Right on, that really is cool.
You have made some seriously good time on the conversion.

 

Not nearly as fast as I have wanted to go. I've still got the issue of getting Lock up and OD to work on my dodge tranny. Beyond that, I've got to get the ac hooked up and my gauges mounted and i'll be rolling. Oh yeah, the speedo is dead. It read off of the 4r70w. I was hoping the signal from the rearend would make the speedo work, but no luck. thanks for your comment

 

I am so excited. We're still on to do a straight up trade when its finished, right? My 99 4.2 xl is waiting for its new owner.

 

I'm sorry, you're going into a dead zone or something I can't hear you. Hello, hello, hello, man I guess I dropped you

 

 

Got the truck running and driving great. I've got to install my WVO system and get the tranny shifting tuned in a little, but its sweet right now. It cruises at 74mph @ 2000 rpm. The step up to 31's will make that even nicer. I'll post up a video of it running soon.

 

Any pics or that video Brobrad? Love diesel swaps.

 

I can see what I can do. I've been caught up in driving, and improving it along the way. I designed a controller to make the dodge tranny work automatically instead of toggle switches and have everything on the truck working EXCEPT the fuel gauge. Not sure what the deal is with it. the only wires I cut were the power wires to the in tank pump.


Anyway, I've put 20k miles on it since the build mainly burning WVO. It runs really nice. I've got a new turbo I plan to install, but just haven't had time.

Lots of fun to drive and confuses a lot of people. "I didn't know they put a cummins in a F150"

 

This Truck killed a new interstate battery pretty quickly. I read that it was likely to vibration. I've got a new napa battery in her now and my battery/alternator light flashes on and off pretty consistently. I hooked up my battery charger that will test the alternator and it bounces from 77% up to 95%. I do run a FASS pump when operating on WVO so the draw could be high. How do I test the alternator with multimeter to see if that is the issue. I've checked all connections and they are good. I believe its the original ford alternator so it will have about 200k miles on it total.

 

Here is how I would look at it.
First what is the voltage at the battery just after starting?
If it is not in the 15 to 16 volt range for battery recovery, is the pulley ratio for alternator speed to slow?
If not, the battery will perpetually be under charged.
The charge lamp is powered by 12 volt feed and is controlled by the alternator regulator ground.
If there is a ground present or intermittently lighting the lamp, the alternator output is not high enough or the regulator is faulty. This could be the alternator speed is not high enough or the alternator brushes are worn down..
Good luck.

 

THANKS Bluegrass, that's the information i was looking for. I'll check the ground. Vibration is tremendous with these 4bt engines especially when they are cold. I would assume that the RPM is enough as it has worked fine for 25k miles or more, but it could be that it has been a fatigue issue of just barely enough for quite some time. However, i do lean toward the ALT brushes being worn. I have measured 14-14.7 volts at the battery terminals while it was running in the past when wiring up some other accessories. i'll see what that reading is today. Thanks again.

 

Well here's the update on the alternator. I get 13-14 volts at battery with altenator connected to battery (which is new). I have 14-15 volts when I have the battery disconnected. The voltage seems to drop off after the truck warms up a bit. The only thing electrical running is gauges, interior lights and the fuel shutoff switch which is a very small solenoid switch.


At idle, battery light is on. When I dump the accelerator while driving BAT light comes on. It doesn't make sense to me, but I guess alternator is going bad since batter is near dead after driving with headlights on. It's a modified housing due to the diesel conversion so i'll be getting it rebuilt I suppose.

 

The charge system is not working at all from your observations.
The charge lamp has to go out if the alternator is outputting at the min. voltage level.
It does this by the regulator 'removing' the lamp circuit ground to tell you the alternator is working at least to some degree.
In a good system the battery voltage will be at the last alternator charge voltage but drop in a short amount of time down to 13 or less. This is normal depending on the load, when all systems are at rest.
The basis of this for a 'Lead Acid' battery is the cells are designed for 2.17 volts per cell. With 6 cells or 6 x 2.17 = 13.02 volts across an unloaded fully charge battery is expected to be in this range for a fully charge battery.
With a static load of PCM or other circuits the voltage will drop over time..
Further; how does the regulator control battery charge?
The regulator has a 'reference' built in. The difference between the reference and the battery voltage controls the alternator output.
The alternator forces current into the battery due to the difference in value between the battery and the regulator reference.
As the battery voltage rises, the difference becomes smaller and alternator output is tapered downward until the system is satisfied with only the requirements of the vehicle's electrical needs met from the alternator output, not the battery.
Good luck.

 

I think it's on its last leg. I did discover a couple days ago that the hot wire coming from the ALT had broken. It had been in a "partially" attached configuration for some time apparently. It finally broke about 40 miles from home the other night and I reconnected it after my lights when all the way down to nothing. Dash lights faded, radio went off, abs light come on etc. but the cummins doesn't need the voltage. Anyway, I thought it would be fine after I fixed that problem. I think it probably finished off the alternator with the constant short taking place. I'll pull it off for rebuild tomorrow since the alt housing is modified a bit to fit the cummins. thanks again.

 

Bad Commutator! All fixed up including new brushes. I tore the whole passenger side of the motor down. I've been wanting to put new turbo on anyway. Difficulty removing alternator bolt caused me to cut it off. I'm going to tap the lugs on the alternator so I have no more back up wrenched to be concerned with. I had to remove the custom mounting bracket to drill out holes which meant AC compressor removal so I'm gonna attempt the turbo swap as well.