Desperately Seeking Advice - Electrical (8 Viewers)

[MisterShadyNasty]

I’m curious to know how somebody with more experience would approach a problem.

I’ve been working on my first project truck, have enjoyed the process, jobs have been rewarding relatively speaking but trying to fix electrical issues has been driving me insane.

I’d always lived with the intermittent electrical problems that were present since the truck came into my possession until there was a night driving home in the rain when things started to seem dangerous, the headlights and heater blower motor stopped working all together, the problems seemed to spread, things that were never an issue became a necessity to fix such as the tail lights, brake lights, starting issues, wipers, everything…

I’ve got enough experience to feel confident in my ability to fix this problem without giving up and already regret my decisions, please don’t give me too much of a hard time, my response was ripping the harness out, going through everything and testing for continuity while replacing sections of wire, replacing a few relays, installing a new battery, alternator, new power and ground cables, bought the kit from cruisertrash parts to replace fusible links with inline fuses, didn’t spare any expense or time, terminated everything with waterproof DT connectors, honestly expected to have a bomber solution that worked after everything got hooked back up, replaced the heater core while doing this and wrapped everything with heat shrink tubing and conduit before putting the dash back together only to discover that the problems haven’t been solved, ultimately want your advice regarding my next course of action considering how much time or money has already been spent on this…

I’m currently recharging the battery to begin more testing or troubleshooting but strongly considering ordering a painless brand or the equivalent new wiring harness or ripping my abomination out tomorrow to start over, the cost of a used harness would be comparable, could anyone convince me to test something before going nuclear again?

I’ve desmogged the truck awhile before these issues began, installed a non usa carb, have a koito headlight harness, did the green wire mod, would’ve had a better chance right now but lost my cool, chopped a lot of stuff up or ran so many new grounds and wires that my current harness might not be worth keeping.

I’d installed an entirely new suspension, every component, replaced the cooling system and rebuilt the knuckles, completed the entire list of maintenance items, there hasn’t been any other task that made me frustrated, they’ve all been very rewarding in a tangible real way.

I’ll definitely consider swapping the motor for an LS sometime in the future, there isn’t a lot of information out there about installing one of the aftermarket harnesses on a 2F, would it make any sense to go that route?

I’d be happy to get the truck running again with the most basic of accessories, what’s the most minimal solution available?

I’ve just broken up with my girlfriend which is another variable because while she was living with me there was an option to drive her new truck, she comes from means and we bought new vehicles cash from the dealership for us, but now this might have to be my daily driver and winter feels right around the corner here, that would explain my needs and why there’s a necessity, taking my time to go through the entire process took me countless hours over the past couple months, learned through my mistakes, but need a vehicle living here, the aftermarket harness seems like a more simple way to hook up the necessities before winter.

I’ve probably followed a trend set by whoever the previous owner was, there was noticeable changes or hacks, an aftermarket stereo, feel like my biggest mistake was running the new wires to predetermined locations, followed a wiring diagram while checking for continuity but probably wasn’t thorough enough to find whatever’s shorting out, there’s signs that’s still the issue having discovered only after the harness battery and everything was installed by testing some positive cables to find out there’s continuity between them and frame.

I’d really be thankful to know what you might do under these circumstances, from more of a personal perspective than anything, please, thanks in advance for your help.

J

 

[OSS]

The ground for the headlights and lots of other accessories join together in a dinky piece of crap connector (ground bus) behind the instrument panel. Then it runs a single big wire down to a bolt on the A pillar to ground to the body.

That piece of crap grounding connector behind the instrument panel, tucked behind the wiring harness, can overheat (because it is inadequate) which will compromise all the electrical contacts it holds.= electrical mayhem. I experienced it first hand.

The fix? If that connection bus looks charred, disassemble it and clean up all the connecting pins.

 

[CruiserTrash]

Man, I was going to say grounds or the fusible link being the culprit ... but you already bought my FLRK kit. Thanks for that by the way. I'm a fellow FJ60 daily driver so I feel for you. Gotta keep the truck in service and there isn't the luxury of putting it in downtime to solve an issue. I did buy a 1985 Tercel 4wd wagon as a backup vehicle this summer, but that one is just as old as my 60 and has its own problems haha.

Long shot, but there's a splice in a positive cable that I could potentially see causing your problems. It could be a multitude of things, but this will be something to check if you haven't. And it's sneaky, because it's somewhat hidden. In the original harness there's a 10awg white wire that is the alternator charge wire. It goes from the post on the back of the alternator, to the fusible link, and then to the battery, and runs inside a corrugated plastic split loom that lays on the passenger inner wheel well. Between the wheel well and the alternator is a splice, and that wire feeds the cabin fuse panel. In my FLRK instructions I say to keep the white wire ring terminal on the back of the alternator and stack my thicker red 6awg alternator charge wire ring terminal on top of it. Both the old and new have to be on the alternator post and that's because the white wire still needs to feed the cabin fuse panel. Maybe that splice has gotten loose or corroded. You'll have to peel back the corrugated split loom, then unwrap all the original electrical tape to find that splice, but it's in a 30" section so it won't be too hard to find. Of course check the tightness on that nut that holds the ring terminals on the back of the alternator while you're in there.

*****

Other random possibilities:

Corroded pins inside of plastic connectors. The corrosion can grow between pins inside the connectors that are normally insulated from one another and cause shorts and other weird issues. The rear harness connectors inside the cargo panels are especially susceptible to this because even the smallest rust hole in the rear wheel arch will let enough water in over time to start the process. I've seen that issue on countless trucks.

A wire carrying 12VDC rubbed on something, broke through the insulation, and is now occasionally shorting to ground when the truck bounces around over potholes or road debris. I think the likeliest spots for this would be the cargo panel area, where the harness goes to the back under the door sills, or possibly in the engine bay since a lot of those bounce around. I think that's less likely but still possible behind the dash.

Any aftermarket wiring is immediately suspect to me as well. That's not because I think you would have necessarily done a bad job, but just because I've seen it cause problems so many times that it comes down to statistics. Trailer plug wiring is the #1 thing I see causing problems in that respect. If you have that, remove it and follow the manual to make sure things are hooked back up properly. Remove the aftermarket stereo and cap all the wires for the time being. Look real hard at where it splices into the original wiring and make sure wires that don't belong together weren't accidentally joined. Inspect the insulation to make sure that hasn't rubbed through. Take the clamshell off the steering column and check out the bundle of wires under there. Lots of times people will splice kill switches or car alarms into the ignition and positive wiring on the column. Look at any other aftermarket stuff.

Check the ground at the back of the vehicle. It's essentially under the bottom of the tailgate, but you get to it by laying on your back under the truck by the fuel tank. It's on the back side of the boy metal directly below the tailgate, a bolt with ring terminals under it. That one gets crusty from road grime and it's worth removing the bolt and cleaning everything down to bare metal.

Perhaps this is an exceedingly rare things, but there are a couple wires that run from the bottom rear corner of the engine side cover, under the tunnel, and to the transmission/transfer case area. One is the 4wd sensor, for example. That area is hidden, prone to road grime, and the wires only have a few points where they're secured so they bounce around a lot. It's hard to check those, but doable. Also check the ground strap from the back of the transfer case to the underside of the body while you're there. If you remove that from the transfer case just remember to replace the D-shaped washer back the same way, because it keeps the intermediate shaft of the transfer case from spinning around (you'll notice the flat in the thick washer lines up with the flat on the int shaft).

*****

I would spend some serious time chasing the location where you found continuity between the frame and positive wires. Use the resistance setting on your DMM and instead of just getting a go/no-go reading (continuity) see what kind of resistance you've got there. Come back and let us know where that location is, what color wire it is, and what the resistance reading says.

Also, can you post some photos of your install on the FLRK? Especially the connection points, ring terminals, etc. That's not to be insulting, but sometimes having other folks dummy check can reveal an easily overlooked problem. We all need that from time to time.

 

[CruiserTrash]

Worse comes to worse, I would opt to get a used harness from Classic Cruisers down in Poncha Springs before getting a Painless or other aftermarket harness. Hooking one of those up would be a TON of work whereas you know where everything in the stock harness goes. Either would take some time, but the aftermarket one would be a puzzle. You could even chop up the used harness and use pieces as direct replacements for questionable areas of your harness.

For a four-hour round trip you could also maybe just go to Poncha Springs. That could look like picking up the harness yourself or having them take a look at it if they can get you on the schedule.

 

[MisterShadyNasty]

Thanks for the info everyone…

I’m inclined to order the used harness as suggested and use that as my new starting point, unfortunately, my research was correct, that ground connector was melted beyond repair upon inspection, admittedly, noticed the splice as well but most likely went about fixing things the wrong way and take responsibility for perhaps getting a little too creative…

I’ll pull my abomination harness and dive a little deeper while waiting for a used one to arrive, honestly, someone could’ve made a grave mistake before this got into my hands.

I’d be grateful to know whether using these waterproof DT deutsch pin connectors could present an issue, they came recommended, but now they’re all throughout the truck.

I’m very appreciative of your insight, will try my best not to give up and get her running again, love this truck and have been really proud of my progress thus far.

-J

 

[MisterShadyNasty]

I’ll pull my harness, there might be pictures of my work available, a major problem now is that although they were labeled with the original color code, telling you what the colors of the wires are might be difficult because nearly everything in the engine bay has been replaced from the firewall outwards, there must be a problem behind the dash, that’s my best guess, more than one positive wire gives a continuity reading to ground, lots of my labels have probably worn off already and my original approach was reasonable sound but losing my s**t the other day was the biggest setback and possibly the greatest lesson of all learned.

I’ve got experience outside of working on the truck that’s electrical oriented, been working as a freelance A/V technician, video producer, understand the basics of how to send tone or run power, completed some major networking projects in the past year, converting signals or anything relative to a live production but feel like this has been an entirely different realm, thanks again for being supportive, life has been difficult and achieving success with this would really mean a lot to me.

J

 

[MisterShadyNasty]

I’ve ordered a used harness from classic cruisers today, appreciate the recommendation, hopefully, repinning and using the DT connectors with this used harness will solve my problems, will try to post an update, please let me know whether you would advise against the connectors, thank you.

J

 

[CruiserTrash]

I’ve ordered a used harness from classic cruisers today, appreciate the recommendation, hopefully, repinning and using the DT connectors with this used harness will solve my problems, will try to post an update, please let me know whether you would advise against the connectors, thank you.

J

Any quality connector is going to be fine. Personally, I would choose connectors that handle the same number of wires as the original connectors though - it will make future troubleshooting easier. If you need help with something and look at somebody else’s original harness, chasing wires could be difficult if they terminate into connectors in some wildly different way. It would be much easier to say “I have the same XYZ colored wires here, it’s only the 8-way connector that looks different.” I would take that over “yeah the original 8-way connector is gone and I used two 3-way and one 2-way connector, this one’s over here, the other one is up there, etc.” And of course if you replace any wires really try to use the same color way as the original so you can still use the wiring diagrams in the manual for troubleshooting. Wire Barn and some other online stores have a multitude of color choices in automotive TXL/GXL wiring, including stripes. The shade of the colors might be a little different, the stripe might be thicker or it might be spiraled instead of a straight line stripe, but as long as the color is close it will be extremely helpful. Toyota uses white with black stripe for a lot of grounding runs, for example.