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Well guys I'm not sure if it was Karma, utter stupidity, or being very lucky and God wasn't ready for me to croke but I believe Ol black and blue took a lightning strike today. Not a direct hit but def an arc jump.
We were loading out the last load of timber into the trailer in a downpour and heavy lightning. Didn't think much of it being the platform was in the valley. I had just finished loading and put the cat away. Tried pulling out and the truck was sunk down and spinning. Decided to unhook and get it in a couple days when it dried up a little. I was bent over pulling the pins on the front jack pins when the next thing I knew my hair was up on my neck and then snap. Tree right next to the trailer exploded and my ears were ringing. My buddy said it jumped to the trailer neck into the bed. Not sure how much, but the truck died and all the lights were off.
Needless to say we were very lucky, walked away and started looking for the dogs that were right next to me. Couldn't find them for an hour. Turns out they were bunkered down under his truck and would not come out.
After the it cleared a little I went over and unhooked the battery cables and looked over all the wiring. Nothing looked burnt, vc pins were fine. Hooked the leads back up and the lights came back on. Looked at all the fuses and the only two that were blown were for auxiliary lights and turn signals. Brake controller wouldn't light on like it normally does. Turned the truck over and it started and ran funny for a second and then was fine. It ended up making it home without an issue, very surprised. Only thing that looked toasted was the battery box on the trailer and the 7 pin plug looked like it got hot but not bad.
So I went out this morning... Truck would crank but not start, ton of white smoke. I tried to cycle the plugs but I noticed I wasn't getting any voltage drop at all. Held a screwdriver over the posts on the relay and hopped in and it fired up.
Tonight I just put in a new relay but the truck is still hot. I didn't see a drop in voltage again but I hope that's because it's hot and not triggering the relay due to temp, we will see in the morning when I can get a volt meter on it and test. No click comes out of the relay which makes me wonder if the PCM is initiating the ground loop. WTS comes on but not for very long. I'm pretty sure it has alway done that when hot. I will see in the morning...
The funny thing out of all this is the dogs have never minded rain or lightning. It just started raining and those two chits are buried on the floor boards in the cab now and won't move.
We will see how it goes this week, but I might be looking for a new idm and PCM if funny things start to happen, figured it was all toast and think if there was an issue it would have showed already. I couldn't make this up if I tried, and just hope this doesn't turn into an electrical nightmare.
It had rained hard for 26 days here. I have never seen this in CO.
Forgot to mention my pyros all flicker all over the place sporadically. That has happened before due to a bad ground, hope it's just water all over everything and maybe terminals that need a quick brushing. They look clean to me.
Good news, I found the GP controller issue. Ignition wire was pretty much disintegrated back under the insulation about 5 inches from where it connects to the relay.
Bad news, I just finished swapping over a wiring harness and IDM first thing this morning. I knew my luck would only last for so long. Truck died going down the highway at 70. Could not get it to fire at all. Ended up leaving it there all day yesterday afternoon in order to get to my wife's sisters graduation party, and got a friend to tow it home....
So that being said she runs again and runs good. We will see how long this go lasts!
Just an FYI I was not aware switching poles for your ignition on and ground loop would affect the GPR, for a stancore it does. Never knew that. Always thought it was like an open reversible coil.
Holy Crap, Man!! That's too close for comfort. I'm glad the truck took the hit and not you. Sorry you're having trouble with the truck, but it sounds like that's the lesser of the two evils! Hopefully the IDM gets you up and running again.
Drove it to town a couple times yesterday, made it to work today. Runs just like she used to. Headed to the track Thursday and if she chits the bed on that trip...well I'll be a bit pissed. Hope everything is ok now, all that is left is the PCM and non essential stuff.
Wow, that's shocking! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
Seriously though, I'm glad everyone was ok.
In OK a few years ago a guy was in a football stadium, on the field, and he got struck by lightning. Even stranger was the fact that the article said the storm was actually like 6 miles away.
Its been a while, truck ended up having some issues. Now has a new used PCM, IDM, and few other things. Been running solid. Hauled 43 tons of material a couple weeks ago to put it through it paces over 5 different trips.
I guess the only new news is I came across a hell of a good deal that I could not pass up. I have no reason for another truck but if need be we can just sell it. Wife even agreed it was a smart decision(wtf? :-)) Ended up costingo less than my t500. Ol Red is a 74 250 with a 4 speed mated to a well built 460. No bed but I plan on building a pretty rediculous bed for it....
Not sure how long the 460 will stay in it, but I sure think a detroit 453T screamer would be quite unique to drop in 3 or 4 years from now... I still have to finish the 96, but this will be a fun one...
Few pics... Everything is straight, truck drives great and true, motor is pretty darn solid too. So for now this will be put to rest, but for another day....
I'm finally going to drop that new wheel brush into the column tonight in hopes of cruise control functionality!
Hope to get around to finally putting some flaps on old blue too.
Yeah its not a looker or anything special, but its straight. I hate bodywork more than anything in rebuild projects. I sure wish I could find a OE bed for it, but I figure I'd spend more time trying to make it straight than just building something a bit rediculous out of steel....
05-23-2015, 09:42 PM
