Gremlins in the electrical
 

Hey evrybody. Has anybody got a wiring schematic for a '92' w250 12 valve with a five speed with A/C, power windows/locks ? The wiring has been butchered under the dash a little worse than I first suspected. I've already completely rewired the ass-end to repair a simple taillight issue. Man it's amazing how far people will carry bad ideas. Got rid of approximately 8 feet of extraneous wires with butt connector splices and scotchlock piggy backs for the trailer wiring and twisted and taped connections. Eyeyiyiyiyi!! Interior light stuck on...twitchy guages presumably from bad grounds...no back-up lights..... hack job on the stereo install and the list goes on. Arrrrgh!! Anything would help. Cheers

Well, the $20 Haynes manual at the local auto parts store will give you an idea where its all SUPPOSED to be, but it's a little bit of a pain to read. I have a 91.5 similar to yours, and the PW/PDL issues were switches and grounds. My advice is to get to the back of the fuse block and check power on all incoming wiring, then start checking continuity on the individual circuits in question. Check out the stickies on the fusible links and convert it to fuses, that helped clean my fender up, then go ahead and search ...ummm... I think either Cummins Forum or Diesel Truck Resource, maybe, since someone there did a nice writeup on converting out truck headlight systems over to a relay ... makes them brighter and safer. In theory, there is a great big woven metal strap under your dash that should ground all your dash "stuff" to the firewall ... it's probably loose or disconnected (mine was and a few other members here have referenced it as a problem) clean the connection and make sure it's tightly attached on both ends ... radio installers seem to like to leave it unattached. Also, if you remove your dash bezel that covers your guages and the wait to start/brake/WIF lights, it opens up a lot of little nooks and crannies that hold dust - great time to clean the connections for the dash wiring and replace all the burned out lights in the dash (NAPA carries replacements). While you're in there, check the vacuum connectors and light in the A/C housing - radio installers seem to like to disconnect them, too. Go ahead and unplug the ABS behind your glovebox while you're there - it already probably doesn't work - its the giant plug sitting all by itself when you pull the glovebox out. The cute little switch for the glovebox will tease you into working if you clean it, but won't work when you put it all back together. I ran a small secondary fuse block under the hood and rewired some of the silly circuits that I needed but didn't trust the original fuse block to handle. When you get the fuse block nice and organized, make sure you get it attached firmly ... most likely, the original tabs are broken off and its sort of "floppy"... I zip tied mine to the column. If I need to access something, it is still in the original location, but I don't kick it by accident now, either.
The gremlins and the previous owner's shenanigans will give you grey hair:scare2:, but you will get it sorted out.

Cree

Thanks for the info. The dodge issues are relatively new to me as I have been a chevy guy my whole life and still got a soft spot for the 67 to 87 pickemups. I still have a nice little 81 SBSS with a 400hp stroker under the hood. I bought this one on a bit of a whim after I put my 08 tundra into a pole. Aside from the tinfoil door panels, she's a pretty solid old truck but I'd like to make it all good again. Once again, thanks a lot.:tu::rocking:

Donk

Also to watch out for the wireing harness dropping on the exhaust it will wreck your lights and ac on the passanger side of your truck I own a 92 d 350 that's been rewired by a gremilin and a 2yr old lol hope to get my fuel problem solved I miss my truck

I have the same issue you do, I just bought a 93 5 speed cummins and my god is it ever a mess my brake lights stay on my whole left side is missing wiring and basically the whole dash is dead.... I'm ready to just buy a universal harness and start all over again, what do you guys think?

Well, I don't know that I'd go with an aftermarket harness, especially if you have a 92 or 93 and an auto. You'd be looking at bypassing the (admittedly basic) computer, wiring in a pot for the OD, and a host of other stuff, plus most of the stuff I've seen from Painless is geared towards gassers. I just don't know how "painless" it would be for me to spend $300 on a harness (although it is a really good one - I used to use them on Jeep builds) that I'm going to cut a lot out of. I'm to the point now of just rebuilding subsystems of the harness as I find an issue ... towed a trailer for the first time with my truck, and of course, the PO had hacked the trailer wiring, but it did technically work, I just didn't like how shitty it looked, so I rewired, shrink wrapped, anchored, and found the next wire run I'll do when the weather is good enough to warrant rolling around in the driveway. The more I play with this truck, the more I realize that the harness is usually sound until the PO (previous owner, for those of you who haven't read any of my other wiring rants) screws it up. But twenty years of PO's and driving take their toll, and as I figure out what the PO did, and where the Mopar grounds are supposed to be but aren't grounded, I try to fix them better than stock. The aggravating part is that when you spend an afternoon "fixing" something that really shouldn't need to be fixed, you get about a week of satisfaction, then find another issue to address. But I'd rather spend a little time and a little money each month making it solid than send the bank a check for six or seven hundred dollars a month for a newer truck.
Start with the grounds, make good solid connections, if you have to splice, try to solder, use plenty of shrink wrap, and enough of the right wire, and zip tie it someplace safe and at some point, you will have it fixed correctly and know that you won't do the work twice.

Good luck, though, because Lord know it pisses me off when it works, then doesn't, then does, then doesn't, then you hit a bump, and the sumbitch either works better or stays off until your next off day! :scare2:

Cree

That is basically what I did with my 91.5. I never had any issues, but after reading the stories about what other 1st Gen owners were seeing I started re-doing things, one at a time until I eventually eliminated the primitive PCM and got everything working on good old copper, solder, relays and manual switches. The last electrical project waiting to do is upgrading to a commercial-grade Leece-Neville alternator. I have all the parts on hand, just waiting for the original factory alternator to fail. Starting to wonder if it ever will...