Troubleshooting Spence's HJ60

[KingSpence]

By the looks of it my truck has more serious issues than just an alternator. With the batteries fully charged, after the glow plugs I get nothing from the starter, and I lose all power. The batteries don't have enough juice to run the glow plugs a second time. I swapped in some fully charged spare batteries and I get the same issue. Battery connections are all good, as are grounds. Also, the marker lights turn on, but the headlights do not illuminate at all; and all fuses are good, so now I am really confused.

I know quite a bit about gasoline engines, but diesels are still very new to me. I really hope I can get this thing running soon, now 2/2 of my vehicles are dead. yeeshh.

 

[RockDoc]

Do the diesels have the fusable links? Have you tried jumping from another 24v vehicle? Maybe we can get a couple guys together tonight or tomorrow night to have a look with you. Has the vehicle been used consistently over the last while (say year) or was it sitting?

Just used my super fantastic powers to move these posts into a new thread.

 

[KingSpence]

Other than the main fuse box, not that I can really see. I checked the battery connectors for fuses as well. I've got the batteries charged up and am going to head out to CT and get them load tested, and plan on picking up a few new battery terminal connectors. That way I will know for sure that I have two new good batteries and good connections; unfortunately leaving me to wiring issues. I will be around all night tonight troubleshooting the truck, if anyone wants to drop by and take a look that would be greatly appreciated. My cell is (780)-919-9230.

I was delivering pizza with the truck last night and it started and drove fine the whole night, up until I stopped in at McDonalds and had to shut it off so I could place my order over the microphone, after that it wouldn't start. I did drive the truck most of the night in the rain/thunderstorm periods. St. Albert got a huge dump and there were quite a few large puddles I ended up hitting throughout the night; but this was a couple hours before my issue. I did not try to 24v boost the truck. The tow truck driver did not have a 24v booster pack, and I have never 24v boosted a truck, I am scared about causing more damage.

As far as I know the truck was daily driven up until I bought it June. I have put almost 10,000kms on the truck so far with no issues whatsoever. The truck is about to break 420,000kms though.

Spencer

 

[RockDoc]

Okay, if I have some time tonight, I may give you a call. I'm not expert, but 2 heads are better than one. I would be inclined to take the batteries somewhere other than CT (Napa?), CT is in the business of selling stuff more than IDing true problems. Are you working/busy tomorrow night?

 

[KingSpence]

I am scheduled to work tomorrow night, but if I don't have a truck I will not be able to make it. I took the batteries to Canadian Tire and they both tested +/- 40 CCA from 700. I'm going to try checking relays starting with the starter, see where that gets me.

 

[RockDoc]

Spence, the diesel and 24v sub-forum has lots of guys from around the world who know the Toyota diesel systems well. If the problem isn't obvious to you after a bit of poking around, starting up a real time help thread in there should get the possibilities narrowed down for you.

 

[cruisernerd]

my truck did this when i first got it. turned out to be a bad connection in the battery terminals. take them off and clean them, grounds too. just because they are tight does not mean they connected well.

 

[RockDoc]

my truck did this when i first got it. turned out to be a bad connection in the battery terminals. take them off and clean them, grounds too. just because they are tight does not mean they connected well.

x2
Pull and clean your battery contacts and the ends of the major cables if you didn't when checking earlier. Check for any problems in the cables themselves (feel for any weak points while bending, check with a multimeter to ensure there is next to no resistance in them).

Damn, I'm tired, I need to go to bed.

 

[KingSpence]

Good news! I ended up changing out the old weathered terminals for new ones, and I visually inspected and checked each wire. Long behold as I was bending and feeling the cable that connects the batteries together (runs over the fan shroud) I felt a break in the cable underneath the lining. I replaced the wire with a new one and the truck runs like a champ. As for the headlights, there was a power wire going straight to the battery and it seems the connector was so corroded it basically fell apart when undoing the battery terminals. After replacing the wire and connector, the headlights work great. I even had enough time to head out to the bush and get plugged in a mud hole.

Thanks to everyone for their help, especially RocDoc for creating this thread for a noob like me. This forum is awesome!

Thanks.
Spencer

 

[RockDoc]

Awesome, good to here Spencer!!