The prince of darkness strikes again

[dungarover]

Well thew title says it all, the Rangie has had a bit of a electrical meltdown.

Was giving the Rangie a bit of a run down the M1, all was good and I have now solved the fuel tank issue thinking all was good (put a stock fuel tank back in, forgot how much clerance the LR tank took up :eek:)...or was it ???

One of the looms decided to fuse together, with smoke pouring into the cabin this isn't a good thing. Luckily I was just around the corner from home when it sll started, so I got it hone, disconnected the battery to save more damage. After the 'meltdown', I inspected the loom and the entire section from the passenger side to the the fitting near under the bonnet is fried. Not good.

Off the the sparky tomorrow, just have to wait til I get a nasty repair bill :(:( More trips now put on hold due to repairs. Still have a bit of a list to sort through as well so I might be quiet for a while.

Trav

[rangieman]

Well thew title says it all, the Rangie has had a bit of a electrical meltdown.

Was giving the Rangie a bit of a run down the M1, all was good and I have now solved the fuel tank issue thinking all was good (put a stock fuel tank back in, forgot how much clerance the LR tank took up :eek:)...or was it ???

One of the looms decided to fuse together, with smoke pouring into the cabin this isn't a good thing. Luckily I was just around the corner from home when it sll started, so I got it hone, disconnected the battery to save more damage. After the 'meltdown', I inspected the loom and the entire section from the passenger side to the the fitting near under the bonnet is fried. Not good.

Off the the sparky tomorrow, just have to wait til I get a nasty repair bill :(:( More trips now put on hold due to repairs. Still have a bit of a list to sort through as well so I might be quiet for a while.

Trav
OOPS ! :eek: bad luck dude hope you get it sorted soon:cool:

[dungarover]

Thanks. Dodgy 20 year old Lucas wiring has a tendancy to do that I guess :eek: :eek: :eek:

Love to be able to DIY but I am a total novice to electrical (can do basic stuff but not re-wire loonms sort of thing).

Trav

[DRanged]

Depending on how many wires are in the loom Trav, you can do it yourself with some multicore trailer flex. Its just a case of cutting out the melted section and soldering in a new section. You can use heat shrink on the joins and then put in in flexible conduit. You only have to join the correct colours at either end.Its not that difficult and will save you some dollars.

Justin.

ps pm drivesafe he could get the multicore and plugs if req for you.

[dungarover]

No worries thanks Justin. You leave me with something to think about and something to do during the week :)

I can unplug one section of the loom all I have to do is find the other end and sort it out I guess.

Trav

[Blknight.aus]

I know its probably too far but If you want a hand to DIY it let me know...

I had a hoist reserved on friday for a service but the bloke who I was doing the oil change for needed it more urgently than he reckoned as hes now siezed the donk.

[dungarover]

A bit of an update and the news isn't good I hate to say.

The air con harness as well as electric mirror harness are knackerd, plus the wire that was the main culprit goes deep into the main loom so whilts it may be the one wire, it could be worse. Still have to investigate further before any action is taken.

My main fear is that it could be costly and to be quite honest, the Rangie simply isn't worth that sort of money. It would be cheaper to buy another Rangie, transfer all the goodies over and keep charging on but it's a hell of a lot of work, weekends and money wasted.

As typical as electrical shorts go, this isn't an easy or cheap fix so it will be a auto sparkys job, but will inquire a bit more tomorrow and work out some costs involved.

Trav

[DRanged]

A bit of an update and the news isn't good I hate to say.

The air con harness as well as electric mirror harness are knackerd, plus the wire that was the main culprit goes deep into the main loom so whilts it may be the one wire, it could be worse. Still have to investigate further before any action is taken.

My main fear is that it could be costly and to be quite honest, the Rangie simply isn't worth that sort of money. It would be cheaper to buy another Rangie, transfer all the goodies over and keep charging on but it's a hell of a lot of work, weekends and money wasted.

As typical as electrical shorts go, this isn't an easy or cheap fix so it will be a auto sparkys job, but will inquire a bit more tomorrow and work out some costs involved.

Trav

I can get you a 86 manual in great nick all working for $1300.

Justin

[dungarover]

Okay, finally found the burnt wiring and so far it looks repairable. I had to pull the heater unit out which if anyone has done it is an absolute ***** of a job and it was dead centre behind it (where the burn wire stopped) :mad::mad::mad::mad:

The wire that burnt hasn't started to burn through the rest so at this stage the beast is salvageable. The air con is fried but it wasn't bloody working anyway so that's no loss and all I need to do is re-wire part of the main harness as well as find a good second-hand air con/electric mirror harness as well. The AC compressor still works so I might re-use it and hook up an air tank to it (have one of those) like an 'endless air' sort of arrangement.

Wish me luck everyone. Rangies are too good to wither and die :twisted::twisted::twisted::twisted:

Trav

[dungarover]

I had the sparky look at the Rangie last week as stated it was made out to be nowhere near as bad as I first discoverd. These blokes are idiots I tell you, throw it in the too hard basket and I see why I DEIY nearly everything on the Rangie :mad::mad::mad:

Got all the main functions working, no air con or electric mirrors as yet, but will be getting a repacement loom this week hopefully :) Still sorting through wiring that either is dead as a maggot or has no real reason to be there ATM (no wonder they had so many shorts in these bloody things :confused:)

Also I'll be re-wiring some of the accessoies which were put in earlier by me (UHF radio, etc..) and a dual battery system as well to keep the fridge running and the beer cold :twobeers:

Trav

[paulthepilot_5]

I have just had a similar problem with a wire shorting out in a loom in my SIII, there were so many unused wires in the damn thing, due to the fact that it was converted from a petrol to an isuzu diesel. I got the Sh!ts with trying to fix up the old wiring and just ripped it out and started from scratch. It was a bugger of a job to do, but well worth it in the end. It would probably be a much bigger job in the Rangie though :o

[dungarover]

Well good news, the wiring is all fixed and despite not been able to get the electric mirrors from working it's all safe, reliable (I hope :eek:) and back in buisness.

This has been a marathon repair with the entire removal of the lower dash and heater unit, finding the culprit wire, re-fitting the heater and lower dash, checking and cutting out wiring that had no useful purpose in life (aren't multimeters a great bit of gear to own. Now I know what so many people have one). I also re-wired my UHF radio, prepared the decks for my dual bayttery system, junked all the AC gear (never bloody worked anyway) so it's all coming along nicely.

Speaking of nicely, at least spagetti junction under the dash looks a bit tidier than it did previously :thumbsup:

Trav

[harry]

wiry old bird aren't you, good trav. when's the smoke test?

[Ken]

Good luck and good onya for persisting I bet you know more about wiring now eh;)

[dungarover]

wiry old bird aren't you, good trav. when's the smoke test?

I never give up Harry and I'll have a go at pretty much everything. Might sstuff up but you learn that way.

Smoke test has been done and dusted, which to my relief is a non-event.

Still can't read a wiring diagram though :(

Trav