rodsram

We have besides my 2500, an '04 3500 Auto.
One of our foremen used it to jump start a fork lift.
Truck died - we have had it towed to the local dealership, this is the result:

"The complete electrical system has been fried." ?????
"The injector pump is possibly also fried" ????????

I am located in Myrtle Beach and the truck is in Louisville KY.

Is it possible to "fry" the ECM etc by jump-starting another vehicle?

The embarassing thing is one of the site guys with a Duramax then jumped the fork lift, got it started, and then pulled our the dualie out of the way.

Any suggestions - info would be great.

TKS.

RickCJ

That'll happen when you hook the jumpers up wrong!!

03 ant a hemi

even when you hook them up directly to the battery you can cause the ECM to fry.

You must hook the negative cable to a good chassi ground. Not the battery.

rodsram

Is this typical of Dodge/Cummins, or is it a Diesel thing.
I am trying to figure out why this is an issue, as posted above, I used to use my 1500 gasser for this alot.

Thanks for the replys

madhat

Not sure if it's common of Dodges, but it has been recomended in every vehicles owners manual that I have ever read to hook the negitive cable to chasis ground vice the battery.

pind

This problem is not dodge only, it happened to a 550 ford at one of our local yards two weeks ago. -45C and they tried to boost a truck mount lift to get it going. battery was frozen in the lift, as well as the alternator was shorted, it led to a new battery / alternator, and battery blanket for the lift, and a whole pile of new electronic parts for the truck.

It can happen when you have a massive short in the system on the vehicle being boosted, it can happen if you hook the cables up backward, it can happen if one of the batteries is frozen or sulfated beyond help, in the early 90's it could happen just because you were boosting with a ford product. The truck you were boosting from would shut off, and it would be ECM replacement time.

So, always be very aware of what you are doing when boosting other vehicles. I have seen fried electrical systems, exploded batteries, major electrical fires, and several people injured as a result of improper boosting techniques.

Just graham wafers for the brain waves. Hope this doesn't start anything

RCW

You can destroy any modern vehicle's electrical system, gas or diesel, by jump starting. The issue is that all over the road vehicles now use PCM/ECM/BCM computerized modules.

When you jump start someone else, or they jump you, stray electrical current is introduced into the electrical system and can blow one or more of the processors. This is no different than arc welding on a vehicle with the batteries connected, stray electrical current is generated and it is external to the voltage dampening capabilities of the controller for the alternator, so spikes will occur, and spikes destroy the computers in the newer vehicles.

If you have the need to jump start other equipment, use an isolation circuit with a dedicated battery and/or isolator capable of handling the load, and that is not otherwise connected to your truck's electrical system.

The Duramax guy is either extremely lucky or has a dedicated isolation circuit installed for jump starting. The Duramax rigs almost always blow the PCM shift point regulation for their automatic transmissions when they jump another vehicle and are hit with stray current. You will see isolation circuits on tow trucks, and even then they can blow one or more computers in the car they are jumping.

torquefan

There seems to be a lot of misconceptions regarding jump starting. The reason we make the negative connection to a chassis ground is because as it is the final connection it WILL make a spark, and we want that spark to be away from the explosive hydrogen gases venting from the battery. Making the ground connection to the battery itself is no more likely to "fry" any electrical components than connecting it to any proper chassis ground. In fact, if I chose to have high current leave my truck and run to another vehicle, I would prefer it take the shortest, least resistive path possible- from battery to battery.

It is, however, very possible to cause havoc with the electronics by hooking up the cables backwards, allowing the positive and negative cables to touch, or sometimes even inducing a large, sudden voltage drop or "spike" by hooking up a very dead vehicle to a running vehicle. When boosting a vehicle, I make all connections with both vehicles OFF, then start my truck, wait several minutes to allow voltages to stabilize, then attempt to start the dead one.
Hope this info helps.

rodsram

With all that has been said in this regard, why is there no warning in the owners maual.
To me this is a neccesity - many folks jump another vehicle at some time or another.
Just sucks to have to pay out five grand - due to ignorance!

dodgezilla04

$5,000?????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!