Truck Help

[attworth]

Wow I missed the fire too. Sheesh!

[Kitzy]

Cleared the codes and they came right back.  Nothing looks even remotely burned so I don't think the fire is the culprit.  Also it is revving up fine in park and absolutely horrible in drive.  It wont even move.  I dropped the ball though and didn't try any other gears.  Im not driving back out again to try it either.  Not today.  Im leaning towards a tranny problem more so than anything else.  The tranny builder said he is going to see what he can figure out on the tranny end of it.

[Old Dogg™]

You should check any possible places fluid may have gotten directly or indirectly above and below associated harness connectors (take apart and look). 
Odd you had a fire and no collateral damage.

[Kitzy]

The fire didn't last very long.  I'm not even sure how big it was.  I know there was a lot of smoke and someone pulled up next to me and said they can see the flames through the wheel well.  Nothing is black or even melted.  the entire situation is kind of strange.

[texbigred1]

i know it looks ok but all those codes could come from that Harness.  i would look at the wires on top of the trans if you can get to them

 your o2 wires run thru that same wire harness

[Kitzy]

Alright.  Will do.  Im starting to wonder if the initial incident that caused the fire wasn't a fluke and the main cause of all of this.  It kind of follows your theory of it possibly being the harness.  The day of the fire it was 100+ out and i was in serious stop and go traffic for a good 45 minutes to an hour.  That could have pushed the fluid up out of the dipstick tube causing the fire damaging the harness and causing premature failure.  It covers everything really and eliminates the whole chicken and egg issue I was having trouble comprehending.  If I get a chance tomorrow after work Im going to look into it some more.  To clarify location of the harness, its the one on the passenger side at the top of the firewall?  Pretty much next to the battery between the battery and the motor?

[texbigred1]

yes and if you follow it, it will go behind the motor and down on top of the trans

also after looking at the codes list it could cause the evap codes  the evap solenoid should be on the back of the throttle body

[Poorboy]

wow Mike  ... sorry to hear of your truck problems  .. hope they get resolved and we see you at Macungie

[Kitzy]

Haven't had a chance all week to look at it.  I have off tomorrow though so I am going to go check it out a bit more in depth in the morning.

Steve, when is Macungie?

[Kitzy]

Alright so I grabbed some tools and went to the shop to check out the truck this morning.  To my surprise it was inside on the lift.  The tranny guy checked it out the best he could given the situation.  He contacted his techs.  Everyone agreed it is more than likely NOT a tranny issue.  I spoke with him for a bit and looked over the truck some.  When I did the long tube headers I had to get O2 extensions for the front O2 sensors.  Apparently they're a little too close to the headers as both sides have melted.  There are four wires and on the drivers side they're all stuck together.  On the passenger side they're also melted together but also have bare wires showing in places.  They're also touching the header on the passenger side.  This could very likely be the culprit.  I just got off the phone with Troyer Performance and they're overnighting me 4 new extensions.  My plan is to run two on each side so I can run them out and around the frame rails, far away from the headers as much as possible.  I spoke with one of Troyer's mechanics for a while on the phone about this and he said it will work but it's not recommended as it may change the resistance of the setup.  I may end up throwing O2 codes because of this but atleast it won't be shorting anything out.  If I throw codes I will just have to order the 24" extensions instead of the 18" and go from there but this was my fastest route right now.  It's also possible that this could have shorted out the computer so I'm hoping that didn't happen.  Regardless, this issue needs to be addressed and it's a good starting point.  I should have the wires tomorrow to be installed on Sunday.  More info then hopefully.  Once back up and runing I'm having a transmission temp gauge installed along with a complete fluid change to a full synthetic.  He said with a full synthetic you will see temps drop 20-30 degrees.  At this point I'll be able to watch over it and if I'm still having temp issues I'll go with a larger cooler and maybe magtech pan.

And by the way Tom, excellent timing as I was actually at the tranny shop speaking with the guy when you sent that pm. 

PS Overnighting something to have it by Saturday is expensive. 

Oh and I absolutely love dealing with Troyer.  They're probably some of the friendliest and helpful people I've dealt with.  Very knowledgable as well.

[GreyMichFX4]

ESF, sounds like you are going to getting the Expy rolling again. Hopefully everything is smooth sailing from here on out.

[texbigred1]

if the wire were rubbing they could cause a short to the computer    but i don't see them causing the other problems like evap codes. unless they were already there  but hopefully that fixes it.

[Kitzy]

So my extensions showed up at 10am.  My plans for the day fell through so I drove out to the shop to put them on.  I got there and realized I didn't have my keys because the shop has them and I didn't think to bring a spare set.  Ths shop was closed.  I could still use the number pad to get in but I couldn't start it or even turn the key to the on position to clear the codes.  So I still don't know but the new wires are in.  If I get bored later today I'll go back out.  If not then I'll check it tomorrow.


Here is a picture of the passenger side O2 sensor extension.  There are 3 wires that are completely bare and touching each other.





And just for kicks... The passenger side is extremely tight.  I couldn't actually get my hand up far enough behind the header and dipstick tube to release the extension or plug the new one in.  I didn't have a screwdriver on me long enough to reach it either and still be able to manuever it.  What's a guy to do?  I know!  *insert light bulb here*  I have 2 screw drivers and electrical tape...



After about an hour of trying with my hands and a regular screw driver I rigged this bad boy up and had it off in a matter of minutes. 

[Rollingrock]

McGruber!   

[Old Dogg™]

I have seen electrical shorts cause all sorts of strange & unrelated problems but...
all those codes...?
Good you found and corrected that problem...I wish for you it was the cause of the problem/fire.
Those shorted wires could have caused catastrophic computer failure but, since you don't seem to have any driveability problems...
Good luck! :Old Dogg?: