Last week I bought doodah's silver 97 Dodge, and the thing runs great! Lots o power...anyway that is not were the problem lies. Tonight I changed the oil and fuel filter. (the filter was a big pain by the way, but i got it done) Anyway once I was done, i pumped up the lift pump to fill the filter housing. And then tried to start it, and it didnt start! This was not typical of my other two diesels that I used to have, they would at least start and run for about 30 seconds before stalling, but this one didnt start at all. So I proceded to start the bleeding prossess, and it wouldn't get any fuel at the injectors. So I looked at the shut down solenoid and it was down, so I pulled it up and it stayed up and I could not push it down, then I tried to start it and it started right up. So then I turned the key to shut it off, and it shut right down, just like normal. Then I tried to start it again and the solenoid would not move up when I cranked it over, so it wouldnt start. I went and manually moved it up and it stayed up and would not move down, even if I pushed it down. Then the truck started up when I cranked it.

So the problem seems to be that the shut down solenoid will move into the off position, but will not move into the on position. Unless I move it, then it will stay forcibly, like normal, were you cant move it down..I checked the 3 pin harness that the solenoid plugs into and it is clean and clear of anything that would cause a bad connection.

Its not like its gonna leave me stranded, I just dont want to pop the hood every time I want to start it!

Any ideas?
I'm prolly gonna end up puttin' a pull cable on it...and forget it!

 

Check to see if you are getting power to the pin that energizes the pull up function. Also check your ignition switch and wiring.

 

What probably happened is in your struggle to change the fuel filter you jiggled the blue wire to the battery positive. It may have been corroded, possibly under the insulation where you can't see it. The jiggling was the last straw to finally break the wire. The blue wire is actually a fusible link, availible at any autoparts store, ask for a blue one.

 

infidel I did not see the blue wire you speak of.

I went out there and took the three pin harness off, connected the solenoid to the battery and made sure that it worked...and it did, so I figured the problem would lie in the harness from the truck somewhere, well I disconnected the relay for the solenoid and reconnected it, and wala...she starts...not sure what the problem was, but it works now without me having to manually push the solenoid up.

prolly what this means is that I'll have this problem again tomorrow.....and then I'll have to fix something..but I guess we'll see.

 

Andy, remember when I told you it will do that, then al of a sudden it will be fine??, Well right After I mentioned it to you, the next day, it started doing it!, I messed with the connections, and feel the short is in that pigtail somewheres, its just enough to make it spuratic, also, could try a new relay on the fire wall, the relay thats there is a radioshack relay, and it could be time to change it as a few guys said that they dont work very good, but that relay is the same one for 3 years, maybe time to change it........, other than that, your liking the truck, right??,, here is a video of the first sled pull on that new tranny, I locked up the manual switch to ealry with it though, but still took 5th place out of 26......... got some friends out in that area gonna be lookin for that truck, hookin- so you better not let me down!!!!lol

http://video.competitiondiesel.com/v...ad01092a51.htm

 

I had the same problem and just when i was about to change the shut off solenoid, i noticed my driver side battery was corroded. I loosened it to clean it and found the wire from the shutdown solenoid had corroded and was not getting any juice. Just cleaned the battery terminal and cut wires back to get a new connection and all is fine now, except my freakin track bar!!

 

Both batteries are only 1 year old or so, the wire for the solinoid, maybe could use a new connection, I remember when I put the new heating grid solinoids in, I was gonna change the end for that wire, and forgot,-could be the culprit!!

 

I think its the middle wire in the harness to the solenoid, this is the wire that acutally moves the solenoid up, but is shut off as soon as it gets up and another wire gives power to the solenoid to keep it up...last night when I tested the solenoid I found that are 3 wires that connect to the solenoid, 1 is for ground, 1 is power to move the solenoid up, and 1 is for keeping the solenoid up. When it didnt work right last night it just wouldnt move up, but if I manually moved it up it would stay up. If I totally disconnected the solenoid from the truck, and tried to move it up manually, it would go back down as soon as I let go. So it prolly is a loose or corroded middle wire, could be a relay too....I guess I'll just have to wait till it does it again to chase the problem down.

doodah, other than that the truck runs awesome!! I'll try to post some pics later on today if I get a chance.

one thing I did notice is that (and I've seen this on other 12v with the p7100 pump too) is that if the truck is in gear (automatic only) and you rev it up the truck stalls when it comes back down to idle. To keep it from stalling you have to use the throttle a little bit. Is that a common thing or what?

 

Andy, the only time power is at the middle connector is when you are cranking the engine. Unless you had some helping you you wouldn't see any voltage there.
I'm still leaning towards a corroded blue wire, it has to be there unless it's been modified.
Wiring diagram here> https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...re_diagram.jpg

Get a new relay and much info here > http://www.fostertruck.com/dodge/default.htm

 

Andy, about the throttle, I had set the throttle up a tad a couple weeks ago, but maybe the jam nut got loose, what does the tach read when you put it in gear with the air on full blast??, It was reading right at 800rpm, and 900 in park, if it is not, its a simple deal to adjust{easier for you to do a search, as to have me explain it} its just in a kindof tight spot, I am really leaning hard on it being a wire around the pigtail too, I think that every once in a while it gets bumped into a position where its not make full connection, because it seemed like, if I went and pulled the pig tail apart, and pushed it tightly back together, it wouldnt do it again, like I moved something around!,, also like stated above, its not gonna "PULL" up until you are actually cranking the engine, not turning the key, its gonna take you 2 people to do it right if your checking connections.....

also, Andy, I found you a cheap bumper not to far away from you {1hr 20min southwest} from a member of cumminsforum, if your still lookin for one,{I AM NOT SELLING ANYTHING,MODERATORS! JUST TELLING SOMEONE ABOUT WHAT I SAW ON ANOTHER SITE!!!!