Western unimount wont angle left (intermittent)

[Big_kid]

Greetings from north central Indiana.
im having an intermittent issue with my western unimount.
it won’t angle left sometimes. Up, down and angle right have no issues.
when trying to angle left I can hear the solenoid (3W I believe) activate but the pump motor won’t run.

another weird issue is with the key on engine off it will angle right go up and down but not angle left.
with the engine running it will angle right, go up and down and sometimes angle left.

anyhelp is appreciate, thanks

 

[cwren2472]

It's a bad controller. The fact that the engine is off sometimes is a coincidence and unrelated.

 

[Philbilly2]

Do you have another controller that you can try?

 

[Big_kid]

I do not have another controller. i Was hoping it wasn’t a controller that seems the most expensive part around $350 on evil bay.

any other leads on controllers, being off season now for snow I could send it in and get rebuilt any cheaper ? Maybe a bad diode or something.

although around here it could be 70*F and snow three days later....

 

[cwren2472]

I do not have another controller. i Was hoping it wasn’t a controller that seems the most expensive part around $350 on evil bay.

any other leads on controllers, being off season now for snow I could send it in and get rebuilt any cheaper ? Maybe a bad diode or something.

although around here it could be 70*F and snow three days later....

Being end of season, you should be able to find some used on FB marketplace/Ebay/Craigslist whatever for considerably less. Going rate is usually $150 or so. Obviously you assume the usual risk being something like that used.

I will say, I would not buy a new one from ebay. At that price, at least buy it from an authorized dealer and get a warranty on it.

I have heard of people getting them repaired but don't have any experience with that nor a recommendation on having it done.

 

[Big_kid]

Ok, thanks for the help...

 

[Big_kid]

after studying the electrical schematic I realized I never installed a ground wire for the pump motor solenoid. I don’t know how this ever worked for the past three years without it. Although I still have the problem where it won’t angle left unless the engine is running.
picture of ground wire installed and link for video...

 

[cwren2472]

I have no speakers on my shop computer so I'm not sure I 100% follow the video so correct me if I'm wrong here:

Truck is off, plow goes up and right but not left. Motor on plow is not running?
Start truck. Plow will now angle left.
Shut truck off.
Plow still angles left initially then after angling right will not angle left again. Is that correct?

 

[Big_kid]

I have no speakers on my shop computer so I'm not sure I 100% follow the video so correct me if I'm wrong here:

Truck is off, plow goes up and right but not left. Motor on plow is not running?
Start truck. Plow will now angle left.
Shut truck off.
Plow still angles left initially then after angling right will not angle left again. Is that correct?

yes...

 

[cwren2472]

There is nothing about the truck running itself that could be causing the motor not to run only on the left function except for the controller itself being faulty. The running status of the truck should have no bearing on it at all as the controller has no way of knowing the truck is running (vs just key on) and nothing changes electrically.

The only thing I can think of is something loose inside the controller and the vibration of the truck while starting/running jostles it enough to make it work. Pushing the controller back to the right with the truck off causes whatever is loose to go back to the non-functional. Only way to confirm it would be with another controller.

 

[cwren2472]

Only other suggestion I can make is to try removing the controller from the dash and try very scientifically shaking the s**t out of it with the key off. See if the plow magically starts working left (possibly randomly)

 

[Big_kid]

I’m gonna remove the controller and perform this test next...

 

[Big_kid]

Seemed to pass. Although I’m getting some low voltage back feeding (3V) on some of the wires, might be some weak diodes. My coworker has the same setup as mine (only handheld controller).

gonna swap and see if it works but gonna-be a wile cuz I’m on vacation...