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6.5 Chevy Cheyenne 3500 Stalling and No-start

What's frustrating to me is there's a specific problem with the glow plug light cycling too fast. That should be such a specific issue tied to a specific component but I'm getting messages about batteries, grounds, and a few other things so I just don't know what direction I'm supposed to go and I feel like I'm being pulled by four horses in four different directions. Doesn't anyone have this issue or has anyone ever had the issue of the fast cycling light? I've read so many posts on this and so many different guys are saying so many different things. I've even read something about a timing screw somewhere I think if I remember right? I'm not playing with any screws this light is directly related to something electronic that is supposed to turn the plugs on and then turn the back off. I still have to test the glow plugs I haven't tested them yet I really hope that my glow plugs are bad even though that sounds weird. It would at least solve my problem
 
Husker6.5 said:
95's are know for ignition switch (NOT lock cylinder) issues with old age/use. That's a kind of screwy system with the remote switch.
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Well ill throw ignition on my pile bit im running out of money on part changes. Ignition, (batteries x4), PMD, gas filter, lift pump, glow relay, sensors, battery cables, air filter, gas cap, fuses, wnd so on... Im kind of thinking its not fixable at this point. At least not on my budget. I may have to just give this one to the pound and find a 🐏
 
JamesKing1995TurboDiesel6 said:
Ok brother ive done everything but the plugs test.. to ll do it today and report back... I have a question. Ive had the truck for 7 yrs and never cleaned the injectors. How often does this need to be done? Also, can you think of anything that causes the rapid glow plug cycling except for faulty plugs that i can check? Ive actually unplugged 2 glows and forgot to plug them back in before on this truck but it still started fine. Had forgotten about that for like 2 months till i was washing it one day and looked behind the mud flap and saw 2 dangeling grey plugs. I dont know if there's a specific order fro plugs but i did plug them back in n. I assume they all take the same siggnal and heat simultaneously
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Hi brother. I was wondering if you can further explanation this statement to me. Is there a bates cable or is that a typo? Ive never heard of it but I wanted to check and follow up with you about it is ve checked all the grounds i can physically see. But the harness grounds and bates cable? Im kinda lost there and could use your guidance.

Not always thrown in there but in your case we are fighting a couple issues, so consider dropping the positive bates cable off starter for cleaning and inspection. Look over the starter solenoid for cracks/ damage
 
JamesKing1995TurboDiesel6 said:
Hi brother. I was wondering if you can further explanation this statement to me. Is there a bates cable or is that a typo? Ive never heard of it but I wanted to check and follow up with you about it is ve checked all the grounds i can physically see. But the harness grounds and bates cable? Im kinda lost there and could use your guidance.

Not always thrown in there but in your case we are fighting a couple issues, so consider dropping the positive bates cable off starter for cleaning and inspection. Look over the starter solenoid for cracks/ damage
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Im assuming this would be the signal to the relay maybe?
 
Ok after i had my fit, i started to read and found this vy a poster here ...

"It sounds like you glow plugs are short cycling. That is an indication of bad glow plugs."

i think i will look up the procedure in testing while installed.
 
It's hard to test them while in the block. start with the 4 glows on the drivers side of the engine. they should use a 10mm socket to unscrew them depending on what style are installed. pull the spade connectors off all 4 of them and pull them out of the block. if they are swelled up the tips will not pull out from the block and will require a tool to pull them. be careful not to break them off in the head. if you do break one off. it can be accessed by pulling the injector for that cylinder and using a magnetic stick in the hole.

this is why I suggest starting with the side opposite of the turbo first. the passenger side is a PIA if one breaks off.

mark them as you take them out so you know which cylinder they came from. visually inspect each one (post some pics here) if they all look good, then get you a set of jumper cables and test each one by applying 12v to them for 5 seconds. each should glow red hot on the tips within that 5 seconds.

once you have verified that the glow plugs are good, apply some anti-seize on the threads and re-install, reconnect the wires. if the glow plugs look bad or do not get red hot. do not go to the next step until you have a set of new glow plugs in hand.

Next step: checking for power to the glow plugs..
get you a test light and a screw driver... connect the test light clamp to a known good ground (brake line or neg bat terminal) check test light to verify it lights up on the pos bat terminal.

touch the end of the test light on one glow plug terminal and use the screw driver to cross the two large posts on the glow plug relay. do not hold the screw driver on there for more than a second or two just long enough to see the test light light up. do this for all 4 glow connectors on that side of the block. you should have the test light light up each time you cross the glow plug relay terminals.

once you have the results, report back with your findings. and we will instruct you on your next steps.
 
Ohm readings on glow plugs is not an accurate way to determine if they're good or not. The only accurate way is to pull them one at a time (if a gp is swollen and won't come out, do NOT try to force it out, if it breaks off and drops back in you're screwed, there is a procedure for removing swollen gp's in one of the Sticky Posts on here.

I'm 99.999% sure that "bates" was a fat fumble finger moment while typing by the poster and should have been "bat" - battery - cable. There is no "bates" cable.

As for 'injector cleaning' - NO. These mechanical injectors have an approximately 100K mile life expectancy before they wear so badly they don't atomize the fuel spray correctly - less miles if you don't add a fuel lubricity agent to make up for the ULSD we have at the pumps.

You say you have pulled codes, what were all the trouble codes? That is the first step. Post them here.

We just had a person on here with nearly the exact same issues you describe and when he finally posted his trouble codes, we were able to pinpoint his problem down to the 5VDC reference voltage from his PCM being shorted to ground. He found the wiring issue and reported back the next day that his '94 was up and running fine again.
 
Also, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use a battery charger when trying to start these. NEVER! Why? The voltage of a battery charger, especially one with a 50 Amp or higher "Boost" or "Start" setting WILL burn out your glow plugs from over voltage!! The glow plugs are designed to run off of battery voltage only! The extra couple of volts off of a battery charger (typically 14.5 or higher, as high as 16 or more on 100A charger setting) WILL burn out the glow plugs, all of them. Fried glow plugs will give you a short cycle on the Wait To Start light.

If trying to start runs down your batteries, FULLY charge them FIRST, THEN remove the charger and attempt to start!
 
Easiest way to test glow plugs is an amp clamp. They will pull 15amps each. I usually test each bank one at a time and look for a total of 60 amps. Had one the other day pull 45amps on the drivers bank. So I measured each one till I found the dead one. Ohm testing and pulling each GP is a waste of time. Work smarter not harder.
 
@Rockabillyrat that's ASSUMING he has an Amp clamp equipped VOM. This is a person stranded out of town, working with limited funds and from his home garage. We are giving him ways to diagnose/find the problem(s) with minimum tools/experience.

Not everybody has access to State-of-the-Art diagnostic computer tools, nor a fully equipped repair shop, at their fingertips, let alone tons of experience with these motors, or diesels in general. You need to start thinking Shade Tree DIY, not fully equipped NASCAR shop when giving advice/helping people out with problems on here.

Just a friendly FYI.
 
Husker6.5 said:
@Rockabillyrat that's ASSUMING he has an Amp clamp equipped VOM. This is a person stranded out of town, working with limited funds and from his home garage. We are giving him ways to diagnose/find the problem(s) with minimum tools/experience.

Not everybody has access to State-of-the-Art diagnostic computer tools, nor a fully equipped repair shop, at their fingertips, let alone tons of experience with these motors, or diesels in general. You need to start thinking Shade Tree DIY, not fully equipped NASCAR shop when giving advice/helping people out with problems on here.

Just a friendly FYI.
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A hand held amp clamp is cheap. I'm sure HF even has them. You said the ONLY way properly test GP is to remove them... That's far from the truth. Amperage is the best way to test any circuit hands down.

I give people advice as a Technician because that's what I am. I tell people exactly what I would do if it was in my bay. No offense to anyone but if your going to be your own mechanic you need to buy the tools and equipment to work on your truck. A scanner is a MUST!! Other wise get ready to tow it to a guy like me after the parts cannon has failed over and over again.

I already told him to get a scanner on it to read data and codes. Because that will save him time and money. Instead of wasting time replacing parts for no reason. Sometime you cant get by without the proper tools.
 
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One more thing, why are you telling the guy to just test his GP for a short cycling issue.... The control module determines the amount of GP time based on the temperature sensors. Probably be a good idea to scan it and see what temperature the PCM is seeing aswell.
 
@Rockabillyrat, YOU put the emphasis on ONLY, not me. And again, you fail to recognize that not everybody has access to a fully equipped professional garage with tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of diagnostic equipment and often specialized tools. You answered like a well-equipped professional technician working on flat-rate and taking 'professional' shortcuts to increase the number of flathours you get paid in an 8 hour day, not like a shade-tree DIY without transportation, out of town and running low on funds. There is a HUGE difference between being some technician with an attitude, who can walk over in the bay of his state-of-the-art shop, open the drawer of his $3,000 SnapOn Tool cabinet and grab his $400 Fluke amp clamp meter to troubleshoot something and a person who's stranded and has only their immediate resources to work with. You need to learn to walk in other's shoes, and a dose of humility, too.

The person we're trying to help, @JamesKing1995TurboDiesel6, has already said that this dead vehicle is his only means of transportation, he lives outside of town, he's lost his job because he has no transportation and he's low on funds. He's already followed various 'suggestions' by others on here and elsewhere and spent money on parts to try and fix it, to no avail.

Some of us are trying to help him, with the resources he has at hand, to get his rig diagnosed, repaired and running again, so the man can make a living and have a life again. He can't just 'run out' to a Harbor Freight (if there's even one anywhere nearby) to buy a cheap Ampmeter if he has neither the transportation nor funds to do a test that can be done, albeit slower, with the resources he has at hand. You are not being part of the solution currently.
 
Wow, calm the **** down dude!

First of all im not a flat rate technician. Im the lead diagnostic tech at my work and im paid salary. I take extreme pride in my work and go out of my way to save my customers money because their repair bill has no impact on my paycheck.

Secondly I never told him to go out and buy an amp clamp. I was just giving my input because you told him he had to remove the GP because it was the ONLY way to test then and thats a straight up lie. Maybe he has an amp clamp or know someone that does. But don't get mad at me because I have more experience on the subject than you do. I will never tell someone to throw parts at a truck. Im the ONLY one on this thread asking for scan data so I can help properly diagnose the truck. With out that is all just guess work.

Like I've said before he needs to scan for codes and look at data to confirm the temperature and pressure sensors are reading correctly. Sometimes you need to right tool for the job and there is no other way. That's the reality of this situation. The other guy with the 94 got lucky that flash codes lead him to the repair. But that's not always the case. These is no code for a temperature sensor thats skewed. Only way to catch that is in data.

And lastly my snap on box was $12k😘😆
 
Ok I reread this thread and here is my 2 cents. (I missed you posted codes)

For the battery draw you need to do an amp draw test. disconnect the negative battery terminal and hook your amp meter up in series. One lead on the battery and one lead on the negative cable end. You must disconnect the second battery too or it will throw off your readings. Let it sit for 30 min and check the amperage draw. Anything over .050 amps is too much. If its too high then you can start pulling fuses one at a time and look for the draw to go away. (You can also voltage drop a fuse and see if its pulling amperage by putting your meter in millivolts) If you pull all the fuses and there is still a draw then disconnect the alternator and starter.

For the shot cycling GP I would look into your ECT sensor since it set a code. You can ohm the sensor and compare it to a temp/ohm chart for the sensor to see if its reading correctly. But that wont tell you if there is a bad wire or if the PCM is seeing the right temp reading. Unfortunately you need a scanner to see data. Also the 57 code you reported my be part of the issue. That means the 5v ref is shorted. It could be a shorted sensor or wires. Check for 5v on the ref wire (Easy place to check is at the MAP sensor). If you have 5v wiggle the wring and see if it drops out. If its at 0v, unplug each 5v sensor one at a time and see if the 5v comes back. A shorted sensor can pull the whole circuit down. If thats gets you no where then I highly recommend finding someone with a Tech2 to come out and scan it and look at data.

hope this helps
 
Husker6.5 said:
Also, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use a battery charger when trying to start these. NEVER! Why? The voltage of a battery charger, especially one with a 50 Amp or higher "Boost" or "Start" setting WILL burn out your glow plugs from over voltage!! The glow plugs are designed to run off of battery voltage only! The extra couple of volts off of a battery charger (typically 14.5 or higher, as high as 16 or more on 100A charger setting) WILL burn out the glow plugs, all of them. Fried glow plugs will give you a short cycle on the Wait To Start light.

If trying to start runs down your batteries, FULLY charge them FIRST, THEN remove the charger and attempt to start!
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Okay with this new evidence that you just told me I'm starting to see a picture form. I don't know if you've read my original article but I've had battery issues because of the hard start and I've had batteries tenders and battery boxes hooked up to this thing for about a year so I'm wonder if I have it burnt the plugs out
 
Husker's comment on GP isn't 100% correct. High voltage for too long will fry them. BUT, under very cold starts GP will post cycle after the engine is running. The short cycle at 14v doesn't hurt them.
 
though i have the 60g's installed on my rig, my truck has a short cycle problem that I have not been able to figure out. even unplugging the ect sensor they will only cycle on for 5 seconds which gives me a hard to start issue. I ended up temporarily installing an adjustable time delay relay on the trigger wire (yellow) from the GP relay. set it at 8 seconds, hard start problem is gone, but it also sometimes re-triggers the relay for another 8 seconds after the engine starts up. that hasn't given me any trouble yet.

I know eventually I need to figure out what is causing me to only get 5 seconds out of the normal time. I have a hunch it's something in the PCM. unless there is some sensory in the glow plug relay it's self that feeds back to the PCM.
 
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