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Good Afternoon Everyone!
Have a problem with our 1986 M1008..... been trying to figure it out, and have been searching here on SS. I'm usually pretty good with electrical issues... But this time, I'm not sure what exactly what the problem is....
A little quick history:
Bought this truck a little over 2 years ago, it had 10,000 original miles on it. We (my Dad and I) went through it top to bottom and front to back. It was in great shape over all, with no rust or damage.
The only thing that has been messed with to some degree was the wiring. It hadn't been messed up to bad, but who ever did it, did not know how to replace wire connectors, and did a really bad job with some really cheap crimp-on connectors.
So, I re-did all the connectors, connecting posts, ends, battery cables (cables, cable ends, and terminals). As I did this, I decided to take the time to solder all of the end wire connectors on, while I was at it. As I didn't want some cable corroding a bit, or working loose, and have some intermittent 'hard-to-find' problem later down the road.
I also installed a new GP card, and did the DogHead Starter Relay Mod.
Since then, we have put nearly 10,000 miles on this truck, and the only problem we had ever was the radiator splitting at the seam, which we replaced.
Haven't had any problems with any of the electrical system at all, until two days ago:
My Dad went to move the truck, we had it parked in front of the house to unload it as we had went to town earlier that day.
He got in, turned the key, the wait light went out, tried to start it.... but it just clicked, the starter did not even try to crank or anything. He tried to start it about 3 times. Then he seen some smoke coming out from under the backside of the hood (part of the hood closest to the windshield). So he turned the key off, jumped out and got the batteries disconnected.
Looking at it now, the click sound is the doghead relay kicking in when you hit the key. It does still have power inside the truck with the key in the "on" position. And also when you turn the key to the "start" position, and the GP relay continues to cycle as long as the key is on.
I have tried to start it again, while my Dad was watching under the hood to see if we could see anything. It didn't start, or even crank, just once again the Doghead Relay clicking.
BUT there was also no smoke, and the fusible links (as they only burned off the plastic casing, but the wire still intact) did not even get warm.....
The Only wires that I have found to have any damage, is two fusible links (Shown below) I thought a mouse might have eaten a wire somewhere, but I have not found any evidence of this, nor any other bad wires under the hood or inside the truck.
*The First Fusible link connects to the terminal rail by the fuel filter.
*The Second Fusible link connects to the common 12v stud by the GP relay.
***These are the wires I show in the photos, the circle is an enlargement showing the burned plastic casing.
Question #1: Does anyone know what (or where) these two fusible links have in common?
Question #2: Could I have a bad starter? I haven't had any problems with the starter in the past 2 years, not once. But I also know that any electrical item can die at any time.
Question #3: If the started died, and was pulling a huge amount of amps, could this alone had burned these fusible links?
If not, then it means I still have another problem somewhere else....
Also, I have heard/read that some people are replacing fusible links with maxi fuses.
Which to me seems like a great upgrade. Any drawbacks with doing this?
Any Help and Input is Much Appreciated!
Thanks All!
Have a problem with our 1986 M1008..... been trying to figure it out, and have been searching here on SS. I'm usually pretty good with electrical issues... But this time, I'm not sure what exactly what the problem is....
A little quick history:
Bought this truck a little over 2 years ago, it had 10,000 original miles on it. We (my Dad and I) went through it top to bottom and front to back. It was in great shape over all, with no rust or damage.
The only thing that has been messed with to some degree was the wiring. It hadn't been messed up to bad, but who ever did it, did not know how to replace wire connectors, and did a really bad job with some really cheap crimp-on connectors.
So, I re-did all the connectors, connecting posts, ends, battery cables (cables, cable ends, and terminals). As I did this, I decided to take the time to solder all of the end wire connectors on, while I was at it. As I didn't want some cable corroding a bit, or working loose, and have some intermittent 'hard-to-find' problem later down the road.
I also installed a new GP card, and did the DogHead Starter Relay Mod.
Since then, we have put nearly 10,000 miles on this truck, and the only problem we had ever was the radiator splitting at the seam, which we replaced.
Haven't had any problems with any of the electrical system at all, until two days ago:
My Dad went to move the truck, we had it parked in front of the house to unload it as we had went to town earlier that day.
He got in, turned the key, the wait light went out, tried to start it.... but it just clicked, the starter did not even try to crank or anything. He tried to start it about 3 times. Then he seen some smoke coming out from under the backside of the hood (part of the hood closest to the windshield). So he turned the key off, jumped out and got the batteries disconnected.
Looking at it now, the click sound is the doghead relay kicking in when you hit the key. It does still have power inside the truck with the key in the "on" position. And also when you turn the key to the "start" position, and the GP relay continues to cycle as long as the key is on.
I have tried to start it again, while my Dad was watching under the hood to see if we could see anything. It didn't start, or even crank, just once again the Doghead Relay clicking.
BUT there was also no smoke, and the fusible links (as they only burned off the plastic casing, but the wire still intact) did not even get warm.....
The Only wires that I have found to have any damage, is two fusible links (Shown below) I thought a mouse might have eaten a wire somewhere, but I have not found any evidence of this, nor any other bad wires under the hood or inside the truck.
*The First Fusible link connects to the terminal rail by the fuel filter.
*The Second Fusible link connects to the common 12v stud by the GP relay.
***These are the wires I show in the photos, the circle is an enlargement showing the burned plastic casing.
Question #1: Does anyone know what (or where) these two fusible links have in common?
Question #2: Could I have a bad starter? I haven't had any problems with the starter in the past 2 years, not once. But I also know that any electrical item can die at any time.
Question #3: If the started died, and was pulling a huge amount of amps, could this alone had burned these fusible links?
If not, then it means I still have another problem somewhere else....
Also, I have heard/read that some people are replacing fusible links with maxi fuses.
Which to me seems like a great upgrade. Any drawbacks with doing this?
Any Help and Input is Much Appreciated!
Thanks All!