park, disconnect the ground wire from the battery terminal. If engine dies then there’s an issue with alternator. If continues to run let it run for few minutes to see if there’s an intermittent issue where the engine may shut down or begin to lose power, or sputter. after few minutes. If engine continues to run with no issue this may rule out the alternator for the most part.

 

[e9999]

^^ thanks. Starter makes more sense than alternator, actually.
^ that's tempting, but I don't like to stress out my electronics too much. Gotta think a bit more on that one.