3B BJ75 clicking relay and idle/power drop (1 Viewer)

[Reinhardtius]

Folks

Went for a 35 min drive on nearby dirt roads, very low speeds (<20 mph) in 2WD high, slight inclines (7-10% max) and declines, nothing at all serious. 20 mins in, I hear the glove box clicking tick, tick. Then, tick tick. About 6-8 times, always in pairs. At the same time, I noticed the power drop.

three mins later, same thing. It even happened accelerating up hill. I drove home without it happening again.





these power drops were small, but alarming. What would you check?

 

[Reinhardtius]

Folks

Went for a 35 min drive on nearby dirt roads, very low speeds (<20 mph) in 2WD high, slight inclines (7-10% max) and declines, nothing at all serious. 20 mins in, I hear the glove box clicking tick, tick. Then, tick tick. About 6-8 times, always in pairs. At the same time, I noticed the power drop.

three mins later, same thing. It even happened accelerating up hill. I drove home without it happening again.





these power drops were small, but alarming. What would you check?

the power drop was almost like the fuel was being cut off by the EDIC, but only by a hair.

 

[Behemoth60]

Sounds like the low oil pressure shut down on the EDIC was trying to engage. Make sure you got oil, oil pressure, and the wire to the oil pressure sender is not grounding to the chassis anywhere. (A ground to chassis is interpreted as zero oil pressure, and will cause the EDIC relay to try to shut down the engine). Moisture in the EDIC Relay, and bad ground on the relay itself could also cause this.

 

[Reinhardtius]

Sounds like the low oil pressure shut down on the EDIC was trying to engage. Make sure you got oil, oil pressure, and the wire to the oil pressure sender is not grounding to the chassis anywhere. (A ground to chassis is interpreted as zero oil pressure, and will cause the EDIC relay to try to shut down the engine). Moisture in the EDIC Relay, and bad ground on the relay itself could also cause this.

Good to hear this hunch.

My little oil pressure wire is pretty loosely connected to that little nipple of the oil pressure sender. It never sat tight on it, and when I bought the truck, the connector was dangling from the harness, not connected to the oil pressure sender.

Good news is that the oil pressure sensor appears to be working, and the same with the EDIC. The oil pressure dash light flickers for a second when I first start the truck when oil pressure is slightly lower.

I guess I'll take a look at the condition of that wire. I wonder if I can splice on a new oil pressure sender connector. Anyone got a part number? For what I hope are obvious reasons, I am not interested in replacing larger portions of the wiring harness if I do not have to.

 

[jblueridge]

Above my glovebox is the pre-heater timer box. Just to one side of the box is the aircon controller which has a relay inside. Relay clicking on then off maybe.

 

[Reinhardtius]

Above my glovebox is the pre-heater timer box. Just to one side of the box is the aircon controller which has a relay inside. Relay clicking on then off maybe.

No aircon, though. Pre-heater timer box plausible, though it is awful warm here.... Is there anything that controls the EDIC in the glovebox area?

 

[bcsteel]

Different model, but, on a bj42 the fuel relay is the far side of the glove box. Not sure on a 75. Worth a look tho.

 

[jblueridge]

My BJ74 ain’t got no EDIC, so I can’t say.

 

[Yellowknifer]

When I was moving thousands of km I hit a massive pothole in the road about 50 km into the trip with my BJ42... I heard a loud click from the glove box and the truck shut off... I pulled over and just restarted it and everything was fine. I thought it was only the glow controller there, not sure why it shut off but sounds similar to your symptoms.

 

[lowenbrau]

It has become known as "EDIC funky Chicken"

Here is an old thread

Funny EDIC Funky Chicken

OK Kids, Gather round. I have a real puzzler for y'all. Did an oil change tonight on Zippo, the truck that bursts into flames - 86 BJ70 w/ 599,010 kms. Truck idles outside the shop for a few minutes while I park all the rigs back in the spots, and take off. As I pull onto the main road...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Reinhardtius]

This behavior happened again after not driving the truck all winter. After warm up, I drove along one of our dirt roads (no salt on the dirt roads), and the issue presented itself again when the headlights were on. The relay in the glove box clicks once a second, approximately.

The thread above would have me believe that the funky chicken is caused by:

1. Ground issues
2. unbalanced batteries
3. alternator
4. EDIC arm adjustment
5. dirty/corroded battery terminals

My truck batteries spend 3 weeks outside in the brutal cold not on a tender. I will bring them inside, warm them up, charge them up, reinstall them, and clean up the terminals. I also have a turn signal and parking bulbs out. I might as well replace them while I am at it.

More on this soon. A year or two ago, I would be mortified to have an issue like this crop up, but I am beginning to feel more comfortable handling / tracking / resolving these issues.

Cheers,

R

 

[jblueridge]

Check your area for a specialty shop that only works on Starters, Alternators.
They can easily test alternator and regulator.

I bought a NOCO battery charger that can handle 24V.
It works very well. It also charges each battery separately at 12V.


I installed extra ground straps like those in picture.
I found unused threaded holes on the frame and body and bolted on a strap connecting the 2.
Also ran one from the engine to the body, where the main negative cable attaches to the body.
I did one from the rear axle to the frame since I have an e-locker back there that needs good grounding.

 

[Reinhardtius]

Check your area for a specialty shop that only works on Starters, Alternators.
They can easily test alternator and regulator.

I bought a NOCO battery charger that can handle 24V.
It works very well. It also charges each battery separately at 12V.


I installed extra ground straps like those in picture.
I found unused threaded holes on the frame and body and bolted on a strap connecting the 2.
Also ran one from the engine to the body, where the main negative cable attaches to the body.
I did one from the rear axle to the frame since I have an e-locker back there that needs good grounding.
View attachment 2607165

Thank you!

Which specific Noco charger did you go with? Do you have to disconnect each battery from the vehicle for them to charge correctly? I was always baffled with how 2x 12v chargers could charge each battery without interfering with each other if the chargers are still connected to the wiring harness of the vehicle.

I will get the truck over to an alternator shop this spring after the rains wash away the snow. In the meantime, I'll check my terminals and batteries. Those ground straps look like a very wise idea. I'll install some of those in summer.

 

[jblueridge]

Noco Genius 15000 does both batteries at the same time in truck.
If you fear only one battery is unhealthy, disconnect the middle battery cable at one terminal then charge batteries separately.

 

[Squash]

Try disconnecting the arm from Edic to IP.
The IP lever should rest in the run position which is center.
This way you can try to isolate the issue which probably lies in the control relay.
I found an old school TV repairman in a small farming community who wanted to charge nothing for his brilliant solder repair of the Edic.

 

[Reinhardtius]

I just discovered yesterday that my batteries were being overcharged and may be the cause of a number of issues I have described over the last several years. I removed an old junk piggy-back harness with changeover relay, which was in between the voltage regulator and the alternator. Now the truck shows normal voltage. I will test to see if this issue has corrected itself as a result of normal charging / voltages.