Dodge 2005 - 2500 Diesel

[dodge man]

When my newphews truck got hit by lighting, the only reason he new it happened was because he was in it. I don't know if there is any other sure way to know, other than what the mechanics can tell you. His truck wouldn't run afterwards and it took alot of wiring, new computer etc to get it running again.

One thing I learned a long time ago, never assume a new part fixed the problem. Its rare, but I have had brand new parts fail. You chase your tail for days afterwards since you know that brand new part can't be the problem, when in fact it is. I've had this happen with a fuel pump and a thermostat.

 

[mikeyee]

ugh what a pain! Electrical problems are a total pain to fix and it seems to be what you are experiencing. Lightning normally wouldn't hit the electrical system since the whole car is a metallic dome and from my electrical engineering class; the energy/flux of lightning would be zero going inside the car. But it could flow on a wire that is by the hood and get into the computer.

It sounds like its the onboard computer that is causing the problems but it probably also means other fried electrical components in your truck. The approach I would do is get a onboard computer that works and test out each instrumentation with the error code and the ones necessary to start your engine first (gauge, meter, injectors, solenoids, etc) until the problem is solved since the surge from electricity could overload your electrical system and frying a large part of it. Easier said than done, good luck man

 

[alpaca-farmer]

Well the latest chapter in the saga for this truck...

The mechanic came back saying the electronic controlled clutch fan is bad - when it shorted out instead of sending the proper volts into the computer it overshoot by a good 10 (his figures) and fried one of the circuits in the ECM. SOO now with this guy we have thus far replaced all wiring harnesses, heating solenoid...and now the ECM and electronic controlled clutch fan. I hope that's it - I can't afford anymore changes on the **** thing it's drained most of my savings (it's been at least a 3k investment so far and another 2.5k with these changes). Can't wait to get it back up and running to go to work properly!

Hope these updates are at least helping others if they find themselves in the same **** pickle I'm in.

Thanks guys I'll keep you up to date... Nora

 

[Diamondpilot]

Is it the actual fan? The reason I ask was I had a Hemi powered 2500 and it had dual fans I believe, can not remember for sure. I do remember it had a fancy little green fuse with a clear plastic top that was about $6 a pop. Anyway I went through 6 of these fans. The would physically lock up. I had the actual fan blades balanced at our prop shop, I am a pilot. The electric motors would pour out ground up magnet when they were removed. The bearings or bushings were junk in these motors, hence having the fan balanced. I would get a new one and it would last a few months tops. Not sure why? What seemed stupid to me was the fans were wired together so if one went bad it blew the fuse and you had no fan then it would overheat. Stupid in my opinion. I guess the other side of the argument is if they were wired separately and one went bad you may not know it until it was too late and you cooked a engine???

Chris

 

[Bama67]

Holy Cow! What a total clusterf**k! I am glad I am not you, I would be so stressed out from raising 7 different kinds of he*l if I went through this saga you are going through.

I am with Dpilot, nothing against that brand of truck, but if they played this much he*l trying to repair it. I would never own another, and the dealer would cringe if they saw me pulling up in the drive.

This is another thing that puts me off of diesels, they are much harder to work on (for me anyways) and I could buy a complete powertrain for what you have spent on this thing. But I realize it is not a diesel problem, but an electrical problem.

I wish you the best, and hope you get it going.
GODSPEED!

 

[Raw Dodge]

The mechanic came back saying the electronic controlled clutch fan is bad - when it shorted out instead of sending the proper volts into the computer it overshoot by a good 10 (his figures) and fried one of the circuits in the ECM. SOO now with this guy we have thus far replaced all wiring harnesses, heating solenoid...and now the ECM and electronic controlled clutch fan. I hope that's it - I can't afford anymore changes on the **** thing it's drained most of my savings (it's been at least a 3k investment so far and another 2.5k with these changes).

Only thing i cant understand is every single component on the truck should be fused with a fuse,circuit breaker or fusable link.The clucth fan should have a relay and fuse for the power to the relay.That should be all that blows,replace the fuse,and it will blow again,until you fix the problem.I own a 2000 Dodge Cummins and I am impressed with how well the truck is fused and protected,it just doesnt make any sense.Homes are wired the same way,every circuit is protected by a fuse/breaker that is designed to trip before the wiring gets hot enough to melt/burn.problems only happen when connections get loose and creat heat,or when ppl put in bigger breakers and fuses than the circuits wiring can support.
I am not an electrician,but I wired my on home alongside my friend/electrician,and I have been wrenching my whole life,and fixed enough potential fires by supposed "mechanics" who wired circuits without protection or with too big a fuse...
IMO, Something is till amiss here,I wish you had a Dodge expert locally,you may want to post the problem on the dieseltruckresources.com or the turbodieselregister.com and see if you get more help or leads....

 

[Dmace]

Only thing i cant understand is every single component on the truck should be fused with a fuse,circuit breaker or fusable link.....

The difference is a house running 240 volts (200 amps) max and a vehicle producing 12 volts max (140 amps +/-) can easily be protected with some 30amp breakers or 20amp fuses against power surges. When a vehicle gets struck by lightning (such as the vehicle in question here), it is hit with 20,000-65,000 volts of electricity.
There is no fuse or breaker that is going to protect a jolt of power like that from arcing across every fuse in that truck and frying everything conductive.

 

[Raw Dodge]

The difference is a house running 240 volts (200 amps) max and a vehicle producing 12 volts max (140 amps +/-) can easily be protected with some 30amp breakers or 20amp fuses against power surges. When a vehicle gets struck by lightning (such as the vehicle in question here), it is hit with 20,000-65,000 volts of electricity.
There is no fuse or breaker that is going to protect a jolt of power like that from arcing across every fuse in that truck and frying everything conductive.

Iunderstand the lightning part of it....IF there is that much evidence to suggest lightning,he should be in contact with his insurance adjuster by now......I thought lightning had been ruled out at this point....

 

[alpaca-farmer]

Remember me? Oh yah we JUST GOT OUR TRUCK BACK. It has been 5 very long agonizing months of repair shop after repair shop!

I just wanted to give you guys an update we literally visited about 7 repairshops in total, and 2 different dealerships...

SOOO turned out a lot of work was done that wasn't necessary of course and the buck should of truly stopped by the 2nd repair shop as that's where the error occured.

Our fan was fried which did fry the computer so the computer, and all harnesses were changed. The issue then turned into the harness was not plugged together properly - one pin was 'bent' and not connecting into it's whole. This was creating a chain effect that even by the 3rd new computer was sending crazy codes which included having to have the transmission serviced because the code was that the lever was jamming.

It was a huge mess - so lesson learned you can't always trust your dealers - we had taken it to TWO by the time it was done and they worked on it for well over a month nearly at both.

Luckily after a lot of complaining we got our prices taking down but we paid around 7k when things were all said and done - and I did file an issurance claim and even tho the burntout yard and etc didn't prove that it was lightening to them we got a 2100 check to make us "feel better"...sure they'll take it onto my bill somewhere in the long run.

That is it for updates, I still follow the site and may be back with more questions, but hopefully with all these new parts it won't be for a VERY LONG TIME.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Glad you finally got it fixed.

Chris