With no electrical experience would you take on a wiring harness?

[cookie]

Randy, I feel your pain about working up the nerve to start pull out wires. I will crawl up under my dash and hood about once a week , shake my head cuss a little and wind up drinking a beer. I am a pretty fair mechanic/parts changer, but when it comes to electrical problems they are not my strong point. Good luck.

Jay

 

[trailerjack]

I was in the same boat as you when it came to rewiring my Scout way back when. I just decided to do it, and took my time. I went the extra step and soldered every connection and then used heat shrink tubing. Yes, it took forever, but I never had to worry about those crimp-type tubes coming lose...

It's not bad, just follow the directions and take your time. I think with me, it took about 3 leisurely weeks, but I got really good at soldering!

 

[bronconate68]

I went back and re-read a post from Paul from earlier in the summer......Since the shop "corrected" my fusible link issue I never upgraded that wire to 16g or to a Maxi fuse rated at 40-60.

If all that power goes through that wire I will try and upgrade it to 16g or a maxi fuse unless y'all think it would be a fire hazard.

I was blowing the fuse for the blinkers and tail lights. I put a 30 amp fuse in to get by and it would blow on every outing. Turns out I had a short to ground. Make sure your body, motor, frame are grounded proper then look for a short to ground. At least that is where I would start.

 

[DirtDonk]

You've got some serious power surges going in there!
Never seen an Ignitor module just blow up like that. See plenty of them "blow" in their fashion, but never one that had melted.

And do you know if the guy that replaced the old link with the two fuses has them both going to the same wire? In other words, are there just two spliced into one where the previous one was?
If so, I'm not sure how that would work, but in theory it should be fine, as current will pass equally through both. At least for awhile. If one fuse does blow though, or the connection of one wire is not as good as the other, then everything is back to flowing through just one wire and 30 amp fuse. And that won't last long.

Since a lot of these are occuring not long after startup, I wonder if it's possible that your alternator is overcharging for a few minutes? Since it's on that circuit that you're having so much trouble, it comes to mind.
Have you ever put a volt-meter on your battery when it's running? What voltage do you see?

The old fusible link was long gone by the time you got it, it looks to me. That yellow crimped connector is a giveaway.
I'd say that at least you have to search all the wires and look for a possible short like was said. If it's not the alternator charging too much, something is intermittently touching ground.

What year Bronco again?

Paul

 

[707Bronk]

WOW! Never seen a module blow up like that. Whenever I hear about pertonix units burning up you have to do some testing to find out...

X2 Bronconate on making sure chasis-motor-body are all grounded together.

You would think that the voltage regulator would be toast at this point, but maybe not. I'm not sure how to test them, but that would be a good idea.

I might also peek under the dash and see if any of the dash harness has been molested. I know that was the determining factor on a rewire for me.

 

[Rmally]

Hey Paul, its a 71 model (late) with the fuse box in the glove box.

I will be home tomorrow and will put the voltmeter on the battery, but I do recall the shop asking me 6-8 weeks ago if I had a high output alternator as they were getting some seriously high numbers.....I was assuming on there volt meter but will also call them to confirm.

I looked under the dash and didn't see anything odd....but again, I don't really know what I'm looking for.

I will also check the body grounds, thanks to everyone for all the input.....I need it.

 

[Rmally]

UPDATE:

Since I'm still out till Wednesday, my son checked the battery while the EB was running and stated the volt meter showed 15.5 He said he measured it several times.

Is that too high?

 

[DirtDonk]

Yes.
From the hint of an image of the alternator in pics 1 and 3, it looks like a standard Bronco alternator (Ford small-case 1G version) and would therefore "normally" be only up to about 60 amps or so output. But that's not to say that someone couldn't have done a Tim Taylor on it (re-wired it. For more power!) at some point.

However, amperage ratings aside, the voltage your son was seeing is too high. Indicative of either something wrong with the regulator, the alternator, or both.
Could always be an issue with wiring as well, but I'm more inclined towards the components.

Best to have them both checked and/or just replace them.
But check the condition of all the wiring first. Wouldn't hurt, or even be that much trouble, to unwrap the harness under the hood looking for any breaks, scuffs, or otherwise exposed conductors that could either be shorting to another wire, or direct to ground.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

Oh, and I meant to ask what your ammeter reads under normal conditions?
Does it work at all? Does it read in the "plus" side all the time?

Thanks

Paul