Need electrical help!!
Hello everyone, im new to the cummins world as of a week and a half ago. Unfortunatly the truck only made it a week before giving me a problem (pretty big problem). The truck is a 96 eclb,AT, 2500.

Short list of whats done to it: 191 DVs... AFC full forward fuel plate... 120 hp injectors... New HTT 64/71/14 turbo... 11degrees of timing... DTT full lock up system and triple D torque converter... Billet input shaft and valve body...
Flex-A-Lite 5500 cfm elec fans...
BD diesel "COOL IT" after cooler... 33% bigger than reg after market...
Plus boots

Runs great drives great (or at least it did when i could drive it) and no other complaints other that my problem...

A few nights ago i noticed that my tachometer was not working along with my speedo drove it home that night and noticed the tranny seems to be stuck in 2nd gear and will not shift to anything else. The following morning i noticed when i turned the key to the on position that my wait to start light no longer comes on (25 degrees here in the north east so it was well bellow the grid heater work temp) and when the truck was started the motor dosent cycle between load and no load like it should if the grid heaters are working. Well i drove it down the road to my buddy garage so we could look at it and noticed that the amp guage was low and my headlight where getting very dim. Sure enough next time i tried to start it.. dead battery's, so the alt. ist charging either. I did some reading and changed the VSS or CPS (depending on which parts store idiot you talk too) and still the same thing. I checked for bad, loose and dirty grounds but it all looks ok. I cant stand electrical problems so idk what or how to check as far as the pcm (wich wires or pins are power for the unit and wich are ground and jow many volts they should be sending). Im leaning towards buying a new pcm but reading others saying how uncommon it is that they die, i just dont know. I tried checking with scanners and cant connect to the system. I cant check for codes with the turn key on off on off on off trick because i also noticed that my check engine light does not flash or come on even when the key is first turned



Im very confused so ANY help would be great. Opinions or tips on checking the pcm?

Thanks a bunch for any help

Edited to conform to site rules regarding Family Oriented content

 

Id start with verifying that you have 12V power and ground going to the ECM, if you have that, do you have 5V at the ESS or any other sensors?

 

Thats where i begin to get clueless. I have not yet bought a repair manual so i dont know which wires to check for ecm power and ground?

 

Still sounds like the ESS is bad.
Sad but true, many new parts are bad right out of the box.

Hope you can read this.
What you need is called the Powertrain Diagnostic Procedures manual. The DPD is for the electronics only and was only $10 new from Chrysler but is now out of print.
See them on ebay all the time though.

 

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

The previous owner put a DTT noise reducer (meant to filter out unnecessary electric interfearence from the tranny) in the truck and it was wired directly off of the no. 2 pin power wire for the pcm. Well come to find out the noise filter craped out and took the power for the pcm with it. Rewired the factory wire back in and got power back to the computer. Bing bang boom problem solved
Thanks again for the help.

 

I love it when the solution is a simple fix!