That's the relay and the motor turns over but wont fire unless your referring to the voltage spike

 

just picked up a neative battery cable and the relay. trucks back home 100 miles away so ll have to do it friday evening. Ill keep everyone posted

Thanks everyone for your input and support!

 

Update on the truck:
Got the fuel pump relay in and the negative battery cable swapped. i cleaned the grounds on the starter and firewall. Truck now runs and drives but still has a few gremlins.

The voltage stays around 10-12 volts now which doesnt sound right. Also when i fire the truck up, it misses horrible to the point that it would die if i didnt pump the gas. I can get it to not misfire as bad if i pump the gas a little and it gets a little better and i can get it drivin and it goes away after first gear. After that, itle idle just fine but still runs with the "bog" and feeling like im dragging an anchor randomly.

Im at a loss as to whats wrong with her but any imput would be appreciated. id like to keep it on the road for years to come.

thanks guys

 

OKAY so im thinkin its the IAC?

 

ANYONE?????????????????????????????

 

you should have 13.5 volts or better engine running.....You can test the iac with an ohm meter and a thermometer. It running rich? Did you check/change the ect? Check wiring from alt to starter relay? I think the low voltage is half the problem.......

 

It runs fine 50% of the time, the other 50% it runs as if its lean on fuel. can u explain what an ECT is? The pigtail on the alternator was replaced 6 months ago along with the alternator. The top plug on the alternator was not however and i beleive that is the voltage regulator?

 

okay so im thinkin now that the voltage regulator is bad?

 

The ect is what tells the computer the coolant temp. So for instance,if its always reading cold it may over fuel the engine,like a choke on the carb stuck shut. The voltage regulator is on the back of the alt.

 

The temp guage stays on the "o" on (NORMAL) and the heat is just fine comin out of vents. Will i just need to OHM that out?
The volts have been goin everywhere, its either too little or too much and the battery light comes on when it spikes depending on whats running (headlights, blower, ect.). Im leanin towards voltage regualtor and im thinkin that if its not lettin the correct volts to charge the battery, its makin the motor run terrible like that and miss upon start up and draining the battery.

 

If you put in a new alternator recently, the reg. should be OK. But, new parts can go bad. Pull the reg. out and inspect the brushes, they should be sticking out an inch or two?? Not really sure on that measurement, though. Also, it could be a bad relay. Does the voltage fluctuate at idle? If so, you should listen for a clicking solenoid that corresponds to the fluctuations.

 

Nope, the idle only changes if i give it throttle or if i turn on any accessories. Brushes look fine and stick out about an inch and a quarter.

 

im desprate for an answer! I have to drive back to school tomarrow. im limited on money and if i find out for sure what it is, i can fix it but buyin small parts here and there has left me broke and just enough to fix this problem

 

f.y.i. the coolant gauge on your dash uses a completely different sensor than the ECT the computer uses. there is a 1-wire sensor for the gauge on the dash and a 2-wire sensor near the t-stat housing that the computer reads for info.

in a situation like this where you are having trouble pinning down the problem, i would fix what you KNOW is wrong...in this case the voltage. If the voltage is not correct, that can throw off sensors that watch for minute changes in voltage i.e. TPS. I would think the alternator would still be under warrenty, i would change it out and see what happens.

 

Thanks to all that helped! i changed the voltage regulator and now it stays at 13volts and doesnt miss or have loss of power anymore.\

One thing im skeptical about though, could the voltage regulator be the cause of my battery draining overnight?