Hey all, need some help diagnosing a problem with my ASD relay.
I have an 89 B250 with 318 motor.

Recently it intermittantly it doesnt want to start, and it has started dying while driving. A few minutes later with some cranking it stats back up.
I traced down the problem to my ASD relay
Seems I am not getting ground to blue/yellow wire which leads to the diagnostic connector and the control module and energizes the relay.
If I gound the terminal on the diagnostic plug or at the relay, the relay kicks and it will start.

What could cause the ground to energize the asd to not work?

Ran a code check and got 11,37,42,12

I would appreciate any help...

 

code 11:
No Distributor reference signal detected during engine cranking.

Code 37:
Torque converter clutch Solenoid. Open or shorted.

Code 42 ASD relay Open or Shorted.

code 12: Direct battery input to controller disconnected within the last 50 starts.


Check the ECM ground. On my '89 it is grounded at the base of the coil. Where the strap holds it to the intake manifold. I don't know if this was the stock location from the factory.

Also check the power connectors leading from the battery to the ECM.

I have had problems with my ASD relay itself. Before I left it upside down and it filled with rain water, I had to take it apart and clean and bend the contacts.

Let us know what you find.

 

Relay "appears" good. Clean connections, and tests good by checking continuity between power leads when I energize the relay out of the van.
ECM ground is a good thought!
I'll go and check it next, along with power leads.
The torque converter clutch solenoid would cause the ecm to not ground the asd relay would it?

 

Not that I know of, but it could be related to the other codes somehow.

When My ECM failed, it failed because one of the wires leading to the TCC solenoid was grounding out on the bell housing. These wires are loose and subject to chafing.

 

Ground looked pretty good, and power wires to ecm seem okay. cleaned the ground anyway just for good measure. My van now appears to be idling okay, and not stalling after a few minutes as it was doing yesterday. Not to say its fixed... just running okay right now.

Think I will check the TCC wires next just to be sure they are okay and not shorting somewhere along the transmission as you stated happened to your van.
If I am getting an intermittent short there be good to catch it before it cooks the ecm.

Following that I guess its back to road testing and hope it doesn't totally die and need to get towed.

 

Just tried to move the van into a better location to check the tcc wiring and as soon as pulled into the road to move it over it died again.
as per usual a little cranking and she fired back up and pulled back into the driveway..... and now once again starts and cranks fine....

this thing is going to drive me nuts!

initial look at the wiring to the transmission "looks good" but I'm going to inspect closer in a little bit. need to check which wires are going to the tcc and exactly wher its at

 

I've also had issues with the connectors at the ECM. The 14 pin connector specifically had some wires which were fatigued and breaking contact.

Another poster found water inside his ECM connectors causing all sorts of issues, after heavy rains.

Google Mopar mini knize family and somewhere there will be a diagram of our year ECMs with a listing for what each Pin is for. If you cannot find it, I will search my papers for it. It is really helpful to know which wires to inspect, as there are 74 of them in total.

The broken wires were fixed by drilling out the bad pin, stripping the wire back 1 inch or so and reinserting it through the connector, and bending it over the recepticle so that it could touch no other pin.

No related problems in the 5 years since I did this.

 

Thanks. Found the ECM connector pinout/diagram.
Guess thats next place to go. Gonna take a break from this today and start again fresh tomorrow. Otherwise I'm likely to start using the 5lb sledge hammer to try and fix the poor thing....lol

Appreciate the thoughts and help so far. open to any other ideas too if anyone has an extra 2 cents to add

 

Also check the body to engine ground strap located at the rear of the passenger cylinder head. Any looseness or otherwise bad connection there will wreak havoc with the PCM and electrical system.

 

try a known good ecm---it's been my only problem