1990 dodge ram diesel 5301

I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I installed a Viper 5301 into a 1990 Dodge Ram LE 350 with Cummins turbodiesel yesterday, and came across several problems during the install. First problem was the wait to start wire. All diagrams I can find list both the tach signal and wait to start wire as located at the PCM on driver's fender. This (PCM) is simply not there. The truck was manufactured 11/89, and the engine 8/89. I checked years before and after this, same info. The wait to start indicator light does not come on once the truck has been run for the day (according to customer), so I couldn't even test for it at the light itself. The truck has 7x,xxx miles so it does warm the glow plugs relatively quickly (again from customer), so he was okay with 15 second wait to start. On to the tach, yay. Again, since no PCM (and not equipped with factory tach), I spent a long time searching for this. I do mobile installations, so I was in the customer's driveway. By this time, his confidence in my abilities is obviously deteriorating. He called a 1st gen Cummins expert and was asking him about tach signal. "Go to the PCM on driver's fender" was the response. N/A. Then he said to check the signal generator located near the alternator. Also, not there. Just out of curiosity, I tried the pulsed output off of the alternator and it severely over-cranked. After being a few hours (and 30 miles one way) into this, I didn't want to pack up and leave. I finished using Virtual Tach, and it worked on numerous attempts last night. This morning, the customer called and said that the truck started fine, but would shut down and restart (1st and 2nd attempt). The third attempt started, but continued to crank after running so he manually shut it down.

First question: Anybody ever done one of these?

Second question: How reliable is the 454T, and how exactly do they work? I have never had to use one of these, so just curious.

Customer is impatient and wanting the whole thing pulled out and a refund, and I'd hate to install additional parts and still not have it work properly. Any suggestions? Thanks

I've heard a lot of good things about the 454T so it'll likely work for you though I've never used one myself. Is there any reason why you couldn't grab tach from an injector?

Mike

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Mike
Sales/Tech Support - KICKYRIDEoCOM mobile electronics
MECP 1st class-Security Specialist

can use something like this Directed 454T Tach Signal Generator

from my understanding is that older diesels do not give a true tach signal

this one was about 8 bucks on ebay