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Thread: 05 Duramax Intermittent Issue

  1. #1
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    Default 05 Duramax Intermittent Issue

    I bought a truck off here out of the trading post just over a year ago. Its been a solid truck but recently has developed an intermittent issue. I know several on here have trucks like this so I figured Id check to see if anyone else has experienced similar.

    2005 2500 Duramax

    Bare with me

    3 days before Christmas I put new batteries in the truck, came down sick with the flu the next day and didn't drive it much over the next week, maybe just one or two trips across. 12/30 I went to pick up a rotary tiller for the tractor. I was sitting at a stop sign and went to pull forward and felt the truck lose power, truck went into limp mode and the check engine light came on. Pulled over in the parking lot next door and cut it on and off again a few times and it came out of limp mode and light went off. I decided to try to make it to the house and got about a mile down the road and it happened again. At this point I called a buddy to come get the trailer and tiller for me and called another friend to come get me. We went home and got my big trailer and came back for the truck. I took my scan tool with me and pulled the codes before cranking the truck (p0207 and p2146).It cranked without any issues, check engine light went off and she drove onto the trailer just fine and unloaded at the house without any issue as well. The codes seemed to be fairly common and usually related to a wiring harness issue that is a relatively common issue on several year models from that era.

    Monday after new year I stopped at a reputable diesel shop in town and talked to the owner. Said the codes were common and he could fix it. apparently its a common enough issue that he keeps some new harnesses on hand but he was out and had some backordered at the time. Said it was fine to drive the truck if I wanted to if it wasn't continuously acting up and that he'd keep me updated about getting parts.

    That same evening I went to drive the truck to 96 for dinner, about 1/4 mile from the house it cut off while going down the road. Just like you had flipped a switch everything died and the battery light came on. I coasted onto a dirt road and popped the hood. The ground on my drivers side battery (side post terminal) was really loose. I finger tightened it and the truck cranked right up and went to town and back with no issues. I went to put a socket on the battery terminal and as soon as the bolt got snug it would just slip and be be loose again. The threads were damaged on the bolt so the next day I picked new one up from napa and replaced it. Left the napa store and the truck shut off again. got to wondering if I could have a bad ground and started tracing some wires back. Well sure enough when I had changed the batteries I had pushed the wire back to give myself some room to work. the ground cable on the drivers battery got pushed next to the alternator belt, I never realized it and didn't pull it back tight and the belt had cut through the wire loom, insulation and almost cut the ground wire in half. the ground was so damaged I felt it could have potentially caused the wiring harness fault on 12/30 as well. It was my own stupid fault but surely I had found the problem. this past Monday I had a new battery to frame ground made with 2/0 welding lead, new ends crimped on and replaced it. let the truck run for a few minutes as I was putting up my tools and left the house. 1/4 mile down the road she shuts off like you flipped a switch and the battery light came on, shifted into neutral cranked back up and no problems rest of the evening. I got home later and started poking around again. put a wrench to all the battery terminal just to double check and the positive terminal on the driver battery side ( I hate side post batteries btw) started slipping and the ring terminals around it were loose so I replaced it with a new stud and got them good and tight.

    Up until today I was convinced it was an electrical issue. Between the combination of a severely damaged frame ground and two damaged studs that wouldn't hold tight, having replaced them all I was sure it was fixed. I hunted yesterday afternoon and had not touched the truck since Monday when I replaced the positive battery stud. I went to start a side job this afternoon and cranked the truck as I was loading tools up and then left to get material. Within 1/4 mile of leaving home she shut completely off, battery light came on. I put her in neutral, re-cranked and kept on down the road, no issues for the remainder of the evening. Now I'm stumped.....

    since 12/30 it has cut off like that a total of 5 times on me

    here's the only consistency I can relate to it, keep in mind I don't drive this truck daily. Every time its happened has been a cold start and the shut down happens within a 1/4 mile of leaving the house (with the exception of the time it did it when i went to NAPA first but that's only 8min from the house). There is no stall, no gradual loss of power, no running odd before hand, all gauges operating as normal. just boom, it shuts off, everything, lights and radio included. starts back immediately, no slow or delayed start.

    Has anyone on here experienced similar with a similar year model Duramax? Could it be a fuel prime issue? the fuel filter was changed at the last oil change, if shutting off due to a fuel prime issue instead of electrical issue would I still lose power to all my lights, radio, etc.?

    Just trying to think of anything simple I can check myself or might have overlooked before putting it in the shop, TIA!

    The truck has not had the injector wiring harness issue since 12/30, I don't feel like at this point the two could be related, the replacement harness ends are still on backorder just trying to address this shutting off issue in the meantime
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  2. #2
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    Wiring harness going over alternator has rubbed through. Start there.

    Can always do the ice pick method to injector wiring harnesses.
    Last edited by Chuck the Duck Slayer; 02-01-2023 at 08:30 PM.
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    The first issue with limp mode definitely sounds like an injector wiring harness issue. Had the same problem with mine a few years ago. I think cylinders 1 and 7 have the wire stretched so tight from the factory they are the first to go.

    The complete loss of electrical is a new one for me. I have not yet experienced that with mine.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Two Barrels View Post
    The first issue with limp mode definitely sounds like an injector wiring harness issue. Had the same problem with mine a few years ago. I think cylinders 1 and 7 have the wire stretched so tight from the factory they are the first to go.

    The complete loss of electrical is a new one for me. I have not yet experienced that with mine.
    That’s pretty much what the mechanic told me, I think they turn 90° And the problem occurs in the bend of the wire, the plan is to do all 8 as soon as he gets parts
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chuck the Duck Slayer View Post
    Wiring harness going over alternator has rubbed through. Start there.

    Can always do the ice pick method to injector wiring harnesses.
    Alternator harness looks good, I looked it over the other day when checking some things out
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    I STAND WITH DUCK CUTTER!
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    Quote Originally Posted by Duck cutter View Post
    Alternator harness looks good, I looked it over the other day when checking some things out
    check the wire loom running over the top of the alternator.
    713E5C10-E56D-40FE-A3DB-119C9BD962B1.jpg

    When I had my 05 I was on dieselplace.com a lot seeing what mods I could do, but there was a pinned topic on how to do the ice pick method to fix the injector harnesses. Check there as well, used to be some good people on that site.
    Amendment II A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

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    I like fishing topwater. Will one of you jot down some of this redneck ghetto slang and the definitions for those of us who weren't born with a plastic spoon in our mouths?

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    If it’s an injector plug they are easy to change. It will sound like an old case tractor running if injector plug is the culprit.

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    Hopefully KRT will chime in...

    Have you checked all your fuses? Almost sounds like you turn the key off when it cuts off, so wonder if could be ignition switch. Wouldn't think fuel would cause complete loss of electrical power, even if engine cuts off you should still have lights from the batteries.


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    Replace the mass air flow sensor.

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    Sorry about the trouble DC.

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    Without much to go on, it sounds like a fuel issue outside of your initial issue.

    You will need electronics to diagnose this one.
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    Should have bought a Ford. Or a hunting Camry.

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    Quote Originally Posted by adamb61085 View Post
    ………Or a hunting Camry.
    This guy knows

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    Quote Originally Posted by turbo View Post
    Without much to go on, it sounds like a fuel issue outside of your initial issue.

    You will need electronics to diagnose this one.
    Don’t disagree with needing electronics but I’m still a little skeptical of it being fuel related. The instant shut down and the loss of everything including lights and radio just doesn’t make sense to me if it were a fuel issue. Also it starts right back up

    But I’ve been wrong before

    It’s going in the shop on the 28th (made the appt this morning and that’s the quickest they had an opening). If I don’t figure it out beforehand we will find out then
    Last edited by Duck cutter; 02-02-2023 at 10:46 AM.
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    Default 05 Duramax Intermittent Issue

    Quote Originally Posted by Chuck the Duck Slayer View Post
    Wiring harness going over alternator has rubbed through. Start there.

    Can always do the ice pick method to injector wiring harnesses.
    Very likely.

    Where are you located?

    Chucked helped me early on with mine tuning and minor issues. I do all my own work with the engine and tranny, which has been very little for 250k

    I’ve got an ‘05, dad has an ‘05, farm help has an ‘05……several other around here have same model/year range.


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    Last edited by buckshot1224; 02-04-2023 at 07:07 PM.
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  16. #16
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    It may be the ignition switch. Not the key cylinder, but the electrical part. Or the pin connector under the dash at the steering column.

    https://www.autozone.com/batteries-s...o-2500-hd/2005
    Last edited by Greenwing; 02-05-2023 at 11:11 AM.
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    Also check the wiring harness, connections, and ground to the ECM.
    S.C. - Standing alone against Northern aggression since 1861 (LAT)

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    What's the update on the truck?
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    At the risk of sounding like an idiot, I’ll tell you

    I didn’t mention it in the original post because I didn’t think it had any bearing on what was happening but on New Year’s Eve I found out by accident the truck had remote start. I was walking in the house from being out and hit the lock button on the fob several times and the truck started on its own while I was unlocking the door to the house. I was like, WTH just happened? A little research showed that the truck was equipped with remote start, that was activated by hitting the lock button 3 times. I had never owned a vehicle with remote start before, started using it and was wondering how I ever got along without it in the past. The first day of the new year was when it cut off for the first time, which was coincidentally the same day it had a loose battery terminal, which eventually led to the tracking down of the damaged ground wire several days later.

    I made an appointment with a diesel shop in town and the quickest they could look at it was Feb 28th so I set it up and wasn’t really driving the truck much. One day I decided to crank it just to let it run a bit while sitting in the yard and remote started it from in the house and after about 20min it shut off. Now I did know most vehicle with remote start will auto shut off if they haven’t been moved within a certain timeframe so I wasn’t worried but it made me think, I never had the cut-off issue til I started using the remote start, could it be something with the remote start? So for the next week I used the truck pretty regular and would only crank it with the key and it never cut off once during that week. So I started using remote start again and the issue popped back up kind of intermittently. Finally I realized it, I was not always turning the key forward enough when I would put it in gear after remote starting the truck and was sometimes not going past the forward accessory mode. As I said earlier I’ve never owned a vehicle with remote start so the first time it happened I had got back in the truck and turned the key slightly and it went it gear and I never actually moved the truck, just put it back in park and shut it off and went back in the house. I tested it several times and if you remote start the truck, only move the key forward enough to the first click (accessory mode) it will cut off every time within about 200yds or where you cranked the truck at (Must be on a time relay) Make sure you move the key all the way forward to run and there hasn’t been an issue since. Stupid me, y’all can have a laugh at my expense

    But with the original injector code that popped up saying electrical fault, and putting new batteries in and the ground wire being damaged, it was the perfect scenario for something as simple as that to slip through the cracks. Thankfully I figured it out before paying the mechanic to try tracking down an issue that didn’t really exist

    As far as the original injector electrical fault code I did still put it in the shop this past week, he said he looked at everything that could have caused that and couldn’t find any issues in the normal places he sees rubbed/nicked wires and that the harness ends still looked good. The code had only showed up one time in the code history when he scanned it (the time I knew about). He told me I either had an injector or injector module that maybe just acted up that one time or that it was very much within the realm of possibility that the bad ground could have caused it as well but he didn’t see anything that needed to be worked on at the moment.

    So to answer your question, thankfully, all is fine with the truck
    Last edited by Duck cutter; 03-04-2023 at 07:32 AM.
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  20. #20
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    Good deal.

    I knew I remembered you were putting it in the shop at the end of the month. At least it's good to go
    Amendment II A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

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    I like fishing topwater. Will one of you jot down some of this redneck ghetto slang and the definitions for those of us who weren't born with a plastic spoon in our mouths?

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