Rth. I’m stranded

[baldilocks]

Use a meter to check for continuity to ground from each wire terminal of all injector plugs. One should go to ground, one should not. You said that the egr was deleted long ago but it would still be wise to pull the insulation from the harness and inspect the wires in the egr area.

 

[zukinut]

I’m starting to think this was a fluke. The wire sheathing is in excellent shape. Nothing wrong with wiring going into injector plugs. I just don’t see opening up a perfectly good looking harness. I’m gonna do some more digging but I think I’m gonna put it back together and head back home. (I’m at my sisters house 5 hours away now)

 

[zukinut]

Ok. So I checked the low beam headlight bulbs with a meter. They are bad. I blew a fuse link and killed the headlights. I wonder if a body ground coulda gone away intermittently and come back and spike something?

 

[zukinut]

Checked all 6 plugs. One reads to ground and one does not. I did learn that the #6 injector retaining clip is broken. Maybe it wiggled and caused a resistance issue I’ve the past few years and it finally popped the fuse link?

 

[zukinut]

Put it all back together. It ran great. Started shaking wires. Saw a spark at the egr valves not the tube. Everything is wrapped tight so it cant be sparking to that. Then it started running rough. A dead miss. Then I noticed that the number six injector plug had fallen off again. I’m gonna put a little fipg on the plug to hold it in place and start again.

 

[zukinut]

Got the plug “fixed” with some black rtv. Yanked on the wires again and no spark. Gonna let the rtv set and then run it and yank on them again.

 

[zukinut]

I let the rtv set and yanked And prodded and pulled and didn’t see a spark. I guess I’m gonna load up and head home in the am. Keep your fingers crossed.

feel free to post more info. I’m gonna be up all night screwing with it.

 

[lumbee1]

I was going to post the same thing! Once you get the engine running turn off all work lights and start shaking the wiring looking for spark. That's how I found my short.

 

[zukinut]

Just a thought, but would the injector plug coming off cause a spark? It was a big spark. I’m kinda torn that I did and possibly didn’t find the actual problem.

I’m gonna hit the road in about 2 hours. I just hope it makes it thru Nashville traffic ok.

 

[zukinut]

Well. We are home. Still don’t know if it’s fixed but it ran great the whole 4.5hr trip.

 

[Wrencher93]

I just had to replace three out of the six injector connectors because the retaining clips broke off. It sounds like you're more than able to work on your own truck so popping a fresh connector on that one that you RTV'd might be the way to go. Your call, obviously.

 

[zukinut]

Didn’t know that new connectors were an option. Thanks for the info

 

[zukinut]

Been thinking more about this. I clearly saw a spark when I was pulling on the wires around the harness. A big one. All wires are completely wrapped in the factory harness materials. No visible wires. So how in the hell did I see a spark? I can’t imagine the injectors pulling enough amperage to allow a spark that big when the plug fell off, but maybe they do.

It did great on the 4.5hr trip home but I still don’t know if it’s fixed. I own a construction company and this is my work vehicle so it’s kinda important.

I’m gonna drive it some and report back. If anyone has any other ideas, or thoughts or anything for that matter, please post.

 

[culturedredneck]

Been thinking more about this. I clearly saw a spark when I was pulling on the wires around the harness. A big one. All wires are completely wrapped in the factory harness materials. No visible wires. So how in the hell did I see a spark? I can’t imagine the injectors pulling enough amperage to allow a spark that big when the plug fell off, but maybe they do.

It did great on the 4.5hr trip home but I still don’t know if it’s fixed. I own a construction company and this is my work vehicle so it’s kinda important.

I’m gonna drive it some and report back. If anyone has any other ideas, or thoughts or anything for that matter, please post.

Where exactly was the spark? Due to the heat by the EGR the individual wires inside the main harness can become brittle or even melt over time. When I peeled open my harness I found several wires inside that were shorting on each other. I had to rewrap the individual wires inside. My symptoms were different than yours but it also left me stranded.

 

[80t0ylc]

Been thinking more about this. I clearly saw a spark when I was pulling on the wires around the harness. A big one. All wires are completely wrapped in the factory harness materials. No visible wires. So how in the hell did I see a spark? I can’t imagine the injectors pulling enough amperage to allow a spark that big when the plug fell off, but maybe they do.

It did great on the 4.5hr trip home but I still don’t know if it’s fixed. I own a construction company and this is my work vehicle so it’s kinda important.

I’m gonna drive it some and report back. If anyone has any other ideas, or thoughts or anything for that matter, please post.

Will, a spark is not necessarily a "bad" thing. When you pulled on the harness and the connector came loose, the electrical connection was coming loose and current was still trying to flow to the injector. A spark (in that case) is current flowing through air and actually happens a lot more than most people think. Ever plug something into the wall that the on/off switch is in the on position and you get a spark before the plug is securely in the socket? It's the same principle. When you saw the spark, did it blow a fuse or pop the fusible link? Probably not, so I don't think it's a problem. I think you fixed the problem by securing the connection. And replacing the plug should fix it permanently.

 

[zukinut]

The spark was by the egr best I could tell. My egr was deleted 5+ years ago. So the tube is effectively gone.

 

[zukinut]

Will, a spark is not necessarily a "bad" thing. When you pulled on the harness and the connector came loose, the electrical connection was coming loose and current was still trying to flow to the injector. A spark (in that case) is current flowing through air and actually happens a lot more than most people think. Ever plug something into the wall that the on/off switch is in the on position and you get a spark before the plug is securely in the socket? It's the same principle. When you saw the spark, did it blow a fuse or pop the fusible link? Probably not, so I don't think it's a problem. I think you fixed the problem by securing the connection. And replacing the plug should fix it permanently.

very true. Sometimes I overthink stuff.

 

[80t0ylc]

Me too!

 

[zukinut]

What really happened is I washed the damn thing and cleaned the interior. Things went south after that.

 

[77mustard40]

What really happened is I washed the damn thing and cleaned the interior. Things went south after that.

Damn, three wasted pages in this thread before you shared the key to the puzzle. Glad you made it home.