Wiring... any ideas?

[buddysbuddy]

So, for the last few weeks I've been on a truly emotional journey trying to sort the dash wiring in the bus - the story is long and winding, but I'm nearly there with one really f*****g frustrating issue that I just cannot figure out.

I have not been able to get a generator and oil pressure warning light for love nor money, and after a late night conversation with aircooled auto elec I gave it one more shot today...

It appeared simple in the end, an issue with the live feed from fuse to dash meant I had no gen light and oil pressure light (also indicator tell tales and fuel gauge).

Before solving the problem is spent the day tydying the the birds nest and checking and double checking what I had done.

All happy I finally connected the dash live - only for the interconnected black wires to get brutally hot immediately and start to smoke.



Now I'm stumped - everything I can see is in the right place all connections appear good etc etc.

But why oh why do these wires get hot - what have I missed? I'm literally at the end of my tether with this and whilst I am just shy of completion on the bus I can't go on until I solve this...

Does anyone have any ideas of what I might be missing?

 

[subheatadey]

Has the unit got a good earth?

 

[buddysbuddy]

Yep, as far as I can tell. Straight from the 'ground' tab pictured to the body.

 

[Moseley]

Can you take a photo of the back of your gauges?


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[buddysbuddy]

Sadly the van is 40 miles away from me. I head over to it every Saturday to get some stuff done. What sort of photo helps? Fully wired? I'll try and get over there again later - what would you be looking for?

 

[67westy]

I had this before when driving and it was the fuel gauge terminal shorting on the cluster. They have plastic insulation around them which had broken down and the spade could move to contact the metal backing plate

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[buddysbuddy]

I had this before when driving and it was the fuel gauge terminal shorting on the cluster. They have plastic insulation around them which had broken down and the spade could move to contact the metal backing plate

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Holy crap... that might be it... :shock:

How did you fix - can you buy them?

 

[Moseley]

Sadly the van is 40 miles away from me. I head over to it every Saturday to get some stuff done. What sort of photo helps? Fully wired? I'll try and get over there again later - what would you be looking for?

Anything that might look out of place! Fuel gauge connections are a common fault area, mine had done the same. Easiest way for you to check this is to unplug the gauge and see if everything else works as expected.

Unfortunately, the parts aren’t available (not that I found anyway) and if you try and disassemble a used one for parts, they tend to break anyway. I araldited the original connection in place - this works well if you have the plastic side to the insulation as it has a little recess that allows it to sit snugly in the hole without contacting the metal and shorting out.


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[67westy]

I had this before when driving and it was the fuel gauge terminal shorting on the cluster. They have plastic insulation around them which had broken down and the spade could move to contact the metal backing plate

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Holy crap... that might be it... :shock:

How did you fix - can you buy them?

I did the same as Moseley and used araldite which has done the trick for the last 6 years or so

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[buddysbuddy]

Thanks gents...

Legendary early bay help yet again.

Problem solved.