[AT] 98 Dodge 3500

charliehill charliehill at embarqmail.com
Sun May 24 06:52:32 PDT 2009


John it was a wierd deal.  Believe me I had checked everything I could find 
to check including that ground lug.  The ground was clean, the double nuts 
on the wire were tight.  The danged stud was just loose enough in the 
manifold that the coolant was partially messing with the ground.  It wasn't 
totally open and the stud wasn't loose.  It just wasn't tight enough.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Hall" <jthall at worldnet.att.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2009 7:05 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] 98 Dodge 3500


> Dang it Charlie, Farmer told you YEARS ago what the problem was. :)
>
> Check the Ground.
> Check the Ground.
> Check the Ground.
>
> Unfortunately with todays vehicles there must be about 50 of such per
> vehicle, guess you missed one!
>
> John Hall
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "charliehill" <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" 
> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2009 8:07 AM
> Subject: Re: [AT] 98 Dodge 3500
>
>
>> This is a long story but worth reading, especially for you Kevin.  It
>> might
>> help you figure this thing out.
>>
>> My old pickup (89 GMC) got to running bad when it was maybe 6 or 7 years
>> old.  It would spit, sputter and backfire but only when the cruise 
>> control
>> was on.  Well you know the solution to that, I stopped using cruise
>> control.
>> Not because I wanted to, I just couldn't find the problem.  Eventually it
>> got to where it ran terribly all the time.   The problem went on for 
>> close
>> to 2 years (maybe longer than that) getting progressively worse until
>> finally it was nearly undrivable nearly all the time.
>>
>> I studied every manual I could find and checked every component I could
>> find
>> the specs to check and couldn't find the problem.  Finally I went to a
>> Chevy
>> dealer in a nearby town.  I knew the folks (now out of business).  It was
>> a
>> small family owned outfit.  I was able to talk them into letting me go in
>> the shop with the mechanic.  I proceeded to tell him everything I had
>> checked.  I asked him to check the cruise control module.  I couldn't do
>> that because the data for it is not in any of the aftermarket manuals.  I
>> knew my problem initially had something to do with the cruise.  I needed
>> the
>> factory manual to check it.
>>
>> He listened to me but then politely said to let him do his checks first.
>> He
>> proceeded to re-check everything I had checked and didn't find it.  Then
>> he
>> decided to replace electronic box in the distributor.  That didn't work 
>> so
>> he took the new one off and put my old one back in.  Finally he went and
>> pulled the data for the cruise control.
>>
>> There is a ground wire on that truck that goes to ground on one of the
>> thermostat housing studs.  He checked the resistance on that ground and 
>> it
>> was out of spec.  He took a 9/16 wrench and turned the stud about a
>> quarter
>> turn and the problem went away.
>>
>> Here's what happened as he and I were able to recreate it.   I remembered
>> that not long before the problem started I had changed the thermostat.
>> The
>> ground wire is double nutted on the stud in the thermostat housing, the
>> wire
>> is just long enough and it's kind of hard to get the stud tight in the
>> block
>> and then get the double nut tight on the ground wire without pulling the
>> gound wire apart.
>> I had gotten the double nuts tight on the ground wire but unknown to me
>> the
>> stud was about 1/4 turn loose in the intake.  It was not leaking but
>> enough
>> antifreeze had seeped into the connection to screw up the ground.  The
>> problem didn't start immediately after I changed the thermostat and once
>> it
>> did start it took it a couple of years to get to the point  of having to
>> fix
>> it.  Before that it had been intermittent and to begin with only when the
>> cruise control was engaged.  Since there was no visable leak on the stud
>> and
>> I didn't have the manual with the Cruise control specs I had no reason to
>> check that stud.  The ground wire was as tight on the stud as it could 
>> be.
>> The problem was the stud being loose in the intake.
>>
>> I spent well over a year.  I think more than 2 years looking for that
>> problem and fixed it with a 1/4 turn of a wrench.  Kevin if you are still
>> reading, my point is that your problem is probably something just as 
>> small
>> and hard to find.  That is why someone dumped the truck.  They couldn't
>> find
>> the problem and gave up.  If I had just, for some odd reason, decided to
>> change my thermostat again my problem would have gone away and I might
>> have
>> never known what fixed it.
>>
>> Charlie Hill
>
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