1996 5.2 No Start but cranks fine

[rrb6699]

I bought the truck and it ran fine but, noticed the water pump was leaking and red atv on the heater tube.

replaced the water pump and fan clutch and put everything back together. Went smoothly so I thought. Went to crank it to test it and only get crank but no spark at the plug. I can't understand how changing the water pump would affect the starting of a vehicle. I had both battery terminals disconnected and hooked them up in the correct order when I was done. also have a new battery.

There are a few electrical problems also. Since I'm a newbie to Dodge Ram second generation, I'll post them here.

-I checked for parasitic battery drain and found a high drain. my ammeter is only a cheap analog tester and only goes to 250ma, so I just check by touching quickly to see if it pegs the meter. the "50 amp Park lamp/horn" fuse is causing the draw. I checked everything from under the dash to every ground and every plug. I might add the headlights, running, horn, brakes and signals all work with this fuse in despite the amp draw. is this a short to ground? what's a quick way to test this? measure voltage from each battery terminal to body ground?

-fuel gauge doesn't work, fuel light always on even with 5 gals of fuel.

-no power to the OBDII reader port. I have a check engine light so would like to fix this.

-ill post a pic. the truck was wrecked in the front right fender. it looked like only the hood, headlight, passenger side mirror and probably alignment were damaged. it didn't even bend the a/c tubing inside the right fender. radiators were not damaged. I found the headlight and running light leads and electrical taped them to make sure they don't touch anything.

The pic with the right fender on is the "before" pic of this truck. The second pic with the right Fender off is after I did the water pump. right now that's how it looks.
( by the way it makes it much easier to reach inside the hood area without that fender) - not hard to remove.

you can see the a/c tube still intact. the damage looks worse than it is.

well, that's all I have now. any advice appreciated!

RayRay

 

[Shadow_Death]

I bought the truck and it ran fine but, noticed the water pump was leaking and red atv on the heater tube.

replaced the water pump and fan clutch and put everything back together. Went smoothly so I thought. Went to crank it to test it and only get crank but no spark at the plug. I can't understand how changing the water pump would affect the starting of a vehicle. I had both battery terminals disconnected and hooked them up in the correct order when I was done. also have a new battery.

There are a few electrical problems also. Since I'm a newbie to Dodge Ram second generation, I'll post them here.

-I checked for parasitic battery drain and found a high drain. my ammeter is only a cheap analog tester and only goes to 250ma, so I just check by touching quickly to see if it pegs the meter. the "50 amp Park lamp/horn" fuse is causing the draw. I checked everything from under the dash to every ground and every plug. I might add the headlights, running, horn, brakes and signals all work with this fuse in despite the amp draw. is this a short to ground? what's a quick way to test this? measure voltage from each battery terminal to body ground?

-fuel gauge doesn't work, fuel light always on even with 5 gals of fuel.

-no power to the OBDII reader port. I have a check engine light so would like to fix this.

-ill post a pic. the truck was wrecked in the front right fender. it looked like only the hood, headlight, passenger side mirror and probably alignment were damaged. it didn't even bend the a/c tubing inside the right fender. radiators were not damaged. I found the headlight and running light leads and electrical taped them to make sure they don't touch anything.

The pic with the right fender on is the "before" pic of this truck. The second pic with the right Fender off is after I did the water pump. right now that's how it looks.
( by the way it makes it much easier to reach inside the hood area without that fender) - not hard to remove.

you can see the a/c tube still intact. the damage looks worse than it is.

well, that's all I have now. any advice appreciated!

RayRay

Edit: Strike that thought. The power drives the horn but it passes through the relay. The only way that fuse would cause the drain is if there is a short in your dome light.

Edit 2: Does the fuel pump turn on with ignition?

 

[rrb6699]

yes, fuel pump whirrs and fuel pressure good. I might add I checked for parasitic drain, etc before I worked on anything.

I DID NOT check the dome light. the headliner and everything had been taken out of the truck so that could very well be the source.

 

[rrb6699]

the fuel pump whirrs when I turn the key. fuel pressure seems good. no pressure test but when I open the port I get a strong spray.

I checked the dome light (see pics) plus there was a plug going down the passenger-side windshield column I pulled out (not sure if it was plugged into anything - see pic)

I didn't see anything obvious with the dome light wires. could the dome light switch on the dash short out? seems like it would just be "on" but that's the only thing I have left aside from an open wire jacket on that circuit I can't visually see.

so far nothing found

 

[rrb6699]

update. I found a couple blown fuses but it's had no effect on getting the truck to fire up (cranks fine still).

the other thing I can't track down or don't know if I should be chasing it is the top left red fuse - 50amp park lamp/horn - in the pic. I only have a 250ma meter and battery drain is miniscule until I plug in that fuse. then when I touch the leads of my meter between negative battery terminal and negative wire, it pegs the meter. all I know is it's more than 250ma but, I'm not sure how much more. I plan to get a better VOM as soon as I can.

how much draw should I have off of that fuse?

I ordered a coil since this coil has hairline crack in it. maybe that's why I get no spark.

rr

 

[Shadow_Death]

Pull your headlight switch and see if it's all burnt up. Those are notorious for melting the plug. You might have a short in there causing the issue. Most replacement switches come with a new plug and harness that you will have to solder or butt connect in place.

 

[rrb6699]

I checked that. it works. I get power to both the [unhooked] dome light and the cargo light comes on.

the lights all work from the switch too.

I checked the stereo, cigarette lighter and power outlet. all work fine.

I can live with the power drain until I find it's cause. but, I can't live with the no spark but cranking issue. especially, when it ran and started right up before I did the water pump.

 

[EvilSpirit]

I'd check and see if I didn't unplug the coil connector (or damage the wires) since the coil is mounted right next to the W/P. Also check to see if you have 12v+ to the green/orange wire in the coil connector.

 

[rrb6699]

I checked this. when I turn the key, I get 12v until the fuel pump stops. then it drops to 0v.

I cant tell cranking it if I have voltage. if it pulses, then it's too fast for the meter to register. should there be 12v constant to that plug. I took the measurement probing both sides of that plug. (both wires) not to ground.

 

[Yeret]

If you have a multi-meter, try pulling the ignition coil and check resistance between the connector pins and then between one of the pins and the terminal. Resistance between the pins should be 1 ohm, resistance between pin and terminal should be around 10,000 ohms (I can never remember the exact number). If either of these are significantly out of spec, replace the coil.

The fuel gauge not working is likely a faulty fuel sender. The problem with our trucks is the sender, regulator and pump are all one, integrated assembly. Meaning if one of these three parts has an issue, you basically have to replace the entire assembly. Maybe it's possible to replace the components individually but ask yourself: do I really want to go through the PITA that is dropping the tank and yanking the stuff out just to put the old stuff back in and heaven forbid one of the old components decides to kick the bucket a month from now?

Can't really say much on the power drain. All I know about power drains is they can be a real pain in the ass to find. I'm lucky that I've never had to deal with such a problem (yet) but no one I've ever heard of who had such a problem would say that they had a fun time trying to find the source of it.

 

[rrb6699]

well, I eliminated the coil I think. I put a brand new one in thanks to a friend with inventory. still no start. I just got a crank Pos Sensor to try. Is there anything I should be aware of when swapping the old cps for the new?

if it isn't that and it's not the coil, could the alternator cause this condition? What other sensor would tell the computer not to fire? Could a vacuum issue cause this?

the coil gets voltage when I turn the key. I haven't verified the voltage is present while cranking, but, seems like it should be if it gets it when I turn the key on.

yet I get no spark at the plug. but voltage at the coil, then either the computer isn't sending the fire signal for some reason, or the brand new rotor cap, rotor and hall effect pickup coil has a problem.

lastly the PCM itself. in need of reprogram or replacement? but why?

just to remind, it fired right up fine before I changed the water pump. I took the belt, shroud, fan & clutch, a/c compressor, alternator & right fender off. replaced the water pump and put it all together except the right fender and fan shroud until I tested.

I had the [new] battery totally disconnected and put the leads back on in the right order.

 

[Yeret]

You noted that you have no power at the OBD2 port. So, if you connect a code reader into this, it doesn't work? This could indicate either a fault in the CCD bus line leading to the port (oh, boy, have fun with this...) or quite simply, a fault in the computer itself.

If you could get ahold of a different computer for cheap or nothing, it would certainly be worth trying. Looking at your info, it looks like you've got a 318, so make sure the computer is meant for a 318 and not a 360.

 

[rrb6699]

update. although the vehicle started before I did the water pump, the attached pictures are from looking up towards the top of the bellhousingme laying underneath the truck.

The blue arrow shows the plug and the wire broken off that plug. that goes to the other pic of the wider view and yellow arrows.

In the yellow circle I have found at least two wires that I can see where the sheath is exposed and broken or possibly shorting.

I'm having a hard time even taking a picture of these exposed wires and even the broken wire that I can verifyis broken off that plug. .

I'm thinking I have to eliminate the plug and just splice the wires together for the one plug. But I probably need a lift to get up to the other wires because I can't get my two hands up in there laying underneath the vehicle.

I'll bet I had some visitors chewing on wires up there. I've never had this happen on any other of my vehicles parked in my driveway.

Does Dodge wiring attract rodents?

anyway, it makes sense because it would be convenient for the little buggers to crawl across the topside of the tyranny.

i'll just figure this mess out first before I diagnose further. any suggestions on rodent deterrent I can spray up there?

 

[Yeret]

Best rodent deterrent I've found is just not letting a vehicle sit. Even out here where mice are everywhere, they tend to only target vehicles that sit in the same place for any period of time.

And no, I'm not aware of Dodge's attracting rodents, LOL. Au contraire, my Dodge is pretty much the only vehicle out here that HASN'T been visited by the local rodent population.

 

[rrb6699]

yea, I don't let em sit, but, the kid I bought it from wrecked it and drove it to my friend 's house where it sat for a month in some high grass by woods. I just hope the rodents left after I parked it here where it's blacktop.

i'll update after I address the wire situation. I bet it clears up some of my issues. lol

 

[rrb6699]

ok, fixed the wires issue. wasn't real bad. had to bypass the one plug cover a bared wire and fix another broken wire.

got a hint of fire but it just kept cranking. negative battery terminal got hot so probably a ground issue still.

I haven't checked what differences fixing the wires did, but, i'll go through everything Monday.

 

[Khoover1988]

That tranny wire could be a park safety switch, if it broke then no fire at all. Try fixing it completely. That also might be part of your power draw problem from a bare wire touching. Damn rodents! Good luck buddy!

 

[rrb6699]

I didn't know this. just in case you all don't I found this tool. it's a ECT-2000 tracer tool. it's basically a wire toner that does much more. I havent checked for other similar tools.

I figured someone would have recommended this by now. you can find the short inside wire bundles at the point where it occurs etc.. but, what caught my attention is the light bulb plug adapters. for that circuit. gonna see if autozone carries one.

https://www.powerprobe.com/ppect2000/

 

[rrb6699]

nope autozone never heard of it. one guy was interested enough to want to look into it.

As for the crank sensor I removed the old one I cannot see anything. CAN'T SEE ANYTHING! it was just by feel and it was not easy to get those screws out for some reason it was like threadlock Galore on them, but, they didn't have any thread lock on them. I thought they came out with such difficulty they might have been cross-threaded, but, the threads look perfectly fine and I cleaned them up with a wire brush.

What I want to know is about that foam boot that surrounded the crank position sensor. Should I remove that and replace it? It doesn't seem to cover the entire hole. I just went ahead and got a crank sensor on the fact that this one probably never has been changed.

Also I'm half tempted to take the exhaust manifold off to make sure I get the new one in correctly because I can't tell what I'm doing because I can't see anything and they made sure they put that in the place where you can't see nothing.

Anyway, let me know about that foam boot around the crank sensor and how do I replace it if I need to or should. It seems to be soaked with oil.

I probably got an intake manifold and a rear main seal to do on this thing.

As for the leaks what would be the best stop leak to use for the crankcase and the best stop leak to use for the coolant leaks.? I see so many of them in the Auto Store some cheap some ridiculously expensive and it would **** me off to no end if I put a $40 bottle of something in my truck and it didn't stop the leaks. The leaks as far as oil go aren't bad.

The tranny pan seems to be leaking, but, I intend to replace that gasket and the tranny screen filter anyway so for now I'm just tightening those up until I figure out if I want to even keep this truck once it starts again.

As for the coolant leaks they seem to be worse than the oil leaks I'll have to deal with those hopefully I can find a good stop leak to at least get me to the point of driving this thing short distances which is all I need it for right now.

As far as the tranny pan and the valve covers I could turn those bolts by hand or fingers that's how loose they were. Got him good and tight now though.

thx,

rr

 

[rrb6699]

UPDATE : GOT IT RUNNING!

it was the CPS. When I took the old one out, one of the wires was not connected and the other one was still intact. I changed the sensor it cranked right up. All that wire chewing by mice that went on when it sat in the field must have chewed on the crank sensor wires just enough so they were still making contact. When I changed the water pump I probably jostled them when I was messing around behind the distributor. This probably pulled the remaining strands of copper connecting to the crank sensor off.

My next issue is the transmission once I took it out for a ride as I came to a stop shifting through the gears I noticed it when I try to accelerate from a slow coast, it made a real hard shift. It's slightly low on fluid but not that low. Should I look at doing a band adjustment or just change the filter and fluid to start with?

If I need adjustment how do I know what to look for so I know it is back into adjustment?
If I come to a complete stop and take off it doesn't do that hard shift. Only if I come to a slow coast and then try to take off again .

Driving it otherwise it never did the same thing. But I did not try to do that accelerate from a slow coast again. I made sure I came to a complete stop.