First post - Need electrical help

sadlesor · Oct 3, 2011

First post here and I have a strange problem. I have a 1995 Gen II Dodge 3500 pickup, two wheel drive with a V-10 engine. I am the second owner and have owned it since 1997. A few months ago it was blowing the 40amp Ign Run fuse in the power distribution box under the hood. Since the truck isn't driven much, I left it until I had some time to look at it. I suspected a wire was grounding out. So I pulled the lower panel under the steering wheel and I found the offending wire. It's a gray wire with a black tracer. It's burnt to a crisp (see photo). What is puzzling me is that there is a gray jumper wire that has been spliced in and I have no idea what its for. It runs from the Junction Block to the white plastic connector in the photo and then up to the ignition switch. I can't tell who did this (dealer/owner/electrical hack). It's solder in, but not very well. I'm wondering if this was done to replace the gray/black wire that was previously damaged. I'd like to pull this gray jumper and fix the gray/black wire properly. Scratching my head on this one.

So if anyone has any ideas on what this might be fore, I sure would appreciate some help in figuring it out.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

Cooked gray/black wire.

Gray jumper wire at Junction Block.

Gray jumper wire at ignition switch.

Gray jumper wire tied in and out of connection block.

ramhunter9 · Oct 3, 2011

Wow , something got hot ..lol

I would guess , and only guessing someone taped into that line for a power source and it grounded out or they pulled to much off the line . Do you have a aftermarket HU or trailer break controller that requires positive power ?

Also , Welcome to RF

Mopar1973Man · Oct 3, 2011

I've been pouring over the wiring maps and can seem to find that wire. So if you could help out and give me a clue what system has been effected and maybe where the grey/black wire goes to.

sadlesor · Oct 3, 2011

I think it's the one on the left side of this diagram page. Can't seem to get the diagram large enough to view in preview. Not sure how it's going to post. The Gray/Black wire runs b/t the Junction Block and the PCM. At the PCM in the diagram it says "Fused Ignition Switch Output (Run-Start), thru connector S107 and then to the Junction Block.

The engine will start once, but the 40A IGN RUN fuse blows. If you turn the engine off, it won't restart.

sadlesor · Oct 3, 2011

ramhunter9 said:
Wow , something got hot ..lol

I would guess , and only guessing someone taped into that line for a power source and it grounded out or they pulled to much off the line . Do you have a aftermarket HU or trailer break controller that requires positive power ?

Also , Welcome to RF

I know the previous owner had it wired for trailer lights and a hitch for a gooseneck trailer. I'm beginning to think that the jumper may have been for a brake controller. Most gooseneck hitches are for horse trailers which would have brakes. I think maybe I can just pull the jumper out and repair the gray/black wire and be good to go. I'll wait and see what other responses I get. Thanks so far.

Steve

ramhunter9 · Oct 3, 2011

My response was a shot in the dark ..lol but sounds like they had something jumped in

quietpeen · Oct 3, 2011

welcome to RF. Hope these guys can get you fixed up

wermbang · Oct 4, 2011

Wish I could help ya too, but I got lost in the wires. Hopefully Michael or someone else can help point you in the right direction.
Welcome to RF

sadlesor · Oct 4, 2011

wermbang said:
Wish I could help ya too, but I got lost in the wires.

Yeah, me too.

No telling what they were thinking 15+ years ago.

Thanks

Steve

BlackedOutHemi · Oct 4, 2011

I would say if you can tell where the burnt wire goes/went and you know what the jumper does, pull the jumper or any loose wires and redo the wiring. See what happens then.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

sadlesor · Oct 4, 2011

BlackedOutHemi said:
I would say if you can tell where the burnt wire goes/went and you know what the jumper does, pull the jumper or any loose wires and redo the wiring. See what happens then.

That is what I'm thinking also. It makes sense to me that the gray wire was put in for a trailer brake controller. It will be a day or two before I can get to this and maybe a day to fix it. No hurry here, like I said the truck is not a daily driver.

Thanks everybody so far.

Steve

wermbang · Oct 6, 2011

any updates?

sadlesor · Oct 6, 2011

I was able to trace the gray/black wire today, what was left of it anyway. It runs from the large wire junction box, on the left side firewall, to a white splice connector and then up to the ignition switch.

The wire was burnt and melted for the entire run, about 18 inches. The gray jumper wire runs to the same places.

Looks to me like at some point the gray/black wire was shorted and the gray jumper wire was put in to repair it instead of a proper fix. I've removed the jumper wire and will start repairing it correctly. I think the hard part will be figuring out how to remove the male and female portions of the pins inside the plastic connectors. The ignition switch plug I've already figured out.

If any one has an idea of how to remove the pins from the two remaining white plastic connectors, please share it with me.

I also need to check a lot of the wires that shared the loom with the gray/black wire to make sure that some insulation wasn't melted off of them.

I'm hoping this is the fix for this. It seems to be considering the fuse in the engine compartment, which was blowing, is part of the ignition system.

It's going well so far and thanks for the input so far.

Steve

Jumper wire soldered into wire junction box.

Splice connector where the jumper wire was soldered in.

Ignition switch plug.

The Assassin · Oct 6, 2011

Man that's a lot of wires! Hopefully you get it figured out.

First post - Need electrical help

sadlesor

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ramhunter9

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