Needless to say, life has been hectic as we're general contracting our own house, raising a three year old, down to one vehicle, and working a full time gig, whilst in the reserves, whilst getting an exemption...great experience, don't want to do it again! I have been unable to post what's happened, and things have DEFINITELY happened.
I'll keep it to bullet points as there is a lot and summarize at the end with the SOS.
Part 1
- Drained the fluid, changed the internal harness (realized I didn't have the right hex nuts and had to leave the solenoids in)
- Filled trans back up, started. Shifted between the gears a while to lube it up.
- Truck actually began shifting and driving. Managed to get through all gears. Drove it home and celebrated...too soon.
Part 2
- Next day drove to property, 10 miles away the RPMs shot up, trans fluid burning smell, still had OD but it was acting like I was in limp-home mode.
- Cooled off, slowly drove it to my property as I knew it would have to sit a while.
- At property, parked and let it idle. Fought reverse like crazy, popping and clunking (had to get it back to a position for flatbed)
- Would go into D (not OD). Fought reverse every time.
- Once the transmission shop (as this was clearly over my head in) could take it, towed it to shop.
Part 3
- Nationwide Transmission digs into the trans and finds belts worn, also finds it's a remanned Monster transmission (none of us know how it lasted 6 years, sorcery), recommends full rebuilding internal. I agree and upgrade to billet aluminum.
- Trans shop calls me and tells me that "it's shifting between gears now after build, but stalls and shuts off at stops. Restarts fine and drives fine, but again shuts off at lights. Related to torque converter."
- A big issue, they never figured out how to communicate with my computer even after talking with a Hummer tech I gave them the number for.
- Rebuild again.
- Still shuts off at stops. They recommend complete rebuild with new housing, do it.
- Rebuild everything.
- They say it's good, take it home and drive it until you believe it's good and then we'll worry about payment. If it doesn't work, it's free and we can't fix it.
- ...and 10 miles from my property, RPMs go up, no reverse (or randomly very little).
Part 4
- Towed to home, I'm doing it now.
- Repeatedly I tried the paperclip method and got the default, code 12 "everything's fine", code.
- Began hunting for anything out of place and tons of phone calls.
- All fuses checked and rechecked (going to check again), all connections checked.
- I decide to start the truck for the sake of keeping the batteries charged. Decide to check the codes while it's running.
- GET A CODE: Code 71. It means "Cam Position Engine Speed Sensor signal not detected "
- Crankshaft sensor was never plugged in on build and I never thought to look.
- Talking with friend/tech, he confirms turbo trucks don't have camshaft sensor, but crankshaft.
- I re-wire my old tachometer pigtail (which was just hanging out) to the crankshaft), transmission light goes off for first time.
Part 5
- Truck starts rough but now idles smooth after initial start.
- Truck still does not like engaging reverse or over drive, but will engage in D, 2, and 1.
- Sometimes it will engage in Reverse, but does not have much power.
- I have been hunting for bad grounds and have not found any yet, last place to check is driver kick panel, I'm guessing it's fine.
- Trying to get a well known diesel shop nearby to send a mechanic with a Tech2 to scan my truck and look it over pretty well for anything that stands out. We shall see how that goes as it would be extremely informative.
This leads me to questions I have been pondering.
1) Old 6.5 NA trucks had a camshaft sensor, turbo diesel trucks do not...but, I found one blurb reading that turbo diesel trucks actually have a camshaft sensor built into the injection pump. Guess what, I have a Stanadyne DB2 old school pump. Is this a problem on a mechanical turbo though?
2) Wiring the old tachometer plug to the crankshaft sensor shut off the light and now has the truck idling better, BUT, will this cause a problem long term (other than I need proper wiring so it's not picking up the engine rotation).
3) I'm wondering if I don't actually have a geared hub or Tcase seizing, acting like a brake. I have one hub that I suspect. Obviously, my schedule makes this difficult to do right away, but I will be jacking up the truck and checking for rotation or lack-thereof. Could this cause all the transmission woes?
4) To me, this seems like it's something that no one has thought of yet, and it's just waiting to be discovered. A neon orange needle in a haystack that, once discovered, we'll all go "well of course that's the problem!". Does anything stand out?
5) My one Hummer tech thinks I need a M1165 injection pump (modified for 12 volt) instead of my DB2. Do I need to do this or am I fine with DB2 (as another Hummer tech says I don't).
Going Star Wars on you - Help me
@THEFERMANATOR ,you and the forum gearheads are my only hope.
I'm out of ideas, really desperate to get my second vehicle more useful than being an interesting-looking paperweight that makes noise. You have no idea how much this would help my family getting it rolling again. Any ideas and advice is valuable and I am grateful for it.
-CJ