Long term customer gave me her 96 1/2 ton Chevy truck. Nothing special W/T package and was her deceased husbands, and father's prior since new. Very concise maintenance history. It has been setting since 2014 outdoors. Body is getting rusty, but 4.3ltr engine runs very well I was to discover. Costs to repair far exceed the vehicle value, so she let me have it or scrap it. Had a problem that it wouldn't start and she had a local farmer look at it. It was beyond the scope he could work with so she asked if I could go get it to save another towing bill. Upon seeing the truck and initially turning the key, no audible motoring from the in tank fuel pump was heard. Limited investigation revealed there were no wires to the pump itself. After winching it up onto my trailer and transporting to the shop, I shoved it onto one of the shop lifts and discovered rodents had a field day on the wiring.
For those few of you that don't know, in the 90's, many wiring harnesses for the OEM's were sourced from, and manufactured in Ukraine. The wiring insulation jacket is a soy based plastic and guess what? Rodents eat it like candy as a food source. No exception with this truck in places. After elevating the truck, dropping the fuel tank and finding a large mouse nest atop, along with no wires from the termination block, I ordered a new pump cartridge, and rung out the wiring to find what went where. Informing the owner she tells me the fuel gauge has not worked in almost 20 years so this has been an ongoing problem I gather. Upon finding the chewed off wiring stubs that rang out with the 2.5 second power cycle mandate without engine rotation, I was able to facilitate a repair, install the new pump cartridge and reinstall into the truck. Now the truck started right up easily but would not stay running unless setting perfectly still. Also no electrical power to the rear lights, air bag warning illuminated, parking brake applied..... Wiring problems for certain.
Pulled the left front wheelhouse and there was the problem, or the start of it. A large nest built in the confluence of a master harness exiting the junction block from interior to exterior of the cab. Wire chewed all to pieces, or at least compromised. With the engine running perfectly at idle, a slight "tap" on the harness immediately shut the engine down. Some quick splicing and everything powered up, most annunciators extinguished, fuel gauge is working, and much is back to normal. There is a "safing" sensor on the left frame rail for the air bag system that has wires chewed, and that is most likely the air bag annunciator fault.
Gotta love wiring issues. I know I'm an amateur but do what I can.....
After getting this truck off the lift driving under it's own power, I put my daughter and son in laws car up to remove the front bumper cover and a/c condenser tomorrow for replacement. I'll give that a good couple hour pulldown in vacuum and then a nitrogen charge to ensure top performance once refrigerant is topped up.
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steve(ill) wrote: