'77 Bus - Fried Ground Wire? (The One By The Coil Wire)

Post by **Sluggo** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:21 am

Here's an odd one.

The small harness that contains the Oil Pressure Switch wire and Coil wire also has a 3rd wire that is brown. On my '72 this wire is grounded to the engine block. So that is where I put it on my '77. The PO had it completely disconnected. Hooked up the battery and went up front to make sure the dash lights worked. They didn't and I just got a flicker from my light up dashboard blowfish. Then I noticed a whirring noise from the dash. Then I noticed a smell. Wait, I know that smell. Oh Shit! Smoke! Pulled the negative cable off the battery and waved away all the smoke. That brown wire is fried all the way into the harness. Big melted, rubbery mess. Melted through a small part of the Oil Pressure wire too. That brown wire is now just a bare wire with goopey spots. I powered up again for a millisecond to make sure it was that wire. Sure enough, it jumped from the charge.

1. Where does the other end of this wire connect? I pulled the instrument cluster and checked all under the dash but couldn't find any melted bits.

2. It's brown so it has to be ground right?

3. Hope I didn't fry the harness. (Not really a question. More of a Prayer. [-o<

)

Post by **Sluggo** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:33 pm

Come on! I'm impatient!

Gypsie · Post by **Gypsie** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:34 pm

I wish I could help here. I was hoping someone would have the magic answer. I am praying for minimal meltiness too....

I could look in the Bentley for some guidance but I was hoping someone would chime in. I suppose you could start doing some ohm meter work to track it down.

Gypsie vibes yer way...

Post by **Sluggo** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:46 pm

Gypsie wrote:I wish I could help here. I was hoping someone would have the magic answer. I am praying for minimal meltiness too....

I could look in the Bentley for some guidance but I was hoping someone would chime in. I suppose you could start doing some ohm meter work to track it down.

Gypsie vibes yer way...

I went through the Bentley and the yellow dealership Bentley. The diagrams never tell you where the wire is, just what it connects to. Further, it rarely shows what the ground is connected to. I assume it's because as long as it attaches to the body it doesn't matter. However, when someone connects the other end of that ground to something live, it makes it makes it a very difficult task.

How could I use an OHM meter to track it without hooking up the battery?

EDIT********************

Just had an idea! The '72 diagram DOES show the routing of the wiring! I'm off to the Bus!

Post by **Sluggo** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:26 pm

Still couldn't find it in the '72 diagram but I checked the starter and there is a red wire there that is fried. I'm now thinking that my color blind eyes identified faded red as brown and that the 3rd wire from that harness in a '72 isn't a ground. The worse option is that the red wire fried, melted through the ground and then powered it, which would mean I need a new harness.

Post by **Sluggo** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:37 pm

According to the Bentley there are two red wires coming from the starter. One large wire goes to the alternator. The other goes to the heater air blower relay. My fried one is the smaller one. I still don't see how this would affect the ground wire. Wish I wasn't color blind. Wife will be home to help identify the color soon.

Hippie · Post by **Hippie** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:55 pm

So you grounded the other end of the blower power wire? Am I reading right...I'm real tired.

Post by **Sluggo** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:25 pm

Hippie wrote:So you grounded the other end of the blower power wire? Am I reading right...I'm real tired.

I think so. I'm just remembering two things.

1. The PO told me he couldn't get the heater to work. That means he was messin' with it.

2. When I went through all the fan wires and straightened them out I noticed the wire had been fried & cut and the fuse was replaced with a twisted up piece of soda can. I replaced the entire wire, threw away the tin can shrapnel, replaced it with a 16 amp ceramic fuse (the stock fuse holder is still good) and powered it directly from the battery.

Summary:
The other end of the wire from the starter had been taped off with duct tape. Being very color blind, I saw the faded red as brown and assumed it was the same as the wire in my '72. I then grounded it directly to the engine block.

Hilarity ensues.

Odd that it's red enough for me to see it under the Bus but not in the engine compartment. I guess the heat makes it fade more.

I'm very tempted to abuse my power and delete this thread in an attempt to mask my (temporary) stupidity (that sentence had a lot of "temp"s in it).

chitwnvw · Post by **chitwnvw** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:02 pm

I have a weird color blindness too. I can't tell the difference between dark navy blue and black. Everything else is fine. But now and again, I stumble with dress socks. So maybe you are 'spectrum impaired' in that area. It is good to note, so that you don't make this type of 'mistake' again and again.

Hippie · Post by **Hippie** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:20 pm

Sluggo wrote:I'm very tempted to abuse my power and delete this thread in an attempt to mask my (temporary) stupidity (that sentence had a lot of "temp"s in it).

You could always get a job on TS

Gawd I hope you don't have to get into that harness

....UPS trucks are dark green to me. Other than that, I'm cool.

chitwnvw · Post by **chitwnvw** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:29 pm

They deleted a thread of mine. Thought I lost my mind. I hope we don't come to that. Stand tall, Sluggo. Everyone makes mistakes, and the brave man fesses up.

Post by **Sluggo** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:28 pm

chitwnvw wrote:They deleted a thread of mine. Thought I lost my mind. I hope we don't come to that. Stand tall, Sluggo. Everyone makes mistakes, and the brave man fesses up.

I wouldn't really do it. My ego isn't that fragile.

Wife came out and confirmed that not only is the wire very red. It's barely faded. Cut it out of the loop and all is good. All but killed the battery though. I'll just need to spend a few hours going through a few feet of harness to make sure it didn't melt any of the wires next to it and replace them if it did.

Thanks for not being cruel. I've given a big opportunity here.

Hippie · Post by **Hippie** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:06 am

Sluggo wrote:Thanks for not being cruel. I've given a big opportunity here.

We just forgot to be.

There, that's better!

Post by **Sluggo** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:13 am

Hippie wrote:
Sluggo wrote:Thanks for not being cruel. I've given a big opportunity here.
We just forgot to be.

There, that's better!

Nelson's "HA HA" was my Son's 4th or 5th words. There's probably a reason for that.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:00 am

Sluggo wrote:Here's an odd one.

The small harness that contains the Oil Pressure Switch wire and Coil wire also has a 3rd wire that is brown. On my '72 this wire is grounded to the engine block. So that is where I put it on my '77.

But no, no, no, didn't work out, did it? Ya can't do these kinds of assumptions. You can't with a half-decade spread between vehicles.

Whatchadoo in a case like that, is go directly to your wiring diagram for the '77 bus to discover that the wire in question used to go to the diagnostic connector. . . IIRC . . . seeing as I do not have the wiring diagram in my possession at this time.
Colinhowhelpfulwasthat?

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'77 Bus - Fried Ground Wire? (The One By The Coil Wire)

'77 Bus - Fried Ground Wire? (The One By The Coil Wire)

Re: '77 Bus - Fried Ground Wire? (The One By The Coil Wire)