New CUCV M1009 Owner Here. Have a few small problems.

[Tnrobocop]

Just made it to the site. Just picked up a 1985 M1009 CUCV. Runs great. Just a few small problems with it.

Headlights - Work fine. Then go out. When I say go out, everything goes out. Brake lights, turn signal, headlights, etc. Almost like the service light switch flipped to off.

Turn the engine off along with the pull-out plug pushed back in. Wait a minute, restart the truck, everything is back to normal.

Coolant Low Light - Stays on constantly. Just happened in the last few days. Upper radiator hose crapped the bed yesterday morning in the driveway so I replaced that. Before the hose, the light was already on, but the radiator and the overflow tank were both GTG. I am thinking the sensor might be bad but not sure.

Volt Gauge - Not registering, but is probably not connected, will have to check.

Other than that it is great. I put street type tires on it for now, but will later fo with some more off-road type ones.

And of course the obligitory pics:

 

[mistaken1]

Nice truck. Welcome to the site. Check the TM in the resources section at the top of the page for troubleshooting help.

 

[bht50]

on your volt gauge the one in my m1008 wont register either. I found out by accident one day if you tap on it with a little force it spings into life, at least until you shut the truck off then you have to tap it again when you restart it kind of a pain by easier then rebuild or replacing it

 

[Crash_AF]

On my 1009, the little cube relay under the dash for the voltmeter was dead. If you reach under the dash to the steering wheel side of the diagnostic plug, there are three relays, a rectangular one (the starter relay) and two cube ones. The two cube ones are just standard Bosch relays and are interchangeable, one controls the blackout lights and one controls the voltmeter. IIRC the one
in the middle is the voltmeter.

The low coolant switch is in the radiator on the passenger's side tank.

On the headlights, it sounds like the circuit breaker in the headlight switch is going bad (or there is a problem). It is a standard headlight switch for the civilian model trucks.

Later,
Joe

 

[Bobert]

Be sure to check the fuses.
Mine had those problems and it was something making the fuses burn out.

 

[Tnrobocop]

Be sure to check the fuses.
Mine had those problems and it was something making the fuses burn out.

I appreciate all the responses. I have been poring over the TM's and have tracked down the coolant low issue and probably the volt guage ones.

Bobert did you ever figure out for sure what the problem was?

 

[stampy]

I pulled my instrument cluster to replace a bunch of bad bulbs only to find that dirt had caused a lack of conductivity. So I cleaned and greased each one with dielectric grease now they are great. I use dielectric grease on all my elect connections and they perform flawlessly. I agree with the above statements about the relays too.

 

[MakersTeleMark]

Bumping this thread due to a related problem with my 1028. Last week the highbeam switch on the colum failed, stuck in high. I'll need to replace it. But no biggie I thought to run that way for awhile because the low beams are horrid anyway.

Fast forward a week. Coming down a mountain pass at night, all lights (all) go out. Nearly got me killed. Blipped the gas and they came on. If I didn't keep the revs up they would go out again. They aren't dimming, just all on, all off. Volts are great, way above green.

Thoughts? It would be nice to drive at night again.

 

[dragon1124]

Hello everyone, I am a new cucv owner myself. It's an 84 and unfortunatly I have had nothing but problems since I've picked it up. I've owned it, <going on the 6th day> and it's been in the shop for 5.

I just picked it up last wednesday, drove it all day with no problems. Thursday was when the problems started. Couldnt start the thing up. Had a tow, the starter needed to be replaced. After the starter was replaced, I drove for a half hour to get to work. After work it wouldnt start again. Had another tow, this time to my mechanic. Needs both batteries and both alternators. Have to wait for the alternators to get rebuilt since I couldnt find an isolated ground alternator in the area. Should be ready by monday afternoon. <Lets hope> I hope everything gets worked out with this thing, the person I bought it from is being difficult in helping me.