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?

 

[N80]

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

I've put some mothballs around the tractor but I like the sock trick and will try that.

The ground from the sender is attached to one of the sending unit mounting screws. I used an emory board to scuff up the fork connector etc and it did not help, but I did not do a jumper wire. I will try that.

It looks like a pain to remove the fuel tank to get the sender/float out. I could not believe it was positioned such that the hood hinge pin prevents its removal. The fuel tank only needs to be budged about a half inch for clearance so maybe when it is near empty I'll loosen it and check the float if none of these other things work.

My super cheap multimeter can do DC but all it has is 4 little lights that range from like 600 to 160 volts. So I doubt it will be useful for this low voltage stuff. I think I'll pick up one of the ones that has been suggested.

 

[Dftodd]

There are times I wish I could choke the engineer who designed some things I'm working on. The sending unit I work on ground through the mounting screws, and have a rubber gasket. No way to remove the fuel tank, and the sending unit has a frame rail with about 1 1/2" of clearance above it. Can only get to one mounting screw. The rest are accessed blind with a little 90 degree screw driver. Tech support said to pull the motor to gain access:thumbdown:
I've had good luck with the little cheapy digital multimeter they sell at Walmart. Cost around 10$ and keep it in my service truck. If I lose it, or break it I don't feel so bad. Good luck with it

 

[Dftodd]

Sorry double post, cell phone went on the fritz

 

[N80]

Update. Tried re-grounding the float/sending unit. Nothing. Loosened the fuel tank enough to get the float/sending unit out, took it apart and cleaned it up real good. It is a cheap looking piece of junk. Surprised it worked as long as it did. Made sure the contact points along the rheostat (?) were good. Wired it back up outside the fuel tank and it began working again but was very sporadic in its response to float position which is exactly the way it was before I rewired the dash so I'm pretty sure its the float/sending unit. Will get a price on a new one when I get the chance. I'm expecting to be shocked. The dang breather tube was like $30! (The guy at the tractor place said that this breather tube also fit some New Holland tractors and was closer to $40 so he sells the NH guys the Kubota one.) Anyway, back on topic.....if the new ones are too expensive I'll just leave it alone. When I was looking at used tractors way back when I saw one with a wooden dowel hanging from the throttle leaver. When I asked the owner what it was he said "fuel gauge".

 

[crazyal]

Actually that one looks to be pretty good quality. the ones I've messed with have wire wrapped around a non electrically conductive material and the wiper arm rubs against it. The wire gets worn or breaks and then the gauge stops working. I'm guessing that mfgs assume that fuel will lubricate the wiper to keep it from wearing out.

 

[Coyote machine]

Here is an alternative source for fuel gauge senders of various arm lengths for different tank depths, etc. They're mostly universally compatible with the gauge's rated Ohms range. Marine and RV spec, will not rust, and better quality than your OEM sender unit. Talk to their sales people about what model would work for your hole pattern, usually 5 hole pattern in the tank.
Electric Sending Unit, 6" to 12" Tank Depth #35722-10

 

[TomSeller]

Here is an alternative source for fuel gauge senders of various arm lengths for different tank depths, etc. They're mostly universally compatible with the gauge's rated Ohms range. Marine and RV spec, will not rust, and better quality than your OEM sender unit. Talk to their sales people about what model would work for your hole pattern, usually 5 hole pattern in the tank.
Electric Sending Unit, 6" to 12" Tank Depth #35722-10

I notice on one of the PDFs linked in the page they say for gasoline but reference diesel "if a separate return line is available". Not sure what that means. Fuel return off of the injectors?

 

[N80]

Here is an alternative source for fuel gauge senders of various arm lengths for different tank depths, etc. They're mostly universally compatible with the gauge's rated Ohms range. Marine and RV spec, will not rust, and better quality than your OEM sender unit. Talk to their sales people about what model would work for your hole pattern, usually 5 hole pattern in the tank.
Electric Sending Unit, 6" to 12" Tank Depth #35722-10

Thanks for the link. For under $30 it would certainly be worth a try.

 

[N80]

Error-double post.

 

[TomSeller]

Thanks for the link. For under $30 it would certainly be worth a try.

I noticed on one of the PDFs linked in the page they say for gasoline but reference diesel "if a separate return line is available". Not sure what that means. If you use one and figure out what they are talking about, I would appreciate knowing. It would not seem to me that the fuel would make a difference as long as it is compatible.