Almost had me a "car-be-cue"

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CruiserStuff

CruiserStuff

Joined
Oct 9, 2008
Threads
94
Messages
1,940
Location
Lake Arrowhead, CA (was), Rocky Top, TN (is)
So I plowed snow all day yesterday. Truck ran great (except for a leak in the radiator that I had to get temporarily repaired until the new one arrives from www.RadiatorBarn.com (4 core heavy duty one for less than $200 with free shipping). I parked the rig last night and went to sleep.

This morning, I get ready to head out again. Turn the key....nothing. Absolutely nothing.

So I start to open the hood and notice some black staining around the hood louver on the passenger side....not a good sign.

Opened up the hood to find this mess:

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The entire harness was melted through - what a nightmare. :doh: Good thing it didn't spark something and start a fire! Best I can tell, with all the vibration, etc, from plowing must have worn through some wire insulation and shorted. Any other ideas out there about how this could have happened?

I guess I'll be investing in a new wiring harness. Is Painless the best route to go? Any other recommendations?

Until then, though, there's still a ton of snow on the ground and I'm without a rig. :mad: I just bought a ton of wire and butt splices to replace the melted section as a temporary solution just to get back on the road for now. Of course, I don't know if it cooked anything downstream, but we'll see.

Anyone have any tips/suggestions?

BTW, it is simply gorgeous up here. We've had about 4 feet total and the sun came out for the first time in several days. Here's a pic I took on the way to the auto parts store this morning:

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And here's one looking out the back window of our house a couple days ago:

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Thanks for any input and help! :beer:
 
CruiserStuff said:
BTW, it is simply gorgeous up here. We've had about 4 feet total and the sun came out for the first time in several days. Here's a pic I took on the way to the auto parts store this morning:

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And here's one looking out the back window of our house a couple days ago:

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Click to expand...

That is just awesome. We obviously never get snow here but that is just purdy. BTW, sorry about your troubles ..
 
right now you can get $100 rebate on painless, and then you can usually find 10% off at summit, etc so you can get a painless for mid $200's if you do decide the painless route.

there are other harness tho, couldn't hurt to pm coolerman and see what he would want to repair yours.
 
I would spend $1000 on a used harness before I would buy a Painless harness.
 
check with coolerman on pricing imo if you have the time to send the harness out.. you send him your old harness and he'll do whatever you want.. completely rebuild you a new one or just fix the troubled areas
 
Thanks for all the input....sounds like a used harness or a Coolerman rebuild is the way to go.

Until then, I got the melted section replaced with $60 worth of wire, butt splices and tape.

Got everything crimped in and labelled.....
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Wrapped it all up really well with tape.....
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Dropped it in the truck, hooked everything up and it fired right up. All the gauges and lights work just fine.
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So, I'm on the road again and will probably be plowing all night to catch up.

BTW, this is not something you want to see on your cruiser....
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Electric tape

Years ago when I swaped in a 350, I was able to buy a tape like product at the hardware store which perminantly bonds to itself but is not sticky. 14 years later it still is in place. It is likely still availible. It was also thicker than electrical tape.
 
Fuse Link..........

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure........
 
Your Cruiser karma must be strong. ;) That coud have gotten ugly...
Your repair should be fine. Just make sure to secure all wire bundles so they cannot move. Moving wire bundles not good... :D

Your 76 also should have had a fusible link installed. It would have been a short 3" black wire with plugs on each end. One end connected to the battery the other to the white wire exiting the harness. I have some pics floating around here somewhere of an intact 76 harness showing the fusible link if you need them...

For future reference I currently do not work on harnesses past 9/71. A lot of the connectors are not easily available and I just don't have the knowledge on those harnesses down pat yet.
 
Glad it wasn't worse, would hate to lose a cruiser on the mountain. I'm in the same boat with a bad harness, looks like your patch is good to keep you rolling, might even hold till spring and warm weather?
 
I was going to say, it looks like you've got 8-10 wires that are gone. Splice in sections, wrap it up tight with the stretchy tape and call it a day. Why do you want to spend all of that time and money if it works?
 
bikersmurf - I used the pricey 3M tape....I've used it in the past and it has always done a good job for me. I used several layers, so I think the thickness will be adequate. Thanks for the tip....

grant5127 - agreed....in the works......

coolerman - Yes, the Cruiser God was smiling on me....it definitely could have been worse. I'd love to see the pic of the fusible link. It clearly isn't present on my rig....probably thanks to the PO. Thanks for the heads-up on what you do (and don't do) with repairs/rebuilds on harnesses.

youmustbecrazy - The mountain definitely doesn't need to lose any cruisers (especially mine)! The patch seems to be holding very well, so fingers crossed. It definitely is not the ideal time of year to try to swap in another entire harness. Let me know if you need any help with yours....happy to lend a wrench.

edjmcgrath - Yes, there were a dozen wires in total that I replaced. Everything's tightly wrapped and all lights, gauges, etc are working after a long night of plowing (again, until 3 am), so I think I'm good to go. Maybe I won't bother with another harness unless I start having other problems.

Mr. Toad - Thanks.....this is a 50 foot rig (it looks good from 50 feet away, but any closer and you can see that she's no beauty queen)!
 
1. That short piece of wire you're holding in your hands in the pics [coming off the terminal end at the battery] is where your fusible link is supposed to be! So if it is in fact a link, the question becomes 'why didn't it burn FIRST?

2. I wouldn't waste a moment's delay in buying a new section of fusible link wire to replace one that obviously isn't working.

3. Was one of the 12 wires that burned the white wire with the blue stripe that brings alt juice back to the battery to recharge it? If so, be VERY, VERY careful about checking out the rest of the harness, ESPECIALLY where the wires attach to the speedometer head, and do so without delay. I wouldn't be surprised if the cluster end of the wires was damaged from a burn like that.

Best

Mark A.
 
I was able to find it still... Called "Magic Wrap" it's supposed to be good to 100 Psi. HaHa.
 
good think it wasnt worse for than that...not so good for this guy:
BFIRE3.webp
 
The harness is pretty simple, even though it doesn't look like it. You are better off tracing the wires and replacing them with OEM wires. I have a large box of random bits of wires and handfuls of connectors from when I rebuilt my harness. Just get pictures if you need any connectors and I'll see what I've got.
Nice view BTW
 
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