HDFT from Germany Needs Help

[CaptBeardilocks]

Hey All,

I know @wngrog hosted these guys and is aware of their situation, but I wanted to post up on here to see if anyone can help them out. Really cool couple with a killer 80 series camper conversion with a previous HDFT/A442F (manual converted to auto as I understand it) has fried some wiring. They're stranded in the Phoenix area with the dash pulled and tracing fried wiring. They may need a wiring harness or may need just some wiring help.

You can reach them on IG @ 2machenblau.de Or reach out on here and I'll try to link them into this thread. Tag anyone that might be able to help.

As I have it from them on the sequence of events:
- stopped at a viewpoint, engine & AC running.
- took pictures, wants to drive off.
- when switched from P to D we noticed the AC\Blower not working, dash completely dark and no gauges working beside the fuel.
- Guage fuse 10A was blown
- replaced it and blown again after 2s in the 2nd key position.
- a shop in Alpine AZ towed us and started the investigation, used a 30A fuse in the gauge socket. not sure how much of the discovered damage was caused by this.
- then we removed part after part from the IGN line but still blowing.
- engine will not start as the 12-24v timer relay needed IGN too
found a melted wire behind the fuse box and removed today the dash completely to discover more melted connectors. these connect the dash harness with the engine bay. not sure how far this damage leads. dash wiring has several melted spots.
- root cause still unclear.
- ABS connector in engine bay is melted too.

@SNLC @70sguy @joekatana @NLXTACY @Onur

 

[NLXTACY]

If it can get here I can go a long way to getting them back on the road. I have two new harnesses and several complete bumper to bumper harnesses to pull from. It’s NOT going to be a quick fix but it’s doable.

Have several 1HDTs here now to compare against.

But can’t do much from here in Oregon.

 

[SNLC]

We don’t have any wiring harnesses in my shop.

If they could get it up here to Boise, Idaho we can trouble shoot and fix it. I can tell you/them right now sourcing an HDJ80 wiring harness (dash/engine bay) in either RHD or LHD is going to be difficult. IIRC they are both NLA in RHD and LHD. @Onur am I right? We do have sources for used. Best bet is to fix what they have unless it is completely wasted.

We have all the wiring diagrams for 1HDFT and HDJ80’s. I have a guy working for me who is a wiring wizard and we can definitely set them straight but they would have to get the Cruiser to our shop. On top of that it could take some time to fix and cost a fair amount.

Happy to help if they can get it up here, also willing to help with and even arrange shipping of the Cruiser to our shop.

That is the best we can do.

Cheers

 

[OGBeno]

Yeah, all of those harnesses are all long gone.

My understanding is this vehicle is heavily modified, electrically. I could be wrong.

If there is cross-over from the “house” systems to the mechanical/vehicle systems, any guess as to what it could be.

Trying to play long-distance mechanic with electrical is like trying to teach a 10 year old how to understand algorithms used for determining supply chain routings for Toyota service parts supply.

Daunting to say the least

Check all the usual suspects, isolate systems, work backwards in an RCA chain. Weed out bad symptoms and attack.

Good luck.

PS: PHX is not too far away from @OverLand Cruisers . The excellent, “takumi” -level mechanic Bill Lee operates there. That would be the place I would take this truck immediately.

He’s super keen and is probably one of the best LC mechanics in the US. He’s pretty legend in the Toyota mechanical world— was around when the Toyota MDT was first initialized and systematized for US operation.

 

[DSRTRDR]

thanks to all who piped in - I got to see the truck yesterday, as the fact-finding was underway

the vehicle right now is in what used to be Kevin's shop - "Tools R Us" here on MUD

@richardlillard1 now runs the shop with @inkpot and @Stikboy9480

@Onur is right: heavily modified

@NLXTACY, they might need a new harness

 

[OGBeno]

thanks to all who piped in - I got to see the truck yesterday, as the fact-finding was underway

the vehicle right now is in what used to be Kevin's shop - "Tools R Us" here on MUD

@richardlillard1 now runs the shop with @inkpot and Travis

@Onur is right: heavily modified

@NLXTACY, they might need a new harness

Oh yeah… You guys can talk with each other and make fun of others in German.

 

[richardlillard1]

Oh yeah… You guys can talk with each other and make fun of others in German.

Like they haven’t done that already?

 

[richardlillard1]

So here’s what I’ve been able to gather in addition to what’s already been mentioned.

While in alpine a jump start was attempted to the secondary battery. At some point in the truck’s history the fusible link off the main battery was replaced with a pair of standard wires; I’m not positive as to whether this caused the bigger problem we’ve encountered, but it is suspect.

As of now, we have discovered severely burnt wires in the dash harness, going into the AC system, going into the ABS under the hood, as well as the fried fuse block wire, and portions of the transmission swap wiring harness which was run in parallel to the dash harness as well as tapped into the main dash harness in a couple spots.

Whomever did the transmission swap pieced the truck together as best they could, but not in the most logical or polished fashion. A harness goes to the transmission TCM, which is mounted in the secondary battery box in front of the battery, to the core support, then branches off and goes down to the transmission.

In addition to this, other issues have been described, such as the engine temp climbing a couple times, as the gauge climbed towards red. A quick inspection of the cooling system has found a few leaking hoses, an aged radiator and heater valve, and an aged radiator cap. Coolant is not in the best condition. No further inspection to the rest of the vehicle has been performed at this time.

So far on this trip, they’ve had issues with the alternator as well as either the brakes or a knuckle stud. I only caught part of this story, as they told it to someone else so I cannot confirm which.

The dash harness is not completely removed yet. I’ll know more tomorrow, but the question of what other issues lie where we can’t see them still remains; so far we’ve seen damage to the engine compartment wiring and dash wiring, but how far does it reach to other areas?

If this were someone local, it would be no question but to fix it. Given that they are thousands of miles from home and slowly being bled dry by the cost of a hotel and renal car, they are faced with whether or not it’s worth it to have the truck laid up for considerable time and whether they will trust it once it is back together.

 

[FJ40-GARAGE]

Vorsicht Muselmann
My hint would be Marc Bandieri from Banditoy - https://www.banditoy.ch ex Paris-Dakar mechanic, Cruiserhead and speaking english.

As germans they should even ask Index page - https://forum.buschtaxi.org , the german equivalent to IH8MUD and TLCA, since 98%n of the 80s in europe are Diesel.

 

[FJ40-GARAGE]

Started a thread on Buschtaxi for them so some german Diesel folks might join.

HILFE benötigt J8 Elektrik Katastrophe in USA

[b:31j6s0ol]Einer unserer Buschtaxi Reisenden ist in großer Not![/b:31j6s0ol] http://www.2machenblau.de sind mit Elektrikproblemen in Arizona gestrandet und bra

forum.buschtaxi.org

Facebook link here:

 

[OGBeno]

Herr Stadtler to the rescue…

 

[DSRTRDR]

today, John (@inkpot) and I took the Germans out to one of the prettiest area in the desert, some 15-20 miles out of town

they were impressed by the variety and beauty of the vegetation, and seemed -after some initial apprehension- to really enjoy themselves

amazingly for a Holiday weekend, we encountered very little traffic - I guess people have decided it's already too hot - but it was only 102F today - so what, it's a dry heat

 

[Jorgito]

In addition to this, other issues have been described, such as the engine temp climbing a couple times, as the gauge climbed towards red. A quick inspection of the cooling system has found a few leaking hoses, an aged radiator and heater valve, and an aged radiator cap. Coolant is not in the best condition. No further inspection to the rest of the vehicle has been performed at this time.

So far on this trip, they’ve had issues with the alternator as well as either the brakes or a knuckle stud. I only caught part of this story, as they told it to someone else so I cannot confirm which.

I have full sympathy for them to get it resolved, but how on earth would you leave for such a trip without checking even the most basic things on the car, changing the coolant and hoses, brakes, etc.

 

[SNLC]

I have full sympathy for them to get it resolved, but how on earth would you leave for such a trip without checking even the most basic things on the car, changing the coolant and hoses, brakes, etc.

Agree. I have done long multi country trips in trucks I prepped myself. Every single component on the vehicle gone over before leaving. As a result, I have had almost zero issues on nearly 50,000 logged on these trips. Some folks though don’t know their way around trucks, I have met many on these trips who struggled with even the most basic repairs.

I am curious, who built the Cruiser?

Cheers

 

[CaptBeardilocks]

According to their Insta, a German company called Custom Campers. I’m not familiar with them.

 

[DSRTRDR]

that company built the Camper (and they did much of the interior build-out themselves, including all the accessories)

they said the transmission conversion was already on the truck when they bought it - for an unspecified amount of time, the truck was kept in Spain by some PO

 

[Jorgito]

Any update?

 

[DSRTRDR]

Hi,

after @richardlillard1, @inkpot and @Stikboy9480 performed some more diagnostics, and in addition to the electrical issues, also found mechanical issues that would need to be addressed to make it fundamentally reliable, the Germans made the decision to have the camper shipped back to Germany. It was picked up by the shipper on Wednesday.

Meanwhile the couple are driving around in a rented Ford campervan - we all gave them long lists of places to go and see . . .

 

[Outono]

Pretty sure this got shipped to Valley Hybrids for work first...

 

[DSRTRDR]