Heavy rain killed all electrics

[Shayne]

Apparently the wipers slowed to a stop , the dash went black and at one point while pulled up behind a car she noticed the headlights were flashing faintly . airbag and abs lights came on .

I have had since i got the truck a timing belt light which i guess is harmless and a glowplug light which wasn't there before it went in for an mot ?

Where do i start ?

 

[Shayne]

I should add its dried out and fine again now .

 

[Chris]

Sounds like the dynamo. Everything running from the battery.

 

[Shayne]

Makes sense batteries trying to provide power but with no backup failing , it's working now though so hopefully it just needs clean and waterproof connections . A quick look says i'm not going to get the alternator off before the rain starts again its near dark now .

 

[Chris]

Well it doesn't necessarily mean it the alternator unit itself Shayne. As we know, check the easy things first. Battery connections, engine earth strap, belt tension, alternator plug etc.

 

[David]

I had a Defender TD5, sorry for swearing on here that did the same thing once I just cleaned the alternator connections up and gave it all a good spraying and was ok after that

 

[Shayne]

There's nothing simple about car electrics Chris every time i see a light on the dash i want to reach for a sledgehammer . The D4d needs 2 new batteries , currently running because i took them from my truck which may as well be on a sorn because i don't have the patience to play with it's fairy lights . If there was an auto electrician locally i felt it wouldn't be absolute insanity to trust i'd say here fix the f****** things and i don't care what it costs .

 

[Towpack]

If it happened when wet and it's ok now it's dried then it most probably is something simple like a bad connection. You don't need to know much about electrics to check connections are good. Just work through them one by one. You're better off using some switch cleaner rather than WD40 IMO.

 

[clivehorridge]

I know how you feel Shayne, my ignorance of vehicle electrics means I just lose patience when they show glitches.

Everything seems to be made over-complicated IMO, but that’s really only because I don’t properly know what’s going on. ECUs and goodness knows what just leave me cold. I know what a relay does, and how to wire it, but that as complicated as my small brain can cope with.

Moons ago, we built a mini from scratch, a bare body shell for starters, and reconditioned donor car bits added.

I wired that from zero, made my own looms and fused every component separately. Even each headlamp had a separate fuse. I still can’t believe that it all worked perfectly!

 

[Towpack]

I did the same with a bike years ago Clive. Bought a Harris frame and suspension, magnesium alloy wheels, sourced an engine and wired it all from scratch. Never had an issue with it but when you build something up like that you know it inside out and could probably work on it blind folded!

 

[StarCruiser]

Shayne, get your multimeter out and test battery voltage across the actual battery terminal posts. Then across the battery connectors. Then start engine and do the same. Measure on DC volts and post up your findings.

Oh and put the sledgehammer somewhere out of reach ok.

 

[chapel gate]

the electrics on the 80 are not too bad. persevere. the wiring diagrams are easy to read.

I installed electric folding mirrors from scratch on mine and it wasn't too hard. oem wiring looms are still available as are all of the connectors and pig tails so that connectors can be made up.

there are a number of "control units" these are cheap and easy to get hold of. the only ECU,s really are for emission control and four wheel drive and the like. easy and cheap to get hold of if you ever need to, unlikely.

the emission control ones can be thrown in the bin. the recycle bin of course..

 

[chapel gate]

oh, the best description ive heard of the 80s electrical system was "electromechanical"
it may even of been you towpack.

 

[Shayne]

I will sort it i was just annoyed that she didn't leave a note before she went to bed after a nightshift so i learned of it too late to do anything about it in the wrong frame of mind right off the bat .

 

[StarCruiser]

I think it's less likely to do with the rain than it is to do with the amount of load on the system and a poor connection somewhere. Don't forget these trucks run under water,




don't they Chas!?

(Runs and hides)

 

[Firewout]

you could check the earth point on the back of the engine block just in front of the bulkhead. not easy to get to but it can give all sorts of trouble when it has a bad connection. did the rev counter stop working as well?

 

[StarCruiser]

Any suspected bad connections can be located with a multimeter set to DC volts placed across the suspect joint or cable. This is best done with some load applied like headlights. Good joints will show zero volts anything more than that indicates a possible problem. Wiggling plugs and bridging things like battery cables or earth straps with heavy jump leads can be used to prove where a poor connection is.

 

[Firewout]

we used to spot bad connections with a thermal camera. it gave orange and red areas on the screen, but in this case it would not be very realistic near a hot combustion engine.

 

[frank rabbets]

If it was a long drive through a lot of standing water could it have been the belts slipping thereby stopping the alternator charging and draining the batteries. Had this on mine towing a large trailor on the motor way. Smoke alerted me to the problem!!

 

[StarCruiser]

we used to spot bad connections with a thermal camera. it gave orange and red areas on the screen, but in this case it would not be very realistic near a hot combustion engine.

I would really like one of those.