Yet ANOTHER no-start problem--and this is bizarre.

[kensfarm]

"I did a few starts/stops with the hood up. I put the hood DOWN and tried to restart. NOTHING. I opened the hood, it started. Close it again. NOTHING."

Anything on the hood making contact w/ the battery terminals?

 

[DieselMonk]

it shouldn't. otherwise there would be sparks flying.

 

[SnowRidge]

You've received some good suggestions. Something major in the electrical department has an intermittent. I would also add fuse/fuse box and/or fusible link, if the machine has one, as possibilities.

 

[jrinck]

Thanks, everyone!

I'll have a chance on the weekend to really look into this, and I'll let you all know what I find.

 

[jrinck]

UPDATE! As some of you correctly pinpointed, it was a loose connection from the GND cable to the frame.

I never would have thought to look there, so, once again, this forum proves to be incredibly invaluable!

Thanks!

 

[droy]

Good friend had a similar problem on his Peterbilt Truck; the low coolant sensor on the radiator had the "lock" on the nearby wiring plug break. This allowed the male/female parts of the plug to partially separate, sending a stop engine signal to the computer. Looking at the plug, it appeared to be OK, but whenever he closed the hood, the engine would stop. Open the hood, he could start up, no problem, closing the hood would put just enough tension on the wire harness to separate the plug. After hours of frustrated troubleshooting, he called another old trucker who had "been there, done that". He sent Mr. Frustration to nearby store for a six-pack, then showed me the problem, secureing the plug with a few wraps of electrical tape.
Experience can be a pretty good teacher!!!!!!

 

[LarryD]

I know about those ground problems.

To make a long story short, I put in two fuel pumps in on the side of the road until I figured out the tranfer pump was not "transfering". Frame of the pump was the ground and after cleaning up the mount, I was on the road again. The trouble was the seond takn was full and the fuel guage worked fine>