• Welcome to The Truck Stop! We see you haven't REGISTERED yet.

    Your truck knowledge is missing!
    • Registration is FREE , all we need is your birthday and email. (We don't share ANY data with ANYONE)
    • We have tons of knowledge here for your diesel truck!
    • Post your own topics and reply to existing threads to help others out!
    • NO ADS! The site is fully functional and ad free!
    CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

    Problems registering? Click here to contact us!

    Already registered, but need a PASSWORD RESET? CLICK HERE TO RESET YOUR PASSWORD!

truck down

Detroit Dan

Detroit Dan

New Member
Messages
1,139
Reaction score
10
Location
Epping NH
Friend of mines got a 98 k3500, just had work some done to it.

Had a noise in the front so his mechanic changed a lower pulley and put a new belt on.

That was yesterday, today his wife takes it and gets stranded, brand new serpentine belt broke.

Towed back to the shop, new belt put on now it cranks but wont fire off. I thought maybe the vacuum pump or ac clutch seized up, but if it's cranking with a new belt that probably isnt it.

Tried to explain to him how to check for fuel delivery, but it was kind of tough over the phone. I know the idler pulley (well the tensioner) is known for failing too, but idk if thats the problem either.

Like I said, it is turning over, but maybe something isnt totally seized, it's just dragging hard.

Also, I just gave him a new PMD with no resistor in it, told him to swap resistors when he changed it.

I guess he gave it to the mechanic, so he doesn't know if the resistor got swapped or not.

Apparently the mechanic is too busy screwing up other peoples cars to work on this one right now. I told him to have it towed to my house and I'd try to figure it out, but I don't think he will.

I looked through the checklist, maybe I'll email it to him and have him go through it.

So, any thoughts on the no start?

My first thought was fuel delivery, but there has to be a connection to the new belt breaking.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm wondering if it had a bad harmonic balancer and possibly broke the crank. Did he check it when doing the pulley?
 
Is the PMD remote mounted? Maybe belt snap took out PMD cable or the CPS pigtail. Like anything needs to make sure all the fuses and grounds are good.
 
The vacpump is def a possibillity for dragging hard but it should not slow the cranking down.
Would it be possible when the new belt snapped that it ripped the CPS wires off
 
I'll see if I can get word to him to check that. Last I knew the PMD had an extension harness and no cooler, it was sitting on the fr***ing inner fender. I told him when I gave him the new dipaco to get a dam cooler and mount it properly, and if he didnt I would get one and do it for him. Wish he'd have it towed to my house, but if it's got a broke crank then we'd all be screwed. He's already seriously disenchanted with it, it's his only vehicle right now, he just put a lot of money into it, new paint and other stuff, talking about selling it but it's not worth much if the motors busted.
 
Ak, I asked about the harmonic balancer but he didnt know. Cant imagine the mechanic was that bad that he would change the bottom pulley to get rid of a squeak and not at least inspect the harmonic balancer.
 
not sure how or when the belt broke, I think he said she came out of the supermarket and the truck wouldnt start. So it must have broken just before she got there? How far can you go without a belt? Maybe it snapped when she tried starting it.
 
I'm concerned it over heated, hopefully it wasn't driven while it was boiling over.
 
Not that hard for a belt to snap if it wasn't put on right or the vac pump seizes up.
If it slips off a pulley and the fan catches it its history.
 
You woulnt think a mechanic screwed up such a simple task would you? (sarcasm, just have had my own dose of poor mechanics, why its good to get to know them first)
 
Sounds like you need to take a trip to the shop and get a feel for what is going on and look for the above suggestions. Why did they change the belt - was it damaged and they missed the cause?
 
Belt breaking should have no impact on a no start condition, FSD/PMD without a resistor can cause a no start if mechanic didn't know what he was doing and did a TDCO learn command with resistor out.

OBD-IIs can run without a resistor in FSD/PMD until a learn is initiated it will run on the old stored value, but if learn gets commanded then it won't start but should also be setting a code.

Your buddy needs to verify the resistor did get installed.

How come your buddy is posting via proxy through you :) we need him as a member here have him sign up :thumbsup:
 
OK, update, just got off the phone and did some more investigating. Belt was not in fact changed, nor did it come off. Apparently when the truck died it made a pop sound, his wife described it as sounding like the belt broke. But it's intact. As near as I can tell, the mechanic changed the lower pully because it was in bad shape, the bolts holding it on had moved around. No mention of changing the balancer though, which is obviously the problem if the pulley bolts moved. He didnt even change the belt, and it was squealing when they picked up the truck. Said it would go away.
He changed the PMD, and I asked about putting the resistor from the old one into the new one I gave him because it didnt come with one. He said he asked and the guy showed him the back of the PMD, pulled the little black caps off and said those are the resistors and you dont have to change them. So he was talking about the capacitors and doesnt know where the resistor is. My friend said he looked in his old PMD and it looks exactly like the new one, so now I think he didnt have a resistor when he got the truck
So: if he took a PMD with no resistor out of a running truck, put a new one in without a resistor, what would happen? What was the pop heard? At this point all I know is that it has fuel at the filter manager, and when it cranks the accessories still turn so the crank is still intact. Mechanic says he is goingto "check the timing" today. Not sure how he's going to do that if the truck won't run. Probably crank it over while shining a timing light on the balancer.

I am waiting for a callback, he is going to ask the mechanic if I can come down and look at it at his shop. I am going to bring a resistor and another PMD and maybe some jumper cables in case they've run the batteries down.
 
Like TD said the resistor wont matter until a TDCO learn is initiated, to time it. Thats pretty funny the guy showed him the transistors when asked about the resistor.

Tell them to put the PMD straight to the IP harness rather than on the extension.

Maybe the pop was a backfire/misfire into the intake. A valve falling into the engine perhaps.
 
Ask that mechanic to check for fuel at the injectors.
That 'pop' could be caused by many things,one of them could a broke IP shaft( rotor head seized)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top