Serial data nightmare

Stephennh · April 13, 2016

So... I go out to my truck and it wont start. Fires up but dies out instantly. Also i dont have any power locks, windows,(do have mirror), radio, interior lights, and all the gauges on the i/p are dead except speed and tach. Also, i was unable to get a scan tool to read, albeit it was a cheap one. Fast forward, i find a mouse nest in the fuse box. Only one wire was slightly chewed near a connector (c100), it turned out to be a dark green class 2 serial data line which runs from the pcm through splice pack 205 and to the data link connector. Once i cleaned the nest out i started the truck up and everything worked perfectly. One hour later it starts and runs fine but all the other electronics are dead again. The wire was chewed so close to the plug the tip broke off while trying to pull it. My mechanic suggested just splicing a short length in to bypass the connector, but still nothing.

I have checked and cleaned every ground, fuse and relay on this thing to no avail, even replaced an ignition switch. Also i know the radio is getting power because i can get it to turn on by bypassing the antitheft (which requires serial data).

Please help, i need my truck back

cindi · July 13, 2023

I have the same problem did you ever figure out what it was I need help because I need my truck back

davester · July 14, 2023

...7 year old thread, and the user hasn't logged into the site since a couple days after making the post. You aren't going to get a response from that user.

From reading the issue the o.p. had, it sounds very specific to that specific vehicle (ie, rodents attacking electrical wiring). While some of the symptoms may match with what is happening to your vehicle, the specific cause and/or location of the problem are unlikely to be the same.

I would suggest signing up to a subscription for the full service manual at a site like alldatadiy.com or https://www.eautorepair.net/ and going through it's diagnostic procedures. Besides diagnostic procedures, it also has wiring diagrams, connector pinouts, ground and power locations, harness paths.