I'm lookin for a survival rig currently looking at a 95 dodge diesel with 5 speed. I've been told these engines are all mechanical and will run even if all electrical were to fail on truck due to an EMP blast or some other catastrophe. I know about the fuel solenoid, I should be able to manually set it by hand or wire it back and I could always roll start the 5 speed. Am I correct about this or are there sensors that would prevent truck from running if they were to fail?

 

You are mostly correct. A lawnmower throttle cable could be used for an on/off switch to the fuel pump start lever where the solenoid connects. Good luck with the roll start technique. Starter motors and solenoids will most likely continue to function, it is the solid state, low power/voltage/amperage circuitry which doesn't like being overloaded. I'm also thinking most cars will continue to function; after all, sheet metal works as a great faraday cage. Now if you go out and string miles of transmission lines to act like big antennas gathering up as much potential as possible (like our grid system), the troubles start to impact the big stuff---substation equipment/transformers etc.

 

Essentially correct. If you do lose PCM function, you would also lose alt. charging, but that likely wouldn't be a huge issue unless you ran all the time at night. If roll starting freaks you out, they make a crank up spring starter, but I would imagine they are pricey.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...spring+starter

 

I'm kinda into the same type of project. I've heard that EMP blast is more fiction than fact. But always good to be prepared, As far as charging an alternator can be rigged to charge the batteries and run asserories without the control from the pcm, You can wire an old fasioned regulator for field control. On my rig I plan on housing some solar panels to keep aux batteries in good state of charge to run assesories such as compressor and inverter.