This morning I was heading to school hauling a car hauler trailer and my check engine light came on? I've never had it come on before and was seeing what it could be since these trucks are mostly mechanical. My volt meter seemed to drop and my fuel pressure dropped a bit from my Airdog which makes me thought its not getting enough power. So im thinking it must be electrical but everything seemed to still work fine? Isn't there a way to cycle the key to find out what the code is? Just never had this before and wonderin what the problem is? Thanks.

 

Make sure the big heavy power conductor coming from the alternator is still plugged in well. The plug is about a foot or so from the alternator.

The cable is routed so that it runs just under the IC tube coming from the turbo. Things moving around works the plug loose.

That's what mine did anyway.

 

Yes there is info in the sticky to retreive the codes. When my '93 did that it was the alternator acting up. New brushes got it going again.

I had no idea the check engine light worked with the CTD. I was surprised/ mad when it lit up.

 

Well it turns out its the alternator. I moved my truck from the parking lot to the shop to load some metal which wasn't far and most of my gauges all died. I checked the codes and got 12 and 47 which is : 12 Battery connection disturbed within the last 50 starts, and 47 Charging system voltage too low. The alternator was already way hot, hotter than the manifold. I got a voltmeter and checked my battery and it only had about 11 volts with the truck off and had 10 with the truck running so it wasn't charging. Luckily it started again and i headed home and told myself to go as far as i could, it was only about 7 miles.

The thing that sucks is i have an electric lift pump, my airdog... most my gauges are electric so they didn't tell me much and so i stopped every so often to make sure the airdog was still running and pumping. This is where I miss my mechanical fuel pump When I was about home my OD started to kick in and out from the lack of juice since its electronic, but I got er home and called around to get prices on a new one. I'll get this old one off tonight and there will be a reman waitin for me in napa in the morning when i take in my core. Thanks for the help guys, its nice to have a smartphone I can get on here and ask a question or get on the sticky anytime I have a problem with my truck away from home.