1st 88-98 1994 3500 Turbo Diesel dually, but dies intermittently

[55chevy]

A guy offered to trade me this for a Brit sports car I had for sale, a 1991 Lotus Elan M100, so I went for it, has a Choo Choo custom interior and ground effects, it will make a lot better hauler than my 2002 V8 Dodge Dakota, although it did ok with a 4.9L. As evident the guy runs a towing company, he parked it a half year ago as it would just die while running, he was told it was probably an electrical problem in the steering column, maybe a connector, he didn't want to mess with it, and he said the Lotus would make a good "wall hanger". He had a couple Lamborghinis, a Porsche and Lotus Esprit wall hangers in his shop as well. When I went to pick it up he had it running, he said a mechanic had told him to bang on the top of the steering wheel while cranking and it worked. I got it home and it started a few times, runs great, then one day it died while trying to move it, banging on steering wheel doesn't help, any suggestions? When I get it to start it runs for about 20 seconds and then dies suddenly, never any stumbling like a fuel problem, more like no power. I've been told it may be the ignition switch itself, reading some threads it may be ignition module or even crank position sensor. Even with this problem I'm happy with 'HD", Heavy Duty with Harley Davidson colors!

[95 S_Trucker]

I'm not a diesel guy at all, but I think these have a PMD that overheats and fails. There are relocation kits to move these to a cooler area.

[special-K]

Yeah, sounds like the PMD is bad. Does it always start when cold? They get hot under the manifold and it cuts life short. You can buy a mount that uses two bolts on top of the intake where temps run about 60 deg. cooler. It's actually called a PMD cooler because it's cast alloy with cooling fins. Just reach down in and unplug harness on left side and plug new one in, mounted on cooler.

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[55chevy]

Originally Posted by special-K

Yeah, sounds like the PMD is bad. Does it always start when cold?

It doesn't always start when cold, and when it does start it dies in about 20 seconds.

[special-K]

That could still be the PMD. That's Pump Mounted Driver. '94 was the first year for GM diesels with EFI, which is drive by wire. The PMD is what the "wire" from the peddle goes to. So, no signal/no throttle and bad PMD/same thing. I suggest the relocator and new PMD no matter what. Take that engine cover off and leave it off. It's a silly cosmetic thing that helps hold heat on the engine and certainly doesn't help the PMD situation.

[deejaaa1]

the Fonze always banged on the jukebox to get it to work but that doesn't work in real life.
find someone who is familiar with GMT400 diesel. they are not like a modern diesel and can be tricky and expensive if you throw parts at it with a blind eye.
there are a couple of real good diesel sites out there:
the truck stop and diesel place. post in the correct section and you will get a LOT of ways to troubleshoot without spending a dime.
no offense, but this is not a diesel site.