Our truck problems this spring

[Wrknrvr]

  I can tell you it is serious when your engine miss fires while traveling around Atlanta on Sunday afternoon. At  4:30 pm.

   And the look on your wife’s face is memorable.

 

   (Will continue storytelling tomorrow.)

[Wrknrvr]

    So we take the first exit there is. I have never been on this street before. Engine still has a occasional miss. Make a right turn, next intersection there is a lot of traffic coming from right.

   Luckily I do not need to stop for a right turn, but this street has a incline, more missing , finally get over the top. No place on the right to park, but finally going down hill gently there appears a open parking lot on the left. But there is ongoing traffic coming from the other direction. Finally get into the parking lot.    Wife gets her stuff for changing filters.  Change both filters.

   Start truck and test drive it for several laps around the big parking lot. Not one miss. Park at the back side of the lot. The building is a medical facility, but not open on Sunday.    Spend the night there.  Sorta feeling good the engine will run good tomorrow.

   But a good night of sleep will help.

[rpsinc]

Wrknrvr   Sending you good vibes for an enjoyable and successful trip.

[Wrknrvr]

Rpsinc.   (This is a recap of our travels from South Carolina, to Montana. We started this episode in the last of March. And arrived in Montana mid July.)

   More to follow on this adventure.

[Wrknrvr]

    We figured since we got 200 miles out of those filters.. Remember the algae problem.

   We should get 300 miles for our next set of filters.

 

    Ok.  Ok.  Looking at the map. What is the shortest way to get past Nashville.

 

 

            I can say that was a bad.    Bad thought, baddd thought.

 

   

[Wrknrvr]

   So we figured that going straight through Nashville on the interstate would be the fastest way north.

    So heading towards Nashville the truck is running really good. Straight through Nashville we go .

   And then I see the skyscrapers in Nashville. Looking good so it is.

 

    Then there is a miss in the engine.  Do not look at wife.   There is a exit, I take it. Not the friendly place to be. I am from the the country, so being in town seems out of place.

    Finally find a place to get off the street and change filters, again. Look on a aerial photo of where we are and how to get on the beltway again. So the street we are on goes east to the beltway. Truck is running good again. Get on the beltway and head around the beltway to the interstate north.   Now heading away from traffic.

   Sorta feeling good. And then there is a miss again. Get off the next exit. Find a place to change filters again. But that is going to have to wait. No real place to change filters. Truck is idling good.

 

   .??? And then more ????

  

[Wrknrvr]

    While sitting in a gas station parking lot, I look for a campground. One exit north on the interstate.

   But there is a side road that we can get there. So we head west from the interstate. Note:    I never shut the engine off while sitting in the gas station. So we travel say 2 miles west to a cross road. Wife notes sign that says we are over weight for that road. It also looks like it curves around a hill on a narrow road.

    On the left is a gravel parking lot. Pull in and turn around. Head back towards the interstate. And engine starts to miss more. Driving in 4 th gear and throttle position does not effect the miss.

   I noted some motorhomes or busses sitting on the South side of the road we are on. Pull in, asked about staying there. Nope , you need to leave as it is a private buse company. Pull around there bog shop building and it is really missing. Shut the motor off.

   I really nice gentleman comes over and we talked. He said to pull onto a gravel area, straight ahead.   Pull up and stop.

   He comes along the truck and said another 7’ to get off there pavement, as busses travel there numerous times a day.

 

    Start the truck again, and I will say that is the longest 7’ I ever measured. But I finally got where I needed to be.

   After different conversations that nice gentleman said we could sit there over night. And I could have 15 amp power to operate out residential fridge.

 

Edited August 19, 2023 by Wrknrvr

[Wrknrvr]

   So the next morning I had the truck idling for a short time.  The manager for the complex showed up with there two diesel mechanics.

   I told them what was happening. Main mechanic pushed on the lower outside ecm connector. Pushed it towards the engine. Engine starts to missfire.

   He pulls outwards on it, jut past its normal position. Truck idles nice. Push in just a tad, engine misses. Pull out engine runs fine.

 

   Never touched the fuel filters.

 

  ECM is less than two weeks from being rebuilt.

   So manager comes back in about an hour and says we can stay on the property with 50 am hookup. So we move the fifthwheel to that site. Unhook and park the truck next to the fifthwheel. Discuss ecm with rebuilder and search the net for a wiring harness for a n14.

     The next day I ordered a rebuilt ecm, again. And a wiring harness for a Cummins n14. Found one is Flagstaff Az, to be overnighted.

   Get some more popcorn Rick

  As things sorta gets more interesting as this event continues.

[Darryl&Rita]

Man, the stress this serial is giving me is crazy. Will Vern ever find the source of his troubles? Will he ever look his wife in the eye again? Stay tuned for the next episode of "The Filters of our Fuel"

[GeorgiaHybrid]

And here I thought we were watching an episode of "How the filter turns" or "Days of our filters" or "One ECM to live" or even "The young and the filterless"

[rickeieio]

I'm just watching the popcorn bag get close to empty.  Vern, hold on until I get back with more.

Edited August 20, 2023 by rickeieio

[Wrknrvr]

    So the next day about 10:30 am the new ecm arrived.

 

    But by 1 pm I have not seen the new n14 wiring harness. Call where I bought it. Person on the other end said there is not one in there system. At all??? None has been shipped either. Now what do I do. Cummins said it would be like 40 days until they would have one.

    The next day I locate one in Florida. Ordered it for overnight. This is in the early am.

     11:00 am my first harness arrived. Called second harness business and canceled the order. They were understanding as I have bought parts from them before.

  In the meantime I have removed all the connections for the wiring harness. The plug mount that holds the connector for the Cummins harness to the Volvo  harness, is in a tough place to work. It has two bolts holding it tight. After say 2 hours trying to get the upper bolt loose, I twist it off. Ok get the second bolt off.

     I decided not to cut any wires on the old harness. I learned that lesson, say 30 years ago.

    I wanted to just push the old harness away from the engine and install the new one. I would say when Volvo set that engine in place they incorporated the Cummins harness into there’s. So separating those two could be needed done on a nice day. 

   That could prove to be a real (blank) to separate them. So I install the wiring harness and the ecm. 

   I use to know a person at a Volvo dealership in Missoula Mt. I tried to call him. Shop is closed, as far as I can tell. So I have no one that I can think of for real life help in this situation.

 

    Try to start the truck. Nope it is not trying to fire once.      Ooooo nooo. Dam computer readout says. Something that does not seam recognizable.   Call tech support at ecm rebuilder.      (                              )        (                   ).

 

     Better fry more bacon for tonight’s popcorn Rick.

 

 

    

Edited August 20, 2023 by Wrknrvr

[Wrknrvr]

   I will say the next problem was 1000000000 percent my fault.

 

   Time to make breakfast. Be back tonight for my stupid, (.            )???????  Nesssssss answer.

    

[Wrknrvr]

I do mean really embarrassing as it can get.

Can anyone figure out what I diiiiidddddd. Wrong.  

I need to have some fun time as you can see this subject was frustrating to say the least.

 

  This is a lesson for anyone that has a Cummins n14 in a Volvo. It could be a lesson for other Cummins engines in a Volvo truck.

 

[Wrknrvr]

T    Well when installing the new harness, there are upper injection wires. The rest of the wires go down and forwards. Yes they do. Wife was at the tire pulling the harness forwards.

 

   So Now with the new wiring harness installed and the second rebuilt ecm installed, things are worse than before.

   The ecm rebuilder questioned the wiring harness. 

 

 The first rebuilt ecm did have a burnt electrical smell to the injector connector area. I tested that when I removed it.

 

    So I decided to remove the new wiring harness. And use the old wiring harness.

     What does that wire belong tooooooooo. As I am pulling the new wiring harness up and out,,,,,, there is a three wire connector hanging freeeeeeee.

   Now where does that belong.     Call me what you want, but this is a lesson for wiring harness installers. In a Volvo truck with a Cummins n14 there is a 3 wire plug connector outside of there wiring harness.   This is visible only with the doghouse off. I will try and get a picture in a week or two. To show where that connector is located.

 

   Apparently the mechanic forgot to plug it in. 

 

   So on our Volvo the ecm has a 30 amp fuse on the positive side, at the battery compartment. But Cummins calls for two 15 amp fuses. With a ground wire in the middle. Apparently from that 30 amp fuse, the wiring splits to two 15 amp fuses. They are buried in the the wiring harness casing. If you look on Cummins wiring schematics, it shows two 15 amp fuses.

 

   So I need to finish the story tomorrow. ITs too  embarrassing to continue this story today.

Edited August 21, 2023 by Wrknrvr

[rickeieio]

Good thing I bought the big pack of bacon and we had extra butter in the freezer.  Went to the local roadside stand and bought another gallon jug of popcorn.

Oh, and Vern, don't forget all those ground wires too.

[Darryl&Rita]

1 hour ago, rickeieio said:

Good thing I bought the big pack of bacon and we had extra butter in the freezer.  Went to the local roadside stand and bought another gallon jug of popcorn.

Oh, and Vern, don't forget all those ground wires too.

Makes my Orville Redenbacher look awful sad. Now I'm sad, no more serial, p!ss poor popcorn with no name margarine added, sigh.

[Wrknrvr]

    Today I will begin the wife asking about changing the filters again before we left Nashville Tn.

    I did look at the wife with a big grin. I said, No we are not changing filters again. Off we went and made it back to Montana without changing another filter. Or another miss in the engine.

    Looking back I believe that the ecm was acting up early in this episode. It was just complicating the  diagnostics of the fuel problem. The computer readout on the dash was erratic at diagnostics. It would say this is the problem.  Then it would say that problem was inactive.

      The next thing is that was interacting with our engine, was there was a secondary problem with the original ecm. We sent it away to be rebuilt. 

       There was apparently another problem with that  ecm that would appear after the ecm would get hot. It would start missing. But if you let the truck idle it would correct itself. Then you could drive for awhile, until it started to miss again. The ecm rebuilder said they installed it on a truck and it operates as designed.       Just not long enough.

   With the second rebuilt ecm, and the old wiring harness the truck runs as it should.

    One thing on the new wiring harness, Cummins did install a ground wire directly to the ecm. It goes on the lower left corner of the  Ecm.

 

    I have the new wiring harness in the cab of the truck. I may put it in before winter.

 I do need to say a really big thanks to the people that helped me on this adventure. It was long, hard fought battle. But we succeeded in the end.

   Have great day

Edited August 21, 2023 by Wrknrvr

[SuiteSuccess]

Vern,

Who did the ECM rebuild?

[Darryl&Rita]

That's it? This is worse than the last season of Game of Thrones. I want my money back. What happened to the main characters? Is there peace in the valley?

[rickeieio]

Well Dang.  I just popped up 3 bushels of popcorn, expecting a double feature tonight, and it done.  This is gonna take a lot of water to eat by myself.

[Darryl&Rita]

Maybe there'll be a mid- off season mini return.

[Wrknrvr]

   Could be?

 

     But the  writers are on strike???

Edited August 22, 2023 by Wrknrvr

[mike5511]

45 minutes ago, Darryl&Rita said:

Maybe there'll be a mid- off season mini return.

Oh man! Don't wish that on him!😂

[Wrknrvr]

     Not to fast on eating the popcorn Rick.

 

    The chief writer says there could be a couple mini episodes in there thoughts. But they say they need to do some technical inspections before any real thoughts on writing. Also there may be some photos involved.

 

   But fly fishing and target shooting is on his mind for now.

 

   Mister and Misses are doing fine.

Edited August 22, 2023 by Wrknrvr