Hello folks,
I am on the virge of my second PMD failure (I thnk), and while I love the challenge of trying to navigate a 70MPH diesel sub to the shoulder of the road in heavy traffic without power, steering, brakes, and AC I am afraid it’s going to happen with my daughter and wife in the truck, and that’s not good.
Last time the PMD failed (prior to me joining the forum) I paid a mechanic to do it, which was only 33,000 miles ago. Now the stalling phantom had returned and of course at the most in opportune times. I am looking for step by step instructions on how to replace the PMD, pictures would be a bonus, and from there I can synthesize how to change it over to one of the heath remote kits. I tried searching and I found lots of forms that say switching to the heath is a good thing but no step by steps directions. Conceptually I know the intake manifold must be removed, but there is a lot of plumbing in these engines that I do not want to mess around with if I don’t have to.

Any help would be appreciated. Below is the diagnostics checklist
0. Describe in detail the problem you are having. Please be as descriptive as possible. I am driving my daily commute on the interstate usually around 70MPH, when I see a few glitches in the dash instruments, then a couple sharp jolts, like the engine missing, and then the engine just cuts out leaving me power nothing and coasting to the shoulder of the road.
1. Does the engine crank, or 'turn over'? Yes
1a. Does the engine start and run? Usually almost immediately, once I put it back in park and fire it back up.
1a1. If the engine does not start - Crack injector line (http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2188140#post2188140): do you have fuel? Yes/No
1b. Do you have a Wait To Start Light & the amount of time (seconds) lit. Yes it usually just flashes, engine is still hot when I try to re-start.
1c. Ambient Condition (temperature outside indicate F or C) 90-95F °
1d. Engine Cranking speed (if you have an accurate tachometer). Appears to be normal.
1e. Are you experiencing stalling? Yup
1f. If Stalling, describe (upon startup only, down the road, hit a bump etc) Down the road, haven’t had hard starts yet.
1g. If Stalling, do you notice loss of dash or instruments? Yes, everything flickers prior to stall
-note if experiencing stalling,you must indicate PMD location in #24.

1h. Check turbo inlet and air filter for obstructions. Cone filters have lost disk and stopped air to turbo. No obstruction visible after removing rubber hose to turbo.
1.1 Lift pump test (http://dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39350)– Lift pump was replaced 33,000mi ago, pee pressure from t valve is good.
2. Service Engine Light while running?- on/off/intermittent Off, doesn’t come back on when I re-start either.
2a. Service Engine light does glow during start/cranking/bulb check: Yes
3. Model year 1999 Suburban SLE
3a. Odometer reading (indicate if in miles or km)170,115 mi
3b. Miles on major engine components if been replaced (example Injection pump) Replaced @ 55,000 Miles
3c. Indicate the model number on the Injection pump (starts DS4 or DB2......) Can’t see it but I suspect it’s a DS4
4. Have you scanned for engine codes? Nope, I have no scanner.
5. List exact results on engine codes (http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/dtc.php):
6. Air Filter condition (visual check) Good it’s a KN&N filter with about 10,000mi and still bright orange.
7. Fuel filter condition I change those myself every 10,000mi whether it needs it or not. This one has about 6,000mi on it.
8. Condition of Battery terminal connections Bright and Shiny, no corrosion
8a. Known condition and age of the batteries. Two brand new Optima Redtops
8b. Are batteries of differing age or are they a matched set? Matched
8c. Condition of Major Grounds (http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157085). (same drill as batt - removed, cleaned, retightened)All that I can see from the fellow that posted pictures in the forum appear to look normal. No corrosion, and impregnated with road grime :)
9. Upon cold start, does the radiator hose get hard quickly? No
10. Upon cold start, do you have excessive white smoke? no
11. Do you have excessive cranking time before the engine starts? no
12. Have you used the block heater, and does this effect engine starting?(only try for starting problems) yes many years ago in Florida now, so don’t need it.
13. During hard acceleration, do you have excessive black smoke? Just enough to piss of the person in the convertible on their cell phone. I like this feature though. :)
14. Do you have any unusual exhaust smoke issues? Nope.
15. Turbo check out (http://dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39368)- pass/fail Turbo appears fine.
16. Do you have an EGR on the engine? (An F or an S engine code 8th VIN digit) It’s an F engine
17. Indicate if you know if it’s a 1500, 2500, 2500HD, 3500, 3500HD. 2500
18. Indicate fuel that you are using: Bio-diesel, #2 Diesel, #1Diesel, SVO/WVO, other pump diesel (HESS)
18a. If running a VO (Veggie Oil fuel) setup, indicate details of your conversion (homemade, or packaged system) N/A
19. Are you using any fuel additives? If so, please list. POWER Service every once in a while.
20. Please indicate geographic region you are in: (example: Texas or Canada) South Florida
21. Do you have any service history available that might pertain to the problem you are having? Had a mechanic replace the FSD about 33,000 mi ago. Afterwards stalling stopped, now it’s back.
22. Please indicate any modifications to the vehicle that might help us diagnose better. All Stock
23. Upon unscrewing the fuel cap (http://dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42338), do you have a large vacuum formed in the tank? Nope.
24. Location of PMD/FSD (http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39436)? On the pump/remoted over intake/remoted out of engine bay (please specify placement specifically) Stock location. I know this has to change, after being a member of the forum…
24a. If remote mounted, describe wiring harness (homemade or purchased from a vendor?)N/A
24b. Indicate the location and condition of the FSD/IP grounding wire. I have no dea.
25. Are ALL glow plugs in proper working order as per this thread (http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39182)? YEP only six have been replaced, I did not want to get into removing the turbo for the last two. Starts fine.

Buy new PMD.
Install said PMD on a heatsink, such as the ones made by Heath, SS Diesel, etc.
Disconnect plug on PMD mounted on injector pump. (Kinda hard to get to sometimes, but you can do it.
Plug in harness extension cable you bought in step 0
Install new #9 resistor dohicky in new PMD plug.
Plug in extension harness into PMD.
mount heatsink in bumper snorkle.
Jump up and down.
Drink a beer.
Repeat step 9 as necessary.
Watch TV in garage in complete silence.
Tell wife it took you forever to change.

We don't have picture but you DON'T have to remove the old one if you buy something like Heath Isolator kit. If you don't have to remove the old one, you don't need to remove the intake manifold.

0. Locate the PMD, Driver side of the pump poking under the intake.
1. Get a screwdriver to release the clip that hold the cable connector to the PMD.
2. Pull the connector from the side of the intake.
3. Get a coat hanger or anything that can make a small hook to fish the connector out from underneath the intake.
4. Once it is exposed, link it with the extension harness provided by the kit.

Follow the instruction from the kit.

It is simple, actually if you have a kid with smaller hand it is better to undo the clip.

Buy a pmd extension harness(got mine for $40),get a heat sink and bolt your new pmd on it.Mount it out of engine bay.Mine is mounted between the grill and the tranny cooler.You do not have to remove your old pmd.Leave it where it is,just remove the connector and plug in the new extension harness.If you get a new pmd,don't forget about the resistor that is on the pins of the pmd.The resistor is bout 25 bucks.Whole job took me about 15 minutes.Mounted mine the summer of 2005 and have about 80 thousand km on it.Click on the link.Post 5 shows a pic of my pmd location.http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=267086

OK,

Was under the hood tonight and it took me a while before I found the plug for the PMD. The wire looks pretty taught, any idea how much slack is there? Will I be able to pull it forward about 6 in, or will I need to go the opposite direction back under the intake? If so, do I need to go all the way back through the manifold? I am going to wait until the NEW PMD arrives before I unplug this one as it looks impossible to plug back in once I start.

Also a couple of you mentioned a resistor, is this something normally included with the kit or will I need to order it separately? Thanks for the help, glad I don't have to remove the Intake.

You have to lift the connector more or less straight up, the black ground wire must stay attached to the injection pump, it will be long enough.

There is no new resistor with a PMD, at least generally, unless you request one from wherever you get your PMD.

Some claim to be able to remove the resistor from a pump mounted PMD in two minutes, but I'm a tad skeptical.

Here is a link to what the resistor looks like.Scroll down to post # 16....http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=261410&page=2

OK,

Was under the hood tonight and it took me a while before I found the plug for the PMD. The wire looks pretty taught, any idea how much slack is there? Will I be able to pull it forward about 6 in, or will I need to go the opposite direction back under the intake? If so, do I need to go all the way back through the manifold? I am going to wait until the NEW PMD arrives before I unplug this one as it looks impossible to plug back in once I start.

Also a couple of you mentioned a resistor, is this something normally included with the kit or will I need to order it separately? Thanks for the help, glad I don't have to remove the Intake.

It doesn't have much slack, that is why you really need an extension harness. Check EBay. You can get a 6 foot extension. The resistor you need to get separately, or remove the old one from the old PMD plug. To do that, you are gonna have to make special tools to get the PMD off, or remove the intake.

In all honestly, don't be afraid about removing the intake. It isn't bad. You just need gaskets and a upper plenum gasket. I can do mine in an hour.

On the resistor, depends on where you get it. IIRC, Heath put his. Others, you have to buy separately.

Wait till the new one comes, it will make more sense.

Update us on your progress.

You can remove the plug without removing the intake (I'm lazy, I know; but you can't imagine how thinking about the way of doing things without efforts cost me in brain energy :D ).

You will need two long flat screwdrivers.
Coming from above the injection pump, on driver side, just behind the fuel solenoid, you will see the top of the PMD and with a good torch, you will easely see the plug into the PMD.
With one screwdriver, release the latch of the plug clipping secured on the PMD, with the other screwdriver, push the plug out. You may have it done in minutes.
Then, just fabric a small hook and fish the plug---

drink a beer, you won---

There is no new resistor with a PMD, at least generally, unless you request one from wherever you get your PMD.

Unless you order a PMD Isolator kit from Heath... comes with the cable, the heat-sink, the resistor, it's weather-sealed, has a 7-yr warranty... oh yeah, it costs a bit more, but if you had spent the $ on one the first time, we wouldn't be having this conversation.


Some claim to be able to remove the resistor from a pump mounted PMD in two minutes, but I'm a tad skeptical.

Well, despite what has been said about me, I'm not the caped crusader, but I do know you can remove a resistor from your old PMD by doing this (http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2810405&postcount=16).

Well, despite what has been said about me, I'm not the caped crusader, but I do know you can remove a resistor from your old PMD by doing this (http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2810405&postcount=16).

Yabbut, that one is on a table, not an injection pump, under an intake manifold, on an engine, and that wire will most certainly not be all it takes to remove a resistor under those type of circumstances, you'll have to give up more of your secrets to make a believer out of me.

Perhaps you could make a two minute video?

Guys,

Thanks I did order the heath kit and I am waiting for it to arrive this week. I have to travel this coming weekend but will attempt the project in 2 weeks. I will keep you all posted on the results.

OK, Install the Heath Kit, as a novice at this stuff I highly recommend it based on ease of install and clear directions. I will let you know about the quality of the product in about 100,000 miles :-) The most painful part was trying to fish out the plug from the original pmd a coat hanger works best. Feel free to close this one out, Thanks to all for your help!

It took me 15 min. to do mine leave the old one where it is be carefull when unpluging the harness you dont want to brake the tabs.
get a new resister because it is hard to get the old one out of the old PMD.
also get a backup PMD and keep it in your truck.
Just last week I had to change my PMD/FSD because my SUB was stalling like yours :eek: and I was lucky to have my backup to change out .
You don't know where it will Happen.
Risistors go for around $25 on ebay

Look at my garage I got pics.