Why is my truck being a bitch?

[aerocorey]

I did the CPS rewire. The factory recall calls for you to de-pin the CPS wires from the ECU plug, buy a harness from Chrysler, re-pin the ECU plulg with the new harness, run it through the firewall just below where the ECU harness runs througn, and plug the CPS into the new plug at the end of the new harness. This gives the CPS a shorter straight shot into the ECU. I'm on my last day here so I drilled the hole, stuffed the CPS wire through it, cut the 2 wires going into the ECU, and spliced them with some good heat-shrink butt connectors.

 

I've made the drive from my in-laws house into town with the truck about 7 times. I was stuck with a dead truck for 20 minutes in town every time. I just made the trip again after rewiring the CPS...and it started right up in town. I started it up again in the driveway after the trip back too. I'm gonna go try it again in a few minutes, let it warm up, and mess with it some more.

 

Here's my theory on the roll starts...during a roll start the crank turns faster than the starter will turn the crank during a normal start. This faster rotation gives the CPS a better read on the crank, allows for ignition, and lets the truck keep running. Once the roll starts are taken out of the picture as an anomoly it's pretty obvious that this recall could have been the problem all along.

 

Time will tell. In the meantime, my father-in-law is pushing me to keep the truck and says he'll drive it to work some to see what it does while I'm away. I figure I'll keep it after all the work I've done in the last few weeks. Of course, I plan to eventually get the recall harness and do the recall right. The butt connectors are just a place holder.

[Eagle]

You may have nailed it. My '88 died this winter. I had a badly sprained back at the time, but I was able to change the CPS in the driveway. After I did that -- it still wouldn't start. I had it towed to the dealership and paid them (handsomely!) to install the wiring patch. It now starts perfectly.