#^%@& Electrical!!!

chinard · #1 (**permalink**) 07-20-2003, 08:00 PM

This morning i started up my jeep, let the sucker warm up, then started pulling out of my garage when all of a sudden i hear a pop and my electrical system dies...

... Ignition, Lights, signals, Radio, heating... Everything except for the dashboard clock?!?

I did a quick visual inspection, but didn't see anything unusual and didnt smell any ionizing from anything arcing, so i figure the problem is either a short or a fuse.

Anyways, I didn't have time to figure it out, so i just took my other car to work, but i will be diving back into things when i get back home.

Anybody have any pointers in tracking down this bug?

(Which cables, which fuses, etc. might be at the root of this.)

BTW-I thought about a painless wiring harness, then I saw the price tag. (ouch!)

$900 Canadian for what looks like $30 worth of wire? I don't think so... [img]modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img][addsig]

PerformanceTruck&Auto · #2 (**permalink**) 07-20-2003, 08:00 PM

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE>This morning i started up my jeep, let the sucker warm up, then started pulling out of my garage when all of a sudden i hear a pop and my electrical system dies...

... Ignition, Lights, signals, Radio, heating... Everything except for the dashboard clock?!?

I did a quick visual inspection, but didn't see anything unusual and didnt smell any ionizing from anything arcing, so i figure the problem is either a short or a fuse.

Anyways, I didn't have time to figure it out, so i just took my other car to work, but i will be diving back into things when i get back home.

Anybody have any pointers in tracking down this bug?

(Which cables, which fuses, etc. might be at the root of this.)

BTW-I thought about a painless wiring harness, then I saw the price tag. (ouch!)

$900 Canadian for what looks like $30 worth of wire? I don't think so... [img]modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not sure where you're looking, but I did a currency conversion using the going rate for a pre-terminated Painless harness here in the US and it works out to about $620.00 Canadian. I work with Painless harnesses all the time and I can tell you that they are a lot more than just $30 worth of wire. You get a high quality fuse block, nice connections, all the lights, etc etc etc and *everything* fits very well. Also, it truly *is* painless to install. Anyone who has a problem with the install is either not following th instrutions or just is not very mechanically inclined.

I usually recommend to anyone with an old CJ that they get a new harness when problems start popping up. The wire guage that AMC used was too small which makes it prone to getting brittle from years of overheating.

If you're interested, I have them for sale. Contact me through e-mail.[addsig]

chinard · #3 (**permalink**) 07-20-2003, 08:00 PM

found it!!

I went home from work early, and took a voltmeter to the electical, backtracing from the battery...

My Red + battery cable was corroded through!!! I jiggled it a bit and my jeep came back to life...

Looks like its time to make a field trip to the auto parts store and get some shiny new battery cables [img]modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img][addsig]