Rat Disaster. Need Electrical Help.

[Dftodd]

For the fuel gauge. I have a bunch of those at work, and if it's working sporadically then it's almost always a grounding issue. I've found that making up a jumper wire using a couple of the fork looking butt connectors. And then remove one of the mounting screws from the sending unit. Polish where the screw meets the top of the sending unit with sand paper, reinstall the screw with one end of the jumper. Then find a convenient bolt on the frame and attach the other end of the jumper. Found that this works about 90% of the time. The other 10% is a either a film build up, or diesel booger on the contact.
I hang a couple of old socks with moth balls on my tractor when I store it. One under the hood, and the other gets stuffed under the dash. I just remove them when i use it, and stuff them back up there when I'm done

 

[s219]

I bought two of the Harbor Freight multimeters, one to keep in my boat and one to keep in my truck. Not as nice as my Fluke multimeter, but having *any* multimeter out on a boat or in a truck when you really need one is a big deal. I already used the one in the boat once to diagnose a flakey bilge pump line.

 

[Scott65]

James, very much agreed about the multimeter curriculum. As with soldering, it is very handy information. But much more so. Have you ever used a power probe? They are a little pricey, so it depends on how much electrical work you do. But for me especially, doing it every day, one is worth every penny. Using it correctly, it becomes your DVOM's right-hand man

 

[k0ua]

James, very much agreed about the multimeter curriculum. As with soldering, it is very handy information. But much more so. Have you ever used a power probe? They are a little pricey, so it depends on how much electrical work you do. But for me especially, doing it every day, one is worth every penny. Using it correctly, it becomes your DVOM's right-hand man

No, I haven't scott, but it looks handy. When I was doing TV repair at the component level, (really dating myself here) we had a home made product called the "octopus" that was a curve tracer that used in conjunction with an oscilloscope for a readout device was extremely useful for testing semi-conductors while they were still soldered in to the circuit. It was also very good for testing leaky capacitors or other intermittent components. But these types of things are far more than what is needed to fix simple problems. All you need is a good multimeter and a little understanding of how to use it. I bought my first one when I was 12. Saved up the money and plunked it down on the counter at Reed Radio in Springfield, Mo. I still have it 48 years later. I think I gave about $7 for it. I is an RCA WV516A. it was actually made by a company called Viz and branded RCA. Yes I try to take care of my tools Somehow that little simple analog multimeter has survived all this time.

 

[caver]

Not a thing wrong with crimped butt splices such as T&B, Stakon etc. Most people butcher them up with the wrong crimper or wrongly sized crimps for the wire. A rat ate through my old wiring on my previous Kioti in the same spot as yours. I've put butt splices on 750MCM HV cable......need to use a hydraulic crimper for those.
I got lax again and a year later the rats hit the same area. I now use those poison green balls the size of Trix cereal. Put them where the raccoons can't get to them because them seem to love them. On my old tractor I would leave the dash loose and open. On the new tractor I leave the hood open when I leave the property. I also found those $40 rat zapper traps very effective.

 

[k0ua]

If they wouldn't make wire insulation nowadays out of soy based materiel's (basically rat food) we would not have all of these incidents of rat and squirrel damage to automotive wiring. It is almost an epidemic of rodent caused damage. The unintended consequences of the "green revolution".

 

[ultrarunner]

A simple probe test light covers about 95% of my automotive trouble shooting.

The better ones are Leslie, Mac, Snap On...

One of my friends bought on my suggestions and it was junk from the corner discount auto store...

Here is the one I use...

http://pic70.picturetrail.com/VOL1786/10759527/19170670/407961164.jpg

 

[kneedeep]

I use this in the camper and it works

Fresh Cab® #1 Botanical Rodent Repellant, 10 oz. - Tractor Supply Co.

 

[kneedeep]

I use this in the camper and it works

Fresh Cab® #1 Botanical Rodent Repellant, 10 oz. - Tractor Supply Co.

 

[TomSeller]

I use this in the camper and it works

Fresh Cab® #1 Botanical Rodent Repellant, 10 oz. - Tractor Supply Co.

Can you use that under the hood?