Unplug the front O2 sensor, see if the problems go away.

 

If your battery cable had the same battery post set up as mine, wiggling the wire from the starter may have affected the other wire and cable that go to the power distribution center. What did you replace it with? That's why I set mine up with the dual terminal battery, I didn't like 3 wires crimped together like that.

 

Hello everyone,
Sorry for the delay in responding. I didn't get home until late Monday night and these past two days have been very busy. I picked up a battery cable to run from just the battery to the fuse box, but I have not yet installed it. I also asked at Oreilley's about the cable that goes from the alternator to the main wire harness, but they didn't know which wire I was talking about, and I didn't have my truck with me at the time to show them. I'll stop back in and ask about that when I either have my truck or pictures of that wire. I also asked them about the small wire that goes from the connection near the fuse box to the starter, as I wanted to replace it, but they couldn't figure out what that wire was either. I have attached a picture of it. Does anyone know what the name of that wire would be?

On Tuesday I took the advice of "HeyYou" and unplugged the front 02 sensor. I drove it about 4 miles on Tuesday and it did not have any issues during that time, but did still seem to have restricted power and a strong odor with the exhaust, just like it does when it is having issues. I also drove it about 4 miles on Wednesday, and it was the same result. I don't want to do anything with any wires until I drive it a little while with the 02 sensor unplugged and see if it starts cutting out again.

I have to go to work tomorrow, so I'll drive it then, which is about a 45 minute drive. I'll update on Friday with how it goes driving to work and back. Thank you to each of you who have taken the time to read this post and are trying to help me figure this out. I greatly appreciate it.

 

Wire to the starter is just a wire, and the parts store won't be able to get you anything specific. If you want to replace it, just get some wire that is slightly larger, and cut/splice it in.

You have another sensor that is also failing, (and may be the whole problem.....). Being intermittent is going to make it fun to find though. Can you do data logging?

 

Thanks for the input on the wire. It could be a sensor that is failing, but so far there have been quite a few things changed. I'm sorry but I am really not very mechanically inclined. I had to search youtube to even figure out what data logging is. I still don't quite understand it and would have to learn how to do it, but do you think this device would be sufficient for data logging and to help troubleshoot this issue? I realize it's just an inexpensive unit.

I was going to drive my truck in to work, but I have another issue that must be resolved before I can drive it. I currently have no brake lights. I thought I would have that fixed today, but no such luck. A couple of weeks ago I had trailer lights installed on our trailer. The pigtails on my truck were not working at all, and one of my mechanic friends tapped into the main wire harness in the rear of the truck and installed a new pigtail for the trailer lights. We tested all lights on the trailer and truck at that time, and everything was working properly. However, since they had come to my job to do this, they didn't think to bring a drill or any self tapping screws, and we had the ground wire on the trailer lights temporarily connected to the trailer frame until I could get home to secure it, and it became disconnected on the way home. When I got home I saw that I had no brake lights on the trailer or the truck. I checked one of the Mini J fuses in the fuse box to see if it was bad, by switching it with another Mini J fuse, and that wasn't the problem. I researched and found that it could be the brake light switch, so I ordered one of those and changed it today, but that did not fix it either. I'll have to have them check out that issue as well when I can get the truck back to them.

This main issue has been and continues to be a nightmare. However, it just really seemed to be directly related somehow to that power wire. Next weekend I am going to have the starter changed and also that wire that goes to the starter cable, and the power cable from the battery to the fuse box, and of course troubleshoot the brake lights. I work 80 hours per week, so my time to get anything done is very limited.

 

That's just a communication device, still need software to go with it. So far, I haven't found a reasonably priced software solution for windows based computers.... (don't recall if torque is available for windows or not.)

 

Check the grounds for your rear lights. Or maybe if he was in a hurry, he didn't get everything crimped properly. Maybe something pulled apart.

 

Thank you. I will do that when I get home and have a chance. That should've been the first thing I checked.

 

I wanted to give an update on my ongoing saga. Since my last post I have had the starter changed, as well as the battery cable that goes from the battery to the fuse box. Unfortunately, that did not resolve the primary issue. That leaves only the ignition wire to change which goes to the starter. We did not have any small wire to change the ignition wire to the starter at the time that they worked on my truck. I have it now, but have not had time to replace it yet. However, I have wiggled the existing wire, and it did nothing to change anything. That leaves me completely baffled. I was absolutely certain that when I was moving the main power cable around that it was directly affecting and temporarily resolving the issue, as it consistently would start to run better every time I would do that. However, with the exception of that ignition wire, there is nothing left to change in that equation, so that seems to shoot that theory down completely. I feel very strongly that this is a very simple issue which is nearly impossible to pinpoint.

Regardless, thanks to "HeyYou", the truck is running with the front 02 sensor unplugged. I have now driven the truck for several hours in total with it unplugged, and so far it has not cut out like it was doing. So, while the issue is not resolved, the truck will run as it is right now, and I am hoping and praying it will continue to do so. If the truck continues to run with that 02 sensor unplugged, then I think at this point I'm going to have to stop wasting time and money on it. I have thrown time, money and parts at this issue for 4 years, and it seems to be nearly impossible to figure out. Besides that, I have other important and expensive issues that need to be addressed on the truck such as a new exhaust system and a new front end.

As for the brake light issue I was having, it was the #5 20 AMP Stop Light fuse. By looking at it, you could not tell that it was blown. However, taking it out and shaking it you could hear that it was blown. I replaced it with a 30 Amp fuse, and hopefully there will be no further issues when I hook the trailer back up, which I have not yet had time to do.

Thank you to each of you who have taken the time to try to help me with this. If I encounter the same problem with the truck running with the 02 sensor unplugged, I'll probably make a new post about it in case anyone may think of anything else to try, but as of now I'll just let it be. Thank you again "HeyYou" for the suggestion of unplugging the 02 sensor; that is the only reason I am able to drive the truck at all right now.

 

Have you replaced that sensor? If so, what brand?