04 e350 6.0 powerstroke help!!!!

[redneckjeep87]

Hi guys thanks for the add. Long time 7.3 owner. Owned for 10 years and wrenched on them for 15.
I just recently bought a 04 e350 with a 6.0. Has egr delete coolant filter some sort of tune.
The story goes as this. I apologize for the length, stick with me just trying to be thorough

-Bought it and was kind of a dog but started and ran ok. Here and there riding down the road would shut off but immediately come right back without doing anything....sometimes it was just loss of cluster, other times everything.

-my guys were driving it one day and got a call from them later in the day that it had shut off a couple times on them and that they were now dead on side of road. Got there and was clicking as if batt were dead. Jump started and got them enough power to get off the road and to a parking lot. Batteries are on frame rail and a bitch to get to. I found that the terminals were fubared. First batt had a broken in half loose as hell positive and a somewhat loose negative....second battery had a somewhat loose positive and a broken in half negative, then ran to frame that was slightly loose as well. We were next to a auto parts store so off I go. I bought some prebuilt and basically jumpered around the broken terminals to get it going. Worked great, no problems after. And holy hell the damn thing turned into a rocket ship....I assume the ficm wasnt getting proper voltage, nor the whole van. Whole different animal and towed like crazy.

-fast forward a couple weeks.....missed a stop sign in the dark out in the cut, trailer brakes were out, baha'D a ditch with equipment trailer and machine, unloaded machine drug out etc....good to go still for a couple weeks after that other than beating the pivot bushings out of it, bent trailer frame(14k trailer btw), tweaked hitch, and rear pass body beat up from jackknife

- dropped off at a buddy of mines so he could go get the ac checked at a friends shop since it didnt work.....picked it up from him and otw home from his shop batt light voltage started dropping, barely made it back to house and then shut down in my driveway Alternator not charging

- put oreilly pos alternator on it, charged batt, still not charging, no power at lug on alternator, batt voltage on one side of plug, 0.7v at I circuit on plug, batt light on. -wound up finding that the positive harness that runs from starter up around bellhousing to engine harness was burnt thru on engine side of junction just before fusible links. Repaired wiring, have voltage on both sides of fusible links so they should be good......

-now have battery voltage at lug, and both sides of plug on alternator but still not charging - at some point after all of this I lost battery light but still have voltage at I circuit somehow. Pulled cluster and swapped with known working bulb....both worked apparently, but still no battery light anymore. anymore.

-I have removed the glow plug controller and the trailer wiring from the scenario just in case, I have checked all the fuses that could be the issue as well multiple times.

- have had the Reman oreilly alternator tested once and tested good....fixing to pull it off and have it tested several times in a row, as well as the reman alternator that was on it when I got it...especially now that the batt light quit...almost makes me wonder if voltage reg took a shit or something.

Again sorry for the length, but wanted to give the entire scenario

Good news is that the van has an entire poly bushing set and new shocks now...cant wait to drive it

 

[redneckjeep87]

Edited for easier read. Somehow got screwed up in my copy and paste

 

[Tim C]

It just has 1 alternator right? I figured you'd have said if it had 2. Make sure the big charge cable post on the alternator has battery voltage at all times. The orange/lt blue wire on the regulator plug should be battery voltage at all times. If not check fusible link wires coming off the starter, there are 5 total. The lt green/red wire should have 0v key off, and battery voltage key on and engine running. That's unplugged. Mitchell says it's 0v key off, 1 to 3v koeo, and 8 to 9 v key on engine running. I believe that's plugged in, not 100% on that though.

 

[redneckjeep87]

It just has 1 alternator right? I figured you'd have said if it had 2. Make sure the big charge cable post on the alternator has battery voltage at all times. The orange/lt blue wire on the regulator plug should be battery voltage at all times. If not check fusible link wires coming off the starter, there are 5 total. The lt green/red wire should have 0v key off, and battery voltage key on and engine running. That's unplugged. Mitchell says it's 0v key off, 1 to 3v koeo, and 8 to 9 v key on engine running. I believe that's plugged in, not 100% on that though.

one alt.
I have batt voltage on post, batt voltage on circuit a. I circuit key off 0v, battery voltage koeo, and batt voltage koer.

No battery light at any point whatsoever at the moment.

Batteries passed load test.

Alt supposedly passed bench test twice, but not real sure of the moron that bench tested it.

Grounds ohmed out at 2 or less

 

[Tim C]

one alt.
I have batt voltage on post, batt voltage on circuit a. I circuit key off 0v, battery voltage koeo, and batt voltage koer.

No battery light at any point whatsoever at the moment.

Batteries passed load test.

Alt supposedly passed bench test twice, but not real sure of the moron that bench tested it.

Grounds ohmed out at 2 or less

Battery light should've been on koeo. It's probably burned out. There is a resistor in parallel to keep the circuit working in that event. All the voltages sound good then on the post, a and I circuits. If it's not charging then the alternator is bad. Id bet on the parts store guy not testing it right, or I've seen stuff test good on the bench but not work on the car.

If it's working you should see voltage at the battery increase by 1 to 1.5v running vs off after the glow plugs power down. I know you said they are disabled, just putting that out for anyone later. Glow plugs stay on in afterglow mode for up to 2 minutes depending on temps for emissions and they can pull more than the alternator can put out.

I also asked about dual alts because dual alternator systems are pcm controlled, single systems are not.

 

[redneckjeep87]

Battery light should've been on koeo. It's probably burned out. There is a resistor in parallel to keep the circuit working in that event. All the voltages sound good then on the post, a and I circuits. If it's not charging then the alternator is bad. Id bet on the parts store guy not testing it right, or I've seen stuff test good on the bench but not work on the car.

If it's working you should see voltage at the battery increase by 1 to 1.5v running vs off after the glow plugs power down. I know you said they are disabled, just putting that out for anyone later. Glow plugs stay on in afterglow mode for up to 2 minutes depending on temps for emissions and they can pull more than the alternator can put out.

I also asked about dual alts because dual alternator systems are pcm controlled, single systems are not.

Good info there Tim. So I assume there is no point in checking into the ecm? Found some info to ground pin 30 on the pcm plug....I assume that was for dual setups then.

I swapped around bulbs In the cluster and still wouldnt come on. Forgot to mention that. I did go pick up some more today to swap in since I dropped one of the others on accident.

My thoughts keep going back to the alternator as well tbh. I really dont trust the moron that tested the alt...and tbh the damn thing should be putting out being that it has voltage on the I circuit. Damn thing has me pulling my hair out. Reckon I'll order a decent one online.

I knew the deal with the gp controller, that's why I took it off just in case it was stuck on drawing everything down.

I miss the days when you could get decent parts at the parts house

 

[redneckjeep87]

OK, we have charging! After tearing through everything I could find to test and backprobe....i went with my gut and ordered an expensive alternator instead of parts store bs. Mean green high Amp arrived yesterday, installed today. Immediately fixed the charge light and the charging itself! What do you know...my gut was right from the get go after backprobing the plug originally.
When I took my original reman alt and the new oreillys reman alt and had them tested. They supposedly tested good somehow.
Fuck Oreillys alternators and the morons they let bench test them.

I have now also cleaned the grounds I could quickly put my hands on. Added a large gauge ground from alt case neg battery, and a secondary heavy gauge from the positive post on alt to b+ on starter. Will add heavy positive to a plug on bumper later for charging the dumpttrailer better. Time to put everything back together finally.

 

[cass92lx50]

I will never buy any oreilly alternators again had two bad this year out of the box . They are junk , had another last two years it went out last week on dads lexus luckily easy to change .

 

[redneckjeep87]

I will never buy any oreilly alternators again had two bad this year out of the box . They are junk , had another last two years it went out last week on dads lexus luckily easy to change .

It was absolutely sickening the amount of time wasted bc of their alternators testing "good" when in fact they were not. I was about to go down the rabbit hole of pulling the cab so I could get to the engine witing harness at one point.

 

[DSM Turbos]

It was absolutely sickening the amount of time wasted bc of their alternators testing "good" when in fact they were not. I was about to go down the rabbit hole of pulling the cab so I could get to the engine witing harness at one point.

Had a similar thing happen with interstate batteries. My 6.0 kept struggling to start when it sat for more than a day, then one day wouldn't start in the parking lot after running into the store real quick. Brought the battery to interstate to check it, they said it is completely fine. I put it back in the truck, kept doing the same thing. Finally took it to advanced, CCA was so low it needed to be replaced. Either interstate lied or their tester sucks. Wound up just buying a new battery so I wouldn't have to deal with interstate again.

 

[No fries]

Had a Pacifica with intermittent, charging Batt light problems. Had it checked at AZ before we left on a 10hr family trip to OH for Thanksgiving. Day before thanksgiving in WV, just after I got a ticket (passed a SHP, he didn't like that ) radio turned off....AC/heat.......lights dash then went to limp mode. Luckily got off the interstate, towed to garage that was still open and rented a car. Garage stayed open and finished it that day before I got to OH state line. Had to buy a new alternator and battery. ($1,200 repair, ticket was $150, rental was $250.00 IIRC, and food while we stopped $60.00) Could have flown everyone there cheaper.

When I told the mechanic I had the Alt tested and was good at Autozone owner said yeah what do you expect from a minimum wage paid kid under 20yrs old and a cheap alt tester. His snappy tester said it was bad.