6.7L Cummins conversion project - Page 12

E350 · 06-19-2014, 08:45 PM

Semi-OT, but right up your alley. So, my hobby these days is reading about the Ford 7.3L PSD and daydreaming about when I will have the money (and time) and the knowledge to fix mine.

But I have come to respect the Dodge way of thinking at least with respect to my wife's 2000 Dodge Dakota 4x4 SLT with the 4.7L.

So here's where you come in... Today after leaving the 99 Cent store (yes we go there before we go to Raley's which was started by Tom Raley in 1935 in Placerville, CA and the Raley's chain is still owned by the Raley family) my wife's truck briskly turned over but wouldn't start and there was an engine icon on the instrument panel and the ODOMETER WAS FLASHING "no bu5" I.e., "NO CAN BUS"

I have used the Dodge's odometer code reader in the past to find a broken throttle position sensor and also a failed rear abs sensor. You just turn the key from off to on three times and it cycles through displaying any codes on the odometer. Do it a fourth time and it clears the codes.

But to have it pop up on its own and tell me what was wrong was really cool!

So because I have been reading about 7.3L PCMs and because I been following your thread (but most of it is over my head), I found what had to be the PCM on the passenger side fender and called my contact at the Dodge parts counter and he looked up that "no bu5" is generally caused by a poor ground at the PCM. So I wiggled the three PCM connectors and it started! Then I drove until it died and repeated the wiggle once more and my wife and I made it home!

So, for you: I think it would be cool if you could carry the Dodge odometer code reader function over to the Ford E350 during your conversion to the Cummins 6.7.

For me: any suggestions on how I could isolate the poor ground at the PCM? Should I unplug the connectors and look for burnt pins? Should I clean them with some kind of spray and then put on some Stabilant22a or DeoxIT Gold? I have never used either before, but it is my understanding that they are some sort of "contact enhancer."

I haven't researched it yet, but there must be a test where I check the ohms (which I have never done before between some friggin' numbered pin and some other numbered pin). I don't want you to tell me that. I am not that much of a bum, and I can look that stuff up (I have the internet and the OEM shop and electrical manuals).

But if you have any general suggestions for maintaining the health of these PCM connections and connectors as they get older and brittle, I would appreciate it.

Enough about me. How's the conversion coming?

mgmetalworks · 06-20-2014, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by E350

...I think it would be cool if you could carry the Dodge odometer code reader function over to the Ford E350 during your conversion to the Cummins 6.7.

I have the ability to do something along these lines but I probably won't try to display the data on the instrument cluster message center. More than likely I'll be using the small display in my rearview mirror to display error codes and other engine/transmission related information. This is more of a long term goal though... I don't *need* a fancy display as part of making this thing work but it is one of the trick little details I'll work on at some point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by E350

For me: any suggestions on how I could isolate the poor ground at the PCM? Should I unplug the connectors and look for burnt pins? Should I clean them with some kind of spray and then put on some Stabilant22a or DeoxIT Gold? I have never used either before, but it is my understanding that they are some sort of "contact enhancer."

I haven't researched it yet, but there must be a test where I check the ohms (which I have never done before between some friggin' numbered pin and some other numbered pin). I don't want you to tell me that. I am not that much of a bum, and I can look that stuff up (I have the internet and the OEM shop and electrical manuals).

But if you have any general suggestions for maintaining the health of these PCM connections and connectors as they get older and brittle, I would appreciate it.

In my opinion, it is pretty unlikely that problem is within the harness unless there is a spot in the car where the harness is being beaten on by the elements or rubbing against other parts of the vehicle. Also, I bet if you were to look at all of the grounds in that harness, they'd all be connected together so to really have a bad ground in the harness, you'd have a number of connections that would have to be loose or corroded or disconnected in order for it to actually start going bad.

So now look at the connection at the PCM... Are connectors under any kind of strain? Do they work back and forth because of vibration or articulation of the harness in any way? Have the connectors been disengaged a bunch of times by "wiggling" them out? You could pop that particular wire out of the connector and see if the "barrel" has been wobbled out. If so, give it a little crimp and make it tight again. Then make a strain relief for the wires....anchor them down so they don't move at all relative to the PCM.

On the other hand, don't rule out a bad connection within the PCM itself. I've got about 12 years experience in the motherboard manufacturing world (I spent much of that time in a group that did mechanical stress testing of motherboards and processors down to the individual solder joint level...) and there are dozens of ways circuits can fail from vibration, shock or thermal stresses. The factory service manuals usually provide a troubleshooting method to check resistance between pins... if you have a good connection, that resistance test should be within the range specified by the manual. If you wiggle the PCM connector while you're doing the test and your values change significantly, you may just have a bad connection inside the PCM.

Quote:

Originally Posted by E350

Enough about me. How's the conversion coming?

When I actually get time to work on things, I do make a lot of progress. I'll be starting on the engine/trans mounts soon and once everything is sitting in the frame, it won't take long before I'm ready to test fire the engine. I have been working on some cool stuff for this conversion that I haven't talked about yet... still tracking down all of the parts to pull them off but it will be of interest to a lot of folks here.

E350 · 06-20-2014, 12:12 PM

mgmetalworks: You're the Man! Thanks for your input. This forum is blessed to have you.

mgmetalworks · 06-20-2014, 02:01 PM

mgmetalworks · 06-26-2014, 05:14 PM

I've been rounding up the parts for my new fuel system which includes one of these....

Yep, a 55 gallon aft of axle tank out of an E-450. When I finally have everything in hand I'll probably be in it a little over a grand for the whole change over. This tank came with the straps and I'm trying to figure out a way to hack the cross members out of a cut-away van at the local Pick 'n' Pull without expending much effort to get the rest of the mounting hardware... It does look like one of the cross members in my current frame can be re-purposed without much trouble. I am capable of making parts to fit too if I can't get the factory cross members.

For those who are curious, the tank is ~37" long, a shade under 32" wide and (with fuel lines and filler neck and straps included) ~15-16" tall. Looking at how it will mount under the body, I think it will hang down at the same level if not slightly less than my spare tire does now. I'm not that concerned about it hanging down though... it is super stout and I'll probably build a skid plate for it to take the initial punishment.

The spare tire cross member will have to come out, one other cross member has to move and then I need to add in two other members for mounting. Not too bad but I'm planning on doing this when the body is off the frame for the Cummins swap to make it even easier. The filler neck looks to come out in just the wrong spot and will have to snake around the factory rear A/C stuff somehow but that's all part of the fun. The front fuel door will become the filler location for the Diesel Exhaust Fluid tank and a new rear fuel door to fill the big tank. I could conceivably leave the factory tank in for massive amounts of fuel but I'm taking it out so I can have room for the DEF tank and other accessories that I might have put in the back.

UJOINT · 06-26-2014, 07:56 PM

Very nice! Those tanks are so massive!

JWA · 06-27-2014, 03:58 AM

Moving and adding cross members will be massively easier with the body off. Space the under-body spare occupies is certainly ripe for re-purposing---if I weren't such a scaredy cat to run without a spare I'd already have found something else to park under there.

mgmetalworks · 07-08-2014, 06:45 PM

All I can say today is ARRRRGGGGGH!!!

I received the engine to trans adapter parts and let's just say that I'm not impressed with the quality. You can't see it very well from the pictures but these parts aren't up to the standard that I'm holding this swap to.

Porous casting, very rough machine work, the cheapest materials used, weld splatter everywhere, counterbored holes that should really be countersunk... the list goes on.

I was hoping to not have to do this but like so many other things, I'll just have to design better parts myself and have billet pieces made.

86Scotty · 07-08-2014, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by E350

mgmetalworks: You're the Man! Thanks for your input. This forum is blessed to have you.

Agreed.

Just how big is that tank (how many gallons)?

E350 · 07-08-2014, 09:40 PM

Even I can see the lack of uniformity on the perimeter of the upper adapter. But they are hand made, poorly. And the outside perimeter has no function no? So since form follows function in your world, no function means no form, no?

So guys and gals, check this out! I just found this cool website for custom (possibly SMB) trailers and BBQ grills, etc.:

http://mgmetalworks.com/tailgating_trailer.html

The owner seems pretty intelligent and it shows in his creations.