Lantraxco, That's what we've been thinking, same as everyone else, but we've checked and rechecked it many times, tracked the wires all down that lead to the starter and everything is hooked correctly, grounds go to the frame and engine and the hot wire for the cab circuit breaker go to the breaker, the starter switch wires go to where they should and the main frame wires are hooked hot as well, we've got them all to where the wiring diagrams say as well as what pete's reps tell me, they also claimed nothing that feeds the ECM comes off the starter anyhow, that comes directly from the battery. The connection we have tested for the ECM runs up above the starter on the back of the engine, just above the starter is where we tested those wires, they are hot there, then feed into the harness and are entwined in the wad of wires that go to the cab connection.
My first thought is still the same, despite what everyone says, I think there is a circuit breaker or fuse block in the cab somewhere that maybe someone added and when the starter was taken off, the batteries unhooked and removed, or the wires unhooked, someone shorted them and tripped the breaker or blew the fuse I have yet to find. To me this is the only thing that makes sense to explain what I'm not finding so far, I didn't take this apart and I have no idea how they did it, or what they may have omitted telling me or didn't notice as they did it, which really doesn't matter now anyhow.
I've been thinking about this during the night, the only thing I can think to try is to do a continuity test of the harness at the cab connection and carefully cut the harness covering to trace wires up to the cab. Then take the dash apart to access the harness in the cab and stick someone really small under the dash to hopefully find whatever it is I can't see.
Cummins wants about 4k for the ECM and Pete wants about 1200 bucks for each half of the harness.
I just can't believe since it ran before anything was done, the wires went bad or somehow got cut up behind the engine beyond where I tested them which is out of reach of anyone or anything, its got to be either GFS [green fuzzy sh@t] or a circuit tripped.
Once we get power back going to the ECM, we can start to troubleshoot that next.
I know I shouldn't be down on technology, and relive the glory years of day's gone by, but this is total BS, how much simpler things were when all you had to do was make sure it had fuel and good batteries in it, and a simple starter circuit to start it or jump it with a screw driver, an alternator to change the system and off we went. Makes me want to just go out and buy a much newer truck with an even more complicated electrical system on them to make my life easier, nicer far better reliability and to ease trouble shooting of problems, oh yea, and to make it cheaper to repair when things go wrong.