POWERwagon
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2008
- Location
- Jacksonville NC
OK so I have a 1977 Dodge W200 that is pretty much stock cept for the fact that the military got a hold of it and turned it into a gm/dodge and called it the M880. The truck has the black out lights still. My problem is that, very rarely, all the lights turn off for about 2 mins. It isn't a bad ground that I can find or anything like that. A couple of buddies have said bad relay, but I don't know of a relay that controls ALL of the lights; a few have said the black out switch, but I have screwed around with the switch when the lights flipped off and it didn't do anything (they came on by themselves about a minute later). The truck runs fine when the lights are off, it's just bad juju to have the lights turn off when the mp's are looking at you at 2 in the morning... they almost arrested me over it. sigh... any input would be helpful
-Stu
-Stu
. To get it down here from my parents house in CT *all* I needed to do was get the speedometer fixed (it goes crazy but the odo works) replace a headlight, and figure out why the truck stalls at a stop in drive with the brake depressed (vacuum leak). Fixed the speedo, replaced the headlight, looking for the leak and now realize that something I did caused a short some where cause the truck just shuts off when coming to a stop. Have to pull apart the dashboard to find the short... oh joy the amp meter burned out, then fused itself to the dash, and the parts places are all closed and I have to leave for NC the next afternoon. Next day... Napa doesn't stock them has to be ordered, same at another 2 places in town. Only one place has 1, Ben's (bend over Ben's) and it looks like its from the 80's with a price as if it gives a digital readout (which it doesn't). So I get that in about a Half an hour before i need to go and SURPRISE 
have fun fixing me! I blew a seam in the radiator right around one of the tranny cooler lines. So $120 later I get my radiator back good as new. after i get it back the truck runs fine cept for the speedo and the stalling at stop lights, for a couple of days. Then the truck starts vibrating more, check the fluids coolant is good, engine oil is halfway between add and full so perfect, and the transmission fluid is... not even on the freking dipstick. WTF!??!?! it was fine a couple of days ago after I got it back from the radiator place. Go to Napa pick up a quart of fluid pour in about half(in the parking lot), check... oh boy still not on the stick, dump in the rest, check... crap. Go back inside get a funnel and 2 more quarts, come out and dump the first one in still nothing look down at the engine, and what do I notice but a loose transmission cooler line, drip drip drip, sigh. Go back into the Napa borrow a couple of wrenches, tighten the freking connector and dump the next quart in. What do you know now I'm a half quart over full, sigh. Undo the connection that I just tightened and finally get it to a proper level. Thank god its a 727 or I would have been stuck somewhere on the side of the road w/ no tranny. Drive onto base later that night, at about 2 in the morning, sitting at a stop light and there is an MP sitting at the same light going the opposite way. Let me take a second to describe the paint job I gave the truck; the majority of the truck is painted matte black, except for the grill, side view mirrors, wiper arms, and the gas cap. Everything that is not black on this truck is pained gloss John Deere yellow. So I'm sitting at this light amazed that I didn't stall the truck and all the lights turn off as soon as the light turns green
. I dig thru the glove compartment for the registration and my wallet for license and military ID. The MP gets to the tailgate looks into the bed of the truck and sees 2 black trash bags duct taped shut. At this point he does not ask for license and registration but "Put your hands outside the window sir!" So I stick my hands complete with license and registration out the window and the lights come on, sigh. I'm pretty sure he was serious when he asked if the vehicle was insured but that is just shitty to ask of anyone's car/truck. So then I had to dig in the glove compartment some more to find the insurance tag and he stared at it for a while (looking for some way to bust me I bet). A few days later, I'm getting really tired of shifting into neutral hitting the gas and brake at the same time to prevent from stalling, so i find the one mechanic in j-ville that does vacuum "tests." Normally when at idle if I pump the brake more than 4 times at a stop in park I can stall the truck, and if I pump one or two times in drive it'll stall. After trying my damnedest to stall the truck for the "mechanic" the truck refuses to die. The guy tells me that the carb is dirty (the carb was pulled completely apart a year ago, had a brand new filter, had fuel stabilizer in it since then, and just drove 800 miles) and I need to get it cleaned. 100 feet down the road the truck dies, sigh. Clean the carb anyways, doesn't do shit. Hose the few vacuum parts that the truck has with carb cleaner to try to find the leak and find that carb cleaner is conductive the hard way. *Note to self: never spray carb cleaner near the coil to try to see if the vacuum advance is leaky, it causes fires.*
Eventually come to the conclusion that the only thing that I am not able to test with this method is the brake booster, sigh. Start Googleing parts for my truck, find rockauto.com they have a ton of older oem parts including, a re-manufactured master cylinder and brake booster combo for $150 for my truck. Got it last Wednesday open it up it looks like its all there, right one, ect. Then I pull back the dust boot on the plastic slide thingy that the brake rod goes into and the plastic piece is broken, sigh. I call them up the next day they send a new part (their customer service was actually helpful AND courteous). So its Thursday and I'm supposed to go pick up boonewheeler's 76 power wagon on Saturday, sigh. It would be nice to have good brakes while towing a heavy ass truck with another heavy ass truck. Thankfully delayed till Tuesday on account of snow. Hopefully I get the brakes in today *fingers crossed* so I have good brakes (and no vacuum leak) tomorrow....... Sorry for the rant I just had to let it out somewhere. It is evil though.