[85burbanator]

the truck is a 2000 durango r/t. went to leave to run errands saturday and the battery was dead, its less then a year old so i figured i musta left the dome light on. put it on the charger for about 20 minutes and she fired right up. we headed out and after about 5 minutes of driving the dinger dinged and the gauge cluster went through the same motions as if i just started the truck. then they dropped to zero, once in a while they would bounce the fall back. then they would work again and the dinger dinged and they fell back to zero. now on the odometer (electronic) it went from shoing the mileage to "NO BUS".

never heard of it before. took it to autozone and everything checked out, alternator, battery, fuses etc so he called a buddy of his. the guy said he thinks there an inline or fusable link somewwhere in the wiring from the alternator. does this sound right? the truck ran fine and started up great between stores. then this morning the battery was dead again. how should i approach this? i looked along the wiring for the alternator and didnt see anything rembling a fusable link or inline bus fuse. id like to fix it withough taking it in cause i cant really afford it. thanks in advance to whomever helps out

mike

 

[85burbanator]

just went to restart the truck and it wont stay running under 1500 rpm. runs smooth over 2000 though.

 

[Neil]

You may have two things going on.

If you killed the battery or the the battery is just bad, that may affect the vehicle running. Have the battery load tested. It's a fact that the vehicle won't stay running if the battery is bad or the voltage is o

When the No Bus error shows, does the vehicle die? If not, the No Bus error indicates there is a ground issue, most likely with the cluster. If you search, most of the time No Bus means there is an issue with the PCM but the vehicle dies when it occurs. I have a link to a post at work with someone who found a ground problem. I'll send that on Tue.

 

[85burbanator]

thanks niel. the truck stayed running when no bus came up. it might be a ground issue because the radio fuse pops every once in a while also. ill check the connections under the dash again since i had to remove it to change the heater core a few years ago. might have come loose or something. all theses problems just started with in the lasy 7 months(radio)

 

[85burbanator]

on a side note i think i might know what could be contributing to this. about a year ago while checks some dtc's the connector cover pulled off. i never put it back on because i couldnt for the life of me figure out where the wires went.i checked under the dash and a few of the wires were touching.

maybe someone here can help. in the picture you can see how i colored in the spaces where the wires go, its just an example but if someone can coppy it and color in the proper spaces that would be great. again the truck is a 2000 durango r/t if it matters. thanks again for any help:mullet:

 

[85burbanator]

i think i may have it figured out. the terminals seem to fit in designated spots on the plug body. i just lined em up and slid the plug cover thing (in the picture) back on. not sure if it works but it seem to stop the drain on the battery. the battery checked out at auto zone and none of the obvious grounds were loose or rusty. i started the truck and let it run then let it sit for a few hours and it started back up.

 

[85burbanator]

its back, truck was dead as shit this morning, its on the charger right now. hopefully itll run so i can get to work.

 

[85burbanator]

she still not working. anybody have any other ideas, so far im only talking to myself lol. ive gone over all the grounds i can think of. i really cant afford to take it to a shop.

niel- did you ever find that info?

thanks
mike

 

[stashu7408]

sounds to me like the alternator is bad, i never trust autozone to test alternators. i don't know for sure, but they might be testing it at over 2000 rpm ,where you say your truck runs fine. if you have a multimeter check the battery voltage with the engine running at idle. it should be somewhere near 14 volts. if it is not at least 14 volts buy a new alternator, and consider a new battery at the same time

 

[85burbanator]

thanks, yea the last time i tried it it would run fine over, say 1500 rpm, but stall if it went under. not the normal stutter, stutter stall, but dead instantly.

ill buy another one and see if it helps and if not atleast i have a new alternator and one for a spare lol. the battery has been on a trickly charge and seems to be holding the voltage when not installed. had somekind of parasitic load for some reason that kept draining it.

 

[85burbanator]

i took the alternator up to napa today and it passed. im going to get a voltage meter tommorrow so i can test a few connections and what not. one of the old guys said it might be the regulater in the computer. i sure hope not cause that shit is expensive.

 

[Neil]

I'm a little lost as to what you still have going on. The original post indicated the no-bus but there is no further mention of it are you still having the no-bus issue? I have a lot of no bus links and most are replacing the PCM and it is mostly 99's. What year is yours? I know I read a thread that indicated fixing a ground. I thought it was on dak-dur but I don't have the link. This thread looks like the PCM was replaced on page 1 and page 2 mentions a fuse but it is not clear if the fuse was the whole problem or an additional issue. http://www.durangoclub.com/forum/vi...stdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=bus&start=15

You are indicating now the vehicle is dead. When you say dead, does it crank and just not start or does it not turn over at all? Did you have the battery tested?

 

[85burbanator]

as far as i can tell its still the no-bus issue. not sure if it would go away ovenight. the battery passed its test as well as the alternator. when i say dead i mean it has no life at all. nothing. the truck will run if the battery is charged but after it sits for a few hours the battery gets drained to where nothing works

 

[Neil]

Well you obviously have a drain on the battery. You need to determine what. You need a multi merter (or amp meter) and get a reading on the current drain, then start pulling fuses one by one until you see the load drop, then determine what is on that fuse.

 

[85burbanator]

yea i got a meter today and will spend tommorrow working on it. what has me worried is the "NO-BUS" code. it'll be hard to swing a new pcm at the moment

 

[Grapejuice1998]

yea i got a meter today and will spend tommorrow working on it. what has me worried is the "NO-BUS" code. it'll be hard to swing a new pcm at the moment

Check your grounds, especially near the PCM.

 

[85burbanator]

will do. if it turns out to be the ecm i found some online from napa for around $2-300. thing is, i have a 2000 r/t and they did that silly computer thing for alittle more power and premium. will i have to get the new computer with the same settings? id like to just use regular fuel to save money but the added power is nice when i pull away from other stock durango's at lights lol.

 

[85burbanator]

stupid question as i already know the answer but want to double check. the ecm is on the pass. side fender right. i poked around there and everything was good. im getting 12 volts to the alternator and the fuse checked out between the battery and alternator. im wondering if i should just pick up a new ecm. what wires are for the voltage regulator on this thing? is there a way to even check it? i had a manual but its not on the shelf with my other ones.

mike

 

[85burbanator]

i pulled fuses and started checking for volatage running through and a few had some activity. the truck is stock 100%.

here are the fuses i found
in cabin panel
#1-horn/ac clutch, -.2v
#13-power lock, -10.8v
#14-park lamp, -.1v

underhood panel
#19-hazzards, -7.6v
#23- trans, -5.5v

not sure what that means. this electrical stuff is still new to me. never had a proplem though until the initial one in my original post. during the 10-15 minutes it took to do the test the battery went from 12v down to 7.6v. i checked it every couple minutes and it went down everytime. door wsa open int. light was on. i need to find a meter that will read amps.

 

[buzzbass]

2000s had a run of bad PCMs. Yours is exhibiting some of the classic symptoms