batteries and more batteries, and little electrical, and little bit of gas.

[boggen]

this past week, has been a nightmare with batteries dead. 2 ford trucks, 1 chevy blazer / suv, 1 allis chalmers tractor, 1 trolling motor battery.
1 electric saw, cooked it up in smoke, saw dust got in on windings of motor and decided to cook the windings.
2 vss sensors 1 hyundai santa fe / suv and 1 truck
1 maf sensor 1 hyundai santa fa
1 carb on tractor
1 carb on push trimmer (push mower but trimmer)
1 shifter lever in truck rubber boots bad / could not get key out

of course fix one thing another thing happens.

attempt to do my best to pre maintenance and maintain stuff, but *arghs*

youtube might begin billing me!

 

[KubotainNH]

Some weeks are like that. No matter what you do things don't work.

 

[boggen]

alllis chalmers ca 1954 tractor...
6 volt system, with generator on it (not alternator)
--one of the studs/terminals on the generator, there is a hard plastic washer, that holds the bolt going through casing, it broke, allowing a short to happen.

--battery was bad. (multi meter showed good, then did a load test after getting meter, then it showed bad with load test)

--1 of the spark plugs, the ends have "screw ends" were the plug wires go on. one of the ends fell off completely inside the plug.

-- 1 head light burned out.

-- both head light gaskets decided to give up there last life and crumble apart.

--starter got torn apart completely and cleaned and put back together.
--wires all checked for breaks in insulation, and continuity through them.

===============
2000 F250 4x4 truck.
--key got stuck in ignition, pulled steering column all apart, to find 2 rubber boots on the shifter were worn, allowing the shifter to slide down further, causing the lock actuator to not fully engage resulting in key would not get released.

--upon doing above fix, i guess i messed up the screw, that holds the wiring harness plug, to the ignition switch, the result, the nut molded into the ignition switch pulled out and held tight to the screw. resulting in the plug not fully seated.... i am almost positive i did not over tighten. but *shrugs* to late now.

-- there 2 cables going to positive on battery, once i cut back the insulation.i found 1 wire heavily corroded, and both cables held inside the terminal partially cut (multi strands of wire broken). result, not getting a good connection.
-- rather fun.... watching a light show of thunder strikes in background, while holding onto a flash light, wiggling wires, and finally finding wire that causes lights on vehicle to come alive as the connection was going in/out.
--hopefully can find a quick disconnect terminal end that is long enough to deal with 2 short wires going to the positive terminal on battery. not really looking to splice a short cable in, or tear apart entire wire harness, to put in a new wire.

--all fuses inside cab, and under hood all got cleaned. (fairly well dirt/dust covered)
--some bolts here and there got cleaned of rust for grounding spots.
--some misc wiring harness plugs also cleaned up.

=========
frustration nearly over i hope once i get parts in.

last and final frustration. trying to get the nut off the wiring harness plug that goes to the ignition switch.




already tried needle nose smallest i have, and not small enough, tried flat head screw drivers, some little picks, bottle of beer cap remover, snap ring pliers with long straight ends.

not sure if i can even find small enough and long enough needle nose pliers some place,

might try a small drill bit and drill me a hole. and hope bit does not break, when i put wrench to bolt head. (using drill bit to pry against)

any suggestions to get the nut off?

 

[boggen]

and the latest. battery light come on in truck.

after repairing battery terminal connection and wire right at the battery. begin wiggling wires around....and wire on alternator fell completely off. there is a little flat disc with some threads sticking off of it. that is suppose to be on the end of the "alternator terminal extension". and the little soldering looks to have given way.



nearly 10 bucks for the little item with shipping. :/

time to find some ring terminals and chunk of wire and make my own.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yep... the more complex the more to go wrong.

I still prize some hand me down tools and none are electric.

I think of my Grandfather's old Crank Start Diesel Tractor... it ran 50+ years before being retired... nothing electrical on it...

In winter he had to light a bunt for a real "Glow-plug" to crank start when cold.

I marvel at just how reliable things were back in the day and how dependent and fragile new technology can be if only how feasible is it to build/repair/fabricate electronics in the home shop

 

[GAFarmer2]

All I can say is "when it rains, it pours". Hoping everything will calm down for you soon!

 

[not2old]

Thanks for giving me help with this sort of stuff. I sometimes get depressed when more things quit in a week than I get fixed. I thought I was alone.

 

[ultrarunner]

Momma said there would be days (Weeks) like this.

Every once in awhile I wonder if I should have stayed in bed...

Poor brother had a few days off and ran one of the forks through the door of his new King Ranch... $2600 in damages and he was in a hurry to get a lot done in the time he had.

Best advice is a job takes as long as it takes...

 

[boggen]

well got a patch job on it, were the "terminal extension" went on the alternator. battery light still on.

just tossing multi meter across battery terminals, with truck on reading 12.3v to 12.6v so clearly alternator is not sending juice to the battery and getting it charged. feet wet from morning / last night rain, and did not feel like falling off the bumper. to check from alternator to ground or to battery to see if it was cable in the wiring harness was still causing issues. just a couple days ago i was seeing 14.x volts.

got tired of messing with truck outdoors. and shed needed serious cleaning. to get tractor in that needs engine checked out, along with room to pull in truck. hopefully tomorrow will get into the truck more better to see what is going on.

========
on another mis-hap adventure. on another truck, it needed jumped to get started, pulled truck up by the house, so i could pull the battery and toss it on a charger inside (rain coming this way), went to remove positive cable and the post on the battery decided to come loose from the battery. errr battery is junk. granted battery looks like is about 10 years old.

========
and on another mis hap adventure. old blower from central heating/ a/c. i kept the blower and motor, and just wired up the motor directly to a 120v plug. motor on it so old, that it has oil tubes on it, and little flapper spots to lift up and drop some oil into the bearings on it. it ran for about 2 hours. before it decided to heat up. and stop working. let it cool off for a couple hours and it started back up. looks like i will be forced to make an actual box, so air gets pulled across the motor to help keep it cool. most likely less dangerous to with a box on it. it was sucking in and blowing everything around.

========
and yet on another mis hap. adventure. slowly redoing wiring yet again in basement. thought i had breaker off, normally always check with multi meter, to verify, no power. and got a little tingle from left pointer finger, to right point finger and thumb. just a little 120v going through the heart. scared the heck out of me! thankfully just less than a second zap. and it was of course "easy peasy" outlet i was installing. got to comfy it would seem. and must of not had the multi meter leads touching and ended up on insulation i guess. "basement dark, flashlight work"

========
EDIT: woops one more mis hap. adventure. running 2 drills down stairs, one hammer drill to drill into concrete to set some anchors. and another with philips head to drive the screws. the one driving the screws, i need to install a new cable on it. twist wire one way and it works, let it hang and it does not work., as i clean up the shed today, found some stuff were i knew motor was blown, and found a couple cables with plugs on them. so hopefully all good once i get around putting on a new cable onto the drill.