I'm sure I got a short.

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

@SenorNoob that's what I've been thinking as well.

I got the new shifter cable yesterday.
I'm planning on making time tomorrow to install it and driving my truck around the block a few times.

I'll check the transmission fluid level as well once the truck is warm enough.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

I put the new shifter cable on my truck today.
I also drove my truck around some.

My original problem with my truck having what I do believe to this day is a short, reird it's head up today.

Start the truck up and it runs fine for a few seconds. Then the check engine light comes on. At the same time the check engine light comes on the truck starts running like crap, spitting and sputtering but yet running smoothly at the same time. I don't understand it.
It's like the RPMs drastically lower to the point where it'll be running and the RPM gauge will say zero RPMs.

Then sometimes it's the opposite way around.
Start the truck up it's running fine no check engine light then a few seconds later the check engine light comes on and the truck's running bad again.

I can get in it and drive it around and it's driving like it's in limp mode or something.
Then I hit a bump and the check engine light will go off and the truck will act like it's normally supposed to act.
It does this for different amounts of time each time it does it.
Sometimes it's 10 seconds sometimes it might be three whole minutes sometimes it's the very next bump I hit.

I did check my transmission fluid again once the truck was up to running temperature in the normal range.
The transmission fluid was right at the very bottom of the hatch section of the dipstick.
From the bottom of the dipstick it's at the upper hole.
So I didn't add any more fluid.

I'm getting really fed up with this problem.

 

[SenorNoob]

Definitely sounds like an almost broken or disconnected something... Unfortunately, it'll be very hard to track down until it just dies.

 

[Jazzer]

You might do a wiggle test.

While the truck is idling, safely move wiring around gently, especially at connectors and sensors, to see if you can duplicate the issues.

That would give you a clue of where to look for wiring problems.
Hitting bumps and having troubles appear/disappear is telling you something.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

I have tried doing that already @Jazzer .
Good advice though.

I have also trying unplugging the mass air flow sensor, while the trucks running

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

I didn't mean to post that last one yet big fingers are killing me today.
I've also unplugged the idle air control and the throttle position sensor while the truck is running.

 

[Curious Hound]

I didn't mean to post that last one yet big fingers are killing me today.
I've also unplugged the idle air control and the throttle position sensor while the truck is running.

It doesn’t have to be at a device. Could be a splice, harness connector, ground connection or a place where a rodent almost chewed through a wire. If you could get the check engine codes while it’s happening, that would probably help narrow it down better.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

While it's happening I do get a check engine light.
However once I turn the truck off, then turn it back on the check engine light is off.

I can be going down the road with the truck running really crappy with the check engine light on.
I can put the truck in neutral then shut the truck off while it's rolling then restart the truck and get good power and the truck be running the way it should for however long.

I hit a bump or something it goes right back to the check engine light coming on and truck running like crap.
Or whenever it wants to, it just start running like crap.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

@Curious Hound
I'm going to try to pull some codes later today or tomorrow.
I figured the worst that can happen is I don't get nothing.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

I've also noticed and forgot to mention that while it's running like crap uses a lot of gas.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

I'm pretty sure my truck gave me a clue today.

My brother Andy got a warning ticket in the mail yesterday about all his vehicles and a bunch of them being parked in his grass in his back yard.

We live in the city so they got codes and laws and ordinances about this stuff.

So today I was helping him move some vehicles around.
One of them being the tow truck.

So I pulled my truck into his yard and while it was running I disconnected the battery and put the battery into the tow truck. Beings that the battery came out of the tow truck if you guys remember me saying in an earlier post. I figured it'd be good to put it back in tow truck to start it.

My brother has a lot of batteries in his yard just sitting there most of them are completely Dead, shot, totally not worth having.
But my brother knows where there's a company that buys bad batteries so they can refurbish that's why he has them all. He just ain't needed the money and cashed them in yet.

So while I was putting my battery in into the tow truck which is actually the tow-truck's battery to begin with, my brother used his multimeter to find a battery that had some juice in it.
He found one that had 10 volts in it, so he put that one in my truck.

He then moved my truck out of the way while I was starting the tow-truck.
He left my truck running so it could try to charge the battery he'd put in it.

After I got the tow truck moved I started working on a hydraulics because there's some problems with them.

While I was working on the hydraulics the tow truck run out of gas. The gas gauge don't work either.
I put a see-through filter in gas line just before the carburetor that way I'd know if the truck was out of gas or not.
The gas gauge is not high on the list of things to repair.

Anyways I got a gas can and as I was driving to the gas station in my truck, my truck was acting great.
One time on the way to the gas station I came to a complete stop and the check engine light came on and before I even started moving again the check engine light went back out. My truck ran really good the whole time I went to the gas station back.

I put five gallons of gas into the tow-truck. My brother said let's stop running out of gas. Go ahead and buy five more gallons and put it in the tow-truck as well.
So I did so and once again my truck drove fine except for the fact that a couple of times this time on the way to the gas station and once on the way back when I came to a complete stop the check engine light came on and before I even started moving again the check engine light went back out again.

Once I put the second 5 gallon of gas into the tow truck I once again started working on the tow-truck.
I was in the process of bleeding hydraulic lines and I broke one of the fittings on one of the lines because it's old and wore out.
So I took that line off and the one that was on the other side of the same hydraulic piston and I took my truck and went to buy two new hydraulic lines.

My truck drove fine all the way to the place to buy the hydraulic lines and back.

So now I'm thinking either the battery that's in the tow truck is bad or I got some bad battery cables in my truck.

What's everybody else's opinion?

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

[Curious Hound]

I believe we have already mentioned bad electrical connections a few times.

A good battery is important. But won’t normally give the symptoms you are describing.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

Your right @Curious Hound I've heard bad connection from a bunch of people who are trying to help me figure out what's going on with my truck.

And I looked at a lot of the connections on the truck.
But me being my dumb self once again over looked the connections I should have started with, the battery connections.

I'm hoping to have time tomorrow to look the battery wires and their connections over really good.
Most likely do what I can to clean everything that needs cleaning and make sure everything is nice and tight.

I really do appreciate everybody's help.
Even if I am hard-headed and stubborn and overlooked simple stuff I should look at first.

Thanks.

 

[SenorNoob]

I believe we have already mentioned bad electrical connections a few times.

A good battery is important. But won’t normally give the symptoms you are describing.

Battery maybe not, but if the connections are loose to the posts... I could see losing one of the 2 PCM grounds intermittently causing some weirdness.