joediveguy
Member
- 239
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- 18
- Location
- Front Royal, Northern VA
The names in this story have been altered to protect the identity of the stupid……..
So, a couple of weeks ago, a buddy turned me onto a 1984 M1009 sitting on the back lot of a local “Battery & Tire” place, further referred to as “Bubba’s Dump” or BD. My buddy knew one of the former mechanics and had a pretty good idea what was wrong with the vehicle. He said the PO, let’s just call him “Jack Wagon” or JW, had the vehicle towed in about three years ago with an “electrical” problem. Well the pro’s at BD’s replaced all the GP’s, the starter, the starter relay, the GPR, the GP module, alternator belts and a few other miscellaneous things, totaling over $1,200, and still could not get it to run. The boy’s at BD’s told JW that his electrical systems if “fried” and that he needs a new wiring harness, to the tune of $2,000! JW said no freaken way, and left it on the lot to try to sell it. He was asking way too much, like $2,500, and nobody would bite, my buddy offered him $1,000 for it a couple years back but JW never responded.
Well fast forward to a month ago, I go up to take a look at it and ask some questions from the guy’s at BD’s. Most of the original staff had all been “turned over” but there was one guy left, let’s call him “Cletus”. Well Cletus proceeds to tell me, “That there POS has a fried electrical systems and aint worth the tires it sits on………” Okay, so I ask him if he knew where the owner, JW, was and he goes on to tell me that it has been sitting for three years and the last they heard, a year ago, JW was going to come haul it away. I told the manager that if he wanted it gone, he could claim it as abandoned and sell it to me! The manager did not want to do that but was able to find an old number for JW. The number was bad, but by going through the CUCV I was able to find the old registration, insurance and other useful personal identifiable information about JW. I do a little investigative research, that’s what I do, and tracked JW down. He is now living on the other side of the state and has pretty much written the CUCV off. After reaching out to him, I make him an offer and he accepts, just to be rid of the “thing”. $500 later, it is sitting in my garage!
Now, she aint the prettiest, but the frame is solid and has the standard basic interior, with a center console and a bunch of receipts of past service to use as a reference as to what is wrong with her. It has 62K on the clock, moderate rust issues, two dead batteries and won’t start, but on the positive side, has four brand new (2008 Lamans Pathmaker A/T 31X10.5 R15LT’s, Spare Goodyear with lot’s ‘o tread, new brake service and 2 new rear brake drums (2008, totaling $1,290 .
Work done:
I put two new batteries in and it immediately started cranking! Removed the batteries, preformed the Dog Head Relay conversion, all the while checking for obvious burnt or charred wires. None found so re-installed the batteries. Good volt meter readings, nothing cranking by itself, GPR clicking like it should, indicator lights looking good, nothing burning or smoking, looking good so far. Turn it over and the starter is cranking like a bat out of **** but not firing, lots of white smoke and fuel smell though. Give it a touch of ether and she fires up! Running a little rough, but I contribute it to the 3 or 4 year old half a tank of gas. Let her run for a bit until I am satisfied that no major mechanical issues are present then shut her down and take a break. Come back an hour or so later and fill her with clean fuel and a a half of bottle of diesel clean in the tank, replaced the fuel and air filters, crank her up to purge the air out of the fuel filter and then try to start her. Like before, the starter is cranking really fast but not firing, lots of white smoke and fuel smell, then I hear a grinding coming from the flywheel area. I immediately shut her down and crawl under to take a look at the starter. The starter is loose and really hot, I mean blistering HOT! I cuss a little bit and go back inside to scratch my head.
When it cools, I remove and inspect the starter and I come to find out that it is a 12V starter, sez so right on the casing! No sh$t! And the boy’s at BD’s charged JW $311+tx for a 24V starter, I have the receipts! I find a new 24v starter on BBay for $110 shipped (rareelectrical) and install it. She cranks much better now but still needs a shot of ether to start.
Last night I replaced the crappy Ford starter solenoid that was being used as the GPR with an AutoZone GPR 109 and performed the resistor bypass, supplying the GP’s with a constant 12V. I replaced all but one GP, the passenger side rear of course, was swollen and could not be removed, so I just left it in place (to be removed at a later date when I have the proper tool) and disconnected the wire. The 7 GP’s came out easy and were in relatively good shape, just covered in soot, probably because of the bad gas. I suspect the boy’s at BD’s couldn’t get the swollen GP out and left it in place, causing the increase of power to the other GP’s resulting in their failure. I have not tested the old GP’s yet, my VOM is on the fritz, gunna buy a new one today. I cut the crappy ends off the GP wires and replaced them with a covered/sealed spade connector, greasing with dielectric, adding a couple inches of extra wire to the ends and reconnecting them to the new GP’s.
I went through and cleaned/replaced and greased (dielectric) all the connections I could get to, including the two buss panels and battery cables and ground. Turned the key, all the proper lights came on, the GPR did it’s clicking, the wait light came on for about 10 seconds and went out as it should and then bumped the key to start it and she fired up instantly!
She runs good, however, now I have new problem………
The Gen 2 light stays on until I hit the gas pedal then it goes out. In addition, the volt meter reads at the right limit of the green when the ignition is on, drops a bit to the left (still in the green) when cranking then into the right ¼ of the red while running. About 30 seconds of running, volt meter pegs full right! WTF?? I figure I mixed up one of my connections, made a bad connection or something along those lines as before I made all the “improvement’s”. When she was running before, she had no Gen lights stay on and the volt meter read in the middle of the green. So it looks like need to trace all my connections and then back to the TM’s and SS search engine…..
Work to look forward to:
1. Replacing both rocker panels (inner & outer), both DS & PS floor pans and minor patchwork to the rear floor pans and bed by the tailgate.
2. Replace the broken turn signal cam. While I’m in there I am going to replace the lock & key cylinder.
3. Unf&%k the parking break. It is disconnected and the spring steel connector is broken. The cables are about a half an inch too short to connect with a new one. I suspect that when they replaced the rear drums, they did not install the cables correctly and could not figure out how to hook the parking break up. So they disconnected it and tied it up under the truck.
4. Replace a parking light bulb.
5. Get it inspected and roll on! Until something else on this 27 year old truck fails!
Sorry for the long post but I figure the whole story up front is better than a bunch of little incomplete posts…..
Does anybody (nearby) have a GP puller tool that I can borrow?
So, a couple of weeks ago, a buddy turned me onto a 1984 M1009 sitting on the back lot of a local “Battery & Tire” place, further referred to as “Bubba’s Dump” or BD. My buddy knew one of the former mechanics and had a pretty good idea what was wrong with the vehicle. He said the PO, let’s just call him “Jack Wagon” or JW, had the vehicle towed in about three years ago with an “electrical” problem. Well the pro’s at BD’s replaced all the GP’s, the starter, the starter relay, the GPR, the GP module, alternator belts and a few other miscellaneous things, totaling over $1,200, and still could not get it to run. The boy’s at BD’s told JW that his electrical systems if “fried” and that he needs a new wiring harness, to the tune of $2,000! JW said no freaken way, and left it on the lot to try to sell it. He was asking way too much, like $2,500, and nobody would bite, my buddy offered him $1,000 for it a couple years back but JW never responded.
Well fast forward to a month ago, I go up to take a look at it and ask some questions from the guy’s at BD’s. Most of the original staff had all been “turned over” but there was one guy left, let’s call him “Cletus”. Well Cletus proceeds to tell me, “That there POS has a fried electrical systems and aint worth the tires it sits on………” Okay, so I ask him if he knew where the owner, JW, was and he goes on to tell me that it has been sitting for three years and the last they heard, a year ago, JW was going to come haul it away. I told the manager that if he wanted it gone, he could claim it as abandoned and sell it to me! The manager did not want to do that but was able to find an old number for JW. The number was bad, but by going through the CUCV I was able to find the old registration, insurance and other useful personal identifiable information about JW. I do a little investigative research, that’s what I do, and tracked JW down. He is now living on the other side of the state and has pretty much written the CUCV off. After reaching out to him, I make him an offer and he accepts, just to be rid of the “thing”. $500 later, it is sitting in my garage!
Now, she aint the prettiest, but the frame is solid and has the standard basic interior, with a center console and a bunch of receipts of past service to use as a reference as to what is wrong with her. It has 62K on the clock, moderate rust issues, two dead batteries and won’t start, but on the positive side, has four brand new (2008 Lamans Pathmaker A/T 31X10.5 R15LT’s, Spare Goodyear with lot’s ‘o tread, new brake service and 2 new rear brake drums (2008, totaling $1,290 .
Work done:
I put two new batteries in and it immediately started cranking! Removed the batteries, preformed the Dog Head Relay conversion, all the while checking for obvious burnt or charred wires. None found so re-installed the batteries. Good volt meter readings, nothing cranking by itself, GPR clicking like it should, indicator lights looking good, nothing burning or smoking, looking good so far. Turn it over and the starter is cranking like a bat out of **** but not firing, lots of white smoke and fuel smell though. Give it a touch of ether and she fires up! Running a little rough, but I contribute it to the 3 or 4 year old half a tank of gas. Let her run for a bit until I am satisfied that no major mechanical issues are present then shut her down and take a break. Come back an hour or so later and fill her with clean fuel and a a half of bottle of diesel clean in the tank, replaced the fuel and air filters, crank her up to purge the air out of the fuel filter and then try to start her. Like before, the starter is cranking really fast but not firing, lots of white smoke and fuel smell, then I hear a grinding coming from the flywheel area. I immediately shut her down and crawl under to take a look at the starter. The starter is loose and really hot, I mean blistering HOT! I cuss a little bit and go back inside to scratch my head.
When it cools, I remove and inspect the starter and I come to find out that it is a 12V starter, sez so right on the casing! No sh$t! And the boy’s at BD’s charged JW $311+tx for a 24V starter, I have the receipts! I find a new 24v starter on BBay for $110 shipped (rareelectrical) and install it. She cranks much better now but still needs a shot of ether to start.
Last night I replaced the crappy Ford starter solenoid that was being used as the GPR with an AutoZone GPR 109 and performed the resistor bypass, supplying the GP’s with a constant 12V. I replaced all but one GP, the passenger side rear of course, was swollen and could not be removed, so I just left it in place (to be removed at a later date when I have the proper tool) and disconnected the wire. The 7 GP’s came out easy and were in relatively good shape, just covered in soot, probably because of the bad gas. I suspect the boy’s at BD’s couldn’t get the swollen GP out and left it in place, causing the increase of power to the other GP’s resulting in their failure. I have not tested the old GP’s yet, my VOM is on the fritz, gunna buy a new one today. I cut the crappy ends off the GP wires and replaced them with a covered/sealed spade connector, greasing with dielectric, adding a couple inches of extra wire to the ends and reconnecting them to the new GP’s.
I went through and cleaned/replaced and greased (dielectric) all the connections I could get to, including the two buss panels and battery cables and ground. Turned the key, all the proper lights came on, the GPR did it’s clicking, the wait light came on for about 10 seconds and went out as it should and then bumped the key to start it and she fired up instantly!
She runs good, however, now I have new problem………
The Gen 2 light stays on until I hit the gas pedal then it goes out. In addition, the volt meter reads at the right limit of the green when the ignition is on, drops a bit to the left (still in the green) when cranking then into the right ¼ of the red while running. About 30 seconds of running, volt meter pegs full right! WTF?? I figure I mixed up one of my connections, made a bad connection or something along those lines as before I made all the “improvement’s”. When she was running before, she had no Gen lights stay on and the volt meter read in the middle of the green. So it looks like need to trace all my connections and then back to the TM’s and SS search engine…..
Work to look forward to:
1. Replacing both rocker panels (inner & outer), both DS & PS floor pans and minor patchwork to the rear floor pans and bed by the tailgate.
2. Replace the broken turn signal cam. While I’m in there I am going to replace the lock & key cylinder.
3. Unf&%k the parking break. It is disconnected and the spring steel connector is broken. The cables are about a half an inch too short to connect with a new one. I suspect that when they replaced the rear drums, they did not install the cables correctly and could not figure out how to hook the parking break up. So they disconnected it and tied it up under the truck.
4. Replace a parking light bulb.
5. Get it inspected and roll on! Until something else on this 27 year old truck fails!
Sorry for the long post but I figure the whole story up front is better than a bunch of little incomplete posts…..
Does anybody (nearby) have a GP puller tool that I can borrow?
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