Hey everyone, A buddy of mine has a 97' 1 ton CTD 5speed. For over a year now he has been having problems with the fuel shut off solenoid on the pump. When he turns the key on it the solenoid will not come back in, however it turns off just fine. For the past year he has been turning the key on, popping the hood and manually pushing it back in. We would replace it but dodge wants $500 and something just for the part, Cummins wants slightly less. Is there anything we can do to revive it, or are we stuck buying a new one, if so are there any better places to buy one from?
Thanks alot for the help
PS. we have already determined there is plenty of power going to it, once you help it a little it will pull back just fine.
Matt

They do not fail often, but when they do, replacement is the only solution.

500 is waaay to high.

TST has it IN STOCK for 150.00


http://www.tstproducts.com/browseproducts/P7100-Shutdown-Solenoid-Kit.HTML

If it holds once you pull it up but won't pull up on it's own then you probably have a bad relay pack, not a bad solonoid. The 2 relays mounted together above the engine at the rear of the engine compartment where the hood comes down in the back is the relays for the solonoid. They fail more often than the solonoid itself. I would try those first. The reason the dealer is that high is because your 97 uses the older style solonoid, the replacement is much larger and comes with a new mounting bracket. You could also just put a choke cable on it and make the engine all mechanical.

I tried overriding the relays by just running power straight to it, it still did not do anything. He doesn't mind doing it by hand, but his wife does...

Have you tried pulling it apart,cleaning and lubing it?

I just went through that with my 96 , I hooked up a manual choke cable to it. Cost about 15 bucks. At the bottom of the solenoid there it a 1/4 rod , I removed it from the solenoid drilled a 1/16 inch hole in it & brazed the choke cable into it. I made a small holding bracket for the cable & mounted it with the original solenoid bolt holes. Fairly easy fix. Electronics who needs them!!!!

How did you power the solonoid? I ask because the solonoid has 2 completely different functions in it.The 3 wires on it are ground, hold and pull and the 2 relays I put in my first post are for the hold and pull functions. The hold function is obviously working since you say with the key on and you pull it up it stays, but the pull function is not. The solonoid gets about a 6 amp feed to hold the solonoid open for running with the key on, but the solonoid will not pull the injection pump arm until you engage the starter which triggers the pull relay to energize the pull function of the solonoid which requires about 40 amps. The proper way to check to see if it is the solonoid or the relays is to take a test light and probe the wires at the solonoid. 1 is a ground and 1 is for the hold and 1 is for the pull. With the key on you should have a ground and one of the other wires should have battery voltage as well, When you engage the key to start it the other wire should have battery voltage as well. It takes 2 hot wires and the ground to engae the solonoid to open but only one power and ground to hold it open. If you have any other questions feel free to PM me.

I just had one go bad this week in my "mail truck". '97 1 ton cc w12ft box. My boss has 5 trucks...2 12v and 3 24v. This is the 2nd one in about a year's time that has gone bad on my truck. The other 12v is a '94 and it has never went bad to my knowledge. The '94 has about 510,000 miles on it and my '97 has 597,000(not counting 100,000 while the speedo wasn't working). And yes he was commenting that the cost of them isn't a good thing for him right here at Christmas time. But we have to start and kill the engines many times a day cause the post offices get tired of hearing that cummins rattle and smelling that cat-less exhaust. I personally think they are smoking crack, but that's a diesel lover's opinion!

Hey thanks everyone for the help, yesterday we replaced both of the relays per the ferminator's advice, however it still doesn't work. His wife is getting pissy when she gets to drive it, and he is thinking about selling it, so we are going to order a shut off solenoid through tst products ($150), unless anyone knows of one for cheaper.
Thanks for everyones advice
Matt

Don't let wife drive truck.... problem solved :lol: