Hey, I am new to the forums.... although I've lingered for a while. I just picked up my first dodge ever, my W250 8 days ago, and I've ran into a couple things that I have no idea what to do. I have checked the stickies already, and have done a forum search so forgive me if I mess up lol.

Anyways, so firstly my Odometer wasn't working, so I pulled the dash apart and found which gear was broken, the 20 tooth small gear, ordered it and replaced it. Odometer still is not working? I thought maybe the problem could be with my speedometer, because when I'm driving it will sit at 0, jump up to around what speed I'm going, then back down to 0, and it continues to do this non stop... Also, when it does this my Wait to Start light flashes! No idea what this could be?? Maybe a loose ground....? Because it doesn't do this ALL the time, but more often than not, and besides that, my speedometer is about 11-12 MPH off, if that can add to any of the info.

Just to make clear, I did replace the odometer gear exactly how the sticky had said, and also checked this thread https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=225686 just to make sure.

Another, I installed red LED bulbs in my gauge cluster last night, and the LEDs would flash whenever I was at a stand still, but when I was on the pedal they'd stop flashing. Also when the truck was off and the lights were on they wouldn't flash.... But after running it for a while they stopped flashing, so I don't know if that's going to be a continuing problem or not, just throwing it out there

Also, I have a "little" bit of cancer rust above my wheel arches, I checked this link: http://www.rustrepair.com/Dodge_pickup.htm and it didn't take me anywhere... but I did find raybuck.com and found the panels that I needed.... I don't know if anyone else has purchased patch panels from them, but some kind of feedback would be nice?? Here's that link: http://raybuck.com/i-67491-1981-93-d...iver-side.html

For now that's all of the questions I need answering, but I'm sure I'll run into more lol. Thanks for any help in advance.

EDIT: Also looking for a solid back window.... If anyone could help me out with that

 

First off, welcome to the board. Next, fill out your signature so that we know what we are dealing with and next, check those grounds. Intermittence is a classic sign of that....Mark

 

Do what mark said, also be sure to post a few pictures of your new ride!
Welcome to the labyrinth.

Jason

 

Welcome 209trucker To be honest replace the bed heck of alot easier then messing with patch panel's PM me if you need info I will point you in the right direction . as for speedo have you checked the connection on trans ? it's the VSS they can go bad really easy .

 

Okay changed my signature, added what I could for now. Also uploaded a few pictures lol.

I'm going to check my wiring tonight, and I will check the VSS tonight as well.

As for the bed.... I first thought to just replace the whole thing, but to me I just think it'd be a lot cheaper to replace the sections with new panels... I have a welder and whatever equipment I would need, and I'm fairly trained in welding and welding body panels. I just don't want to pick up a new bed, say it be blue, and drive around with a red and silver front end and a blue bed lol. Obviously I plan to paint it in time, but not soon enough for me. But, if you do know of a place where I could get a good condition bed, please PM me and let me know. I just got the truck so I'm not in a huge hurry, just sort of planning out my work. Thanks for the info guys

 

Okay found the connection to the t case, there's three wires coming from the direction of the plug, and the plug only has two wires in it. The third wire is just hanging there.

 

Ok you sure somebody didn't make your truck a 4x4 ? because 3 wire is from 2 wheel drive I have same harness on mine but converted it to 4x4 to work .

 

The VIN says it's factory 4x4. I don't know what the 3rd wire is for, I just know it's coming from the same direction as the two wires for the plug in. Ill trace it tomorrow, I've been tinkering with the truck all night and it's 3 a.m. Lol

 

Just a thought... If it's going down to zero and the wait to start lights flashing... Wouldn't that mean the trucks getting a short signal that it hasn't started yet? So it could possibly not even be something to do with the speedometer?

 

You probably have a bad ground somewhere and it's back-feeding the light.

The WTS light should not flash.

 

Double check all your ground's and even the 1's under the dash by steering column bet you will find a Loose 1 some where .

 

Checked all my grounds under the hood, put new ring terminals on all of them and cleaned them up still no good. I don't know what the two wires under the truck are to, but they're just dangling there and I'm not sure if they're supposed to be grounds or if they got to another sensor.

Speaking of sensors, there's another one just hanging there under the truck, I was looking around for a socket to plug it in to but couldn't find anything? Not sure what all the mess is about.

 

Welcome Trucker dude..

After determining your grounds under the hood (including removing, cleaning and reinstalling the wires at the block) are all good (and I mean all connections) are cleaned, and put back, you will find that these trucks are underengineered when it comes to their wiring circuits. Any company who installs a fuse panel right where you can kick it out of the way, as it's not permanently attached to anything, is just plain retarded.

When I purchased both of my first gens, I found that I had constant electrical issues until I cleaned all the grounds under the hood, installed a few extra new grounds in strategic places (again, under the hood), removed my headlights from the main circuits, and most importantly, serviced my fuse panel. When I finally did the fuse panels, my gremlins all but disappeared.

This post: https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...6&postcount=13

In this thread: https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...s-t284142.html

The reality of my problems being gone I can only attribute to cleaning just about every single connection under the hood, separating my headlights to their own relays (in the sticky under Jim Lane), and most importantly, servicing my fuse panel, ensuring the connections in the box are firm, clean and no more shorts. When you investigate your fuse panel, don't be shocked if the Heater Motor / Blower Motor circuit is melted in the panel, as this is also a HUGE problem with these trucks. I've learned to not put my blower motor on HIGH any more, as to not overtax the inferior wiring leading to the panel from the motor.

So.... Clean up that fuse panel, Clean up those connections under the hood, add another ground wire from your negative terminal on your battery to your block then to the frame and hopefully you can get it all figured out...


Welcome to insanity.....

 

Text me a pic of the sensor and maybe we can figure it out easy way .

 

I will further inspect my grounds probably tomorrow as I don't get done with school until late tonight. I did read the headlight relay how-to by Jim lane, and I had to stop right at the end because I wasn't adding the third relay and had no idea where my wires were going. I put the low and high beam wires to the circuit breaker then hooked it up to the battery and grounded it but then the headlights would just stay on 24/7 so I'm not sure what to do.

I encountered another problem last night when I changed my fuel filter. The mounting stud came out with the old one so I put the seals back and put the new filter on, started it up and it idled really really rough, and now it won't start. I'm assuming there's air in the system but I don't know how to go about getting it out.

simplysmn, if you PM me your number I will take some good pictures of the wiring tonight and forward them to you.