OK. It's been a while since I've been here looking for help. It turned out that the battery, although new, was pretty much dead. After charging it with a 'real' charger, it cranked up, and the truck has been ok since. I don't drive this truck much, and it was sitting for a few weeks at a time. I think the alarm was slowly draining the battery to the point that it could turn the engine over but not provide enough power to the ingition system.
Since then, I start it at least once a week, and drive it on weekends. It's been fine.
UNTIL TODAY!
Now it's back to its old tricks. After running for about 10 minutes, I stopped at a red light. After sitting for 30 seconds, the volt guage started slowly dropping. It dropped almost all the way to 0, the Check Guages light came on, and the voltage slowly came back up to normal. The process takes about 15 - 20 seconds. Once it came back up, I drove for another 20 minutes with no problem.

FWIW, It really is a 5 speed transmission - unless I'm getting to old to count to 5 - oldtimers is a terrible disease...

 

Is it 4 then lockup, or 5 then lockup? The lockup that I am talking about is in overdrive. There is a little slip during acceleration to give you more power then after you get up to speed the overdrive slips into full lockup with a 1 to 1 ratio. Usually you will see a 300-500 RPM drop. This still means you are in overdrive, just in full lockup, and that can feel like an extra gear.

Push the tow button on the shifting column in, wait for the light to illuminate in the instrument cluster, and start off from a dead stop. Count the gears when you get to 65 mph which should be 3. Keep constant throttle to stay at 65mph. Now push the tow button in again and take it out of tow and you will feel it shift into over drive then into lockup.

Now if this is what happens you have a 4 speed, if you count 4 shifts then you push the overdrive button and there is a shift then lockup then you have a 5 speed.

People get lockup and gear shifting messed up sometimes but this will get you straight.


Now replace the battery!

 

Hey Hydra,
I didn't do the 'count the shifts' thing yet, but what you say makes sense. I think I was counting the lockup as a shift. I will try it and let you know what I find.

On a sad note, I have had it with this truck. It breaks my heart, but I cant trust it any more to go on long trips - and that's why I have it. I have been through two alternators (the first one lasted a couple of weeks and died), and two batteries. I just replaced the computer as a last resort. I'm still getting the same problem.
The last couple of trips I took it on, it was always in the back of my mind - "Can I trust this thing to get me to where I'm going? All I have to do is get back to within 100 miles, and my AAA towing will kick in and get me the rest of the way." That's no way to spend a vacation.
If anyone has any more ideas, please let me know. I really don't want to lose my truck!

Jack

 

+1 on replacing the battery.

 

The battery is about three weeks old. The battery it replaced was only a couple of months old.
The alternator is about three weeks old as well.

 

Take it to a shop or trade it in.

 

That's exactly what I'm doing. It's going in the shop next week. If they find something definite, I'll have it fixed and keep it. Otherwise, I'll have to let it go - as much as I hate to do that.

 

Took Ol' Red to the shop. They couldn't find anything specific. They did see it drop voltage, and return to normal. While sitting at idle, there was 12.6v - 12.8v at the battery, and only 10.5v inside the cab. This shop isn't equipped to handle strange electrical problems, so they referred me to another shop.
I traded it in instead.
I'm really gonna miss that truck...

 

Sorry to hear about you trading in Ol' Red. Good luck in your future vehicle. Drop on by anytime you feel like it!

 

Good riddance.......LOL


With only 10.5v in the cab sounds like a CTM to me.