1845 problem

[PowerTracManiac]

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Sounds to me like a case of them there electrical gremlins alright. You have my sympathy.

My bet would be either on a shorting cable, wet or corroded terminal strip, or a flakey ground.

I'd be inclined to pull the front cover to the dash, and check the terminal strip to make sure the wires look ok (dry, no corrosion) and that the terminals are tight. Then, I'd check the main cable from the dash terminal strip back to the electrical box, checking especially where it could have been rubbing. It is a bit of a challenge to access all the places the cable crosses sharp metal, but pulling the covers helps. Then I'd check the electrical box, pain that it is to access. Finally, if I didn't find anything, I would run a new ground from the front dash to the battery negative terminal on the engine block, and one from that bolt to the rear tub frame.

Side story: I had an otherwise nice trailer that had rear lights that would work for a while, then flake out, and then after a while back to normal. Drove the prior owner nuts, as he had it to an otherwise great auto electrical shop numerous times, without them finding a cause. He sold it to me, and it had the same behavior, so I decided to bite the bullet and pull new cable. As I pulled out the old cable, I found a slice across the cable, cutting into the wires. Turns out the manufacturer had left a sharp edge where two pieces of square metal tube butted together, and they had run the cable through the square metal tube front to rear, and the sharp edge had slowly vibrated into the cable, shorting wires to ground. Then it would go over a bump and bounce free of the short. Maddening. Fixing the sharp edge inside the tube was a pain.

Good luck.

All the

***yes to above***
You started this post with a mouse nest in the engine bay. I bet they also chewed up some wire insulation somewhere and you are having an intermittent electrical issue. Sorry, I have been there also. Locate all grounds and clean/check those wires first. Then go from the grounds to other wires that are obvious/easy to see all the way around/where they might rub on something?-to wires that are more hidden. I dont have the tilt seat on my PT1460 or a wiring diagram which would be very nice, but that tilt seat/solenoid might be tied into the engine shutdown circuit?
I try to remember that the fuse/circuit breaker is there to protect the WIRE before it melts down.....good luck

 

[ernemats]

spent most of the afternoon checking wiring and could not find any wire damaged by mice chewing. When I start it up the circuit breaker does not pop out till it has been running for about 15 seconds. Terry is at a loss of what to check that I have not already done. only place i have not checked is where the wiring goes through the tunnel which I have no idea how you can do that. I am not keen on trying what Terry suggested to do to find problem.

 

[ponytug]

spent most of the afternoon checking wiring and could not find any wire damaged by mice chewing. When I start it up the circuit breaker does not pop out till it has been running for about 15 seconds. Terry is at a loss of what to check that I have not already done. only place i have not checked is where the wiring goes through the tunnel which I have no idea how you can do that. I am not keen on trying what Terry suggested to do to find problem.

What did Terry suggest?

15 secs for a slow short is about par for the course.

On my machine the only wire that goes through the tunnel is elevator control cord. It is pretty bulletproof; however, it does along the floor of the engine pan, and it might be possible that it has been eroded there. If it were me, I would check from the dash down by feel, and then again under floor below the treadle, and again back where it emerges from the tunnel into the engine tub.

Have you tried pulling the Deutz engine plug and seeing if you get the breaker popping in 15 seconds?

All the best, Peter

 

[SpringHollow]

Disconnect the wire in question and run a temporary bypass for that wire (don't run through the tunnel) and see if that changes anything. If it does, you know the problem. If it doesn't, just reconnect it.

 

[gengine]

If it's blowing a fuse rated 10 amps higher than the breaker, you have a wire that is grounding out somewhere, it is pulling too many amps somewhere. Grab your multimeter, and start chising that wire from the fues holder down stream, unplugging things one at a time until your ohm meter reading changes from a high reading to almost nothing. When it changes, there is your bad part. if it doesn't change, you have something in your harness shorting out. That's where your start the wiggle test. grab that harness, and in 1 foot sections, start wiggling it to see if it changes when bending the wires. if it does, your problem is in that 1' section. Carefully cut open the harness and inspect. if no external damage is found, bend the wires. if they make a good arc shape, they are good inside. If they make a sharp angle, they are broken inside.