RE: [ihc] electrical

[Tom Harais <THarais@xxxxxxxxx>]

Kevin:

My Scout II did this some years ago.  In fact, when it was in a shop for a
"no-start" problem that turned out to be a gold box problem, the mechanic
called me and insisted that I allow him to replace the alternator too.  I
had recently installed a rebuilt alternator and had been having no problems,
but I had seen that ammeter sway from charge to discharge rapidly.

When I inquired as to why he wanted to replace my alternator, all he could
say do was insist that it was "full fielding" and not safe for me to drive.
When I tried to have him explain just what he meant by that and found him
illusive and overselling his replacement to say nothing of the $150 he
wanted to do this (remember, this was maybe 1990 or so, when a rebuilt
alternator was only $35 at the parts store), I just got the Scout back and
installed another rebuilt on my own.

It turned out that the rebuilt alternator was a waste of my money.  This is
also one of my anecdotal stories of why I don't think one should have
confidence in a diagnosis from a so called "professional" mechanic when your
own gut/experience/knowledge of the vehicle tells you something different.
IMHO, most paid mechanics are way too interested in throwing parts (and your
hard earned cash) at problems without complete diagnosis and no guarantees
of repair.  Cost effectiveness for the consumer just doesn't seem to be a
part of their thinking.

The swinging ammeter was just an indicator of more problems to come.  The
bulk head connection had allowed the heavy gauge wire from the positive
battery terminal (off the starter) to burn through to the ground wire in the
same connector, most likely from resistance generated heat.  It created an
occasional short that took me about another year to figure out.  The ammeter
would swing back and forth in kind of a wavy motion.  The starter would
engage with the key off, while the Scout was sitting in the driveway,
usually in response to my having disrupted the bulkhead connector by moving
the wire harness, but I didn't realize that for the longest time although
the freakishness of having the Scout do this was pretty scary.  The
headlights would go off when I braked hard and then come back on when I
stopped.

Needless to say, I finally figured out that this was the famous bulk head
connector problem and it all went away when I wired those two large gauge
wires for the ammeter around the connector.

Oh, did I mention that this problem has returned (years later and maybe
another 25,000 miles) to swinging back and forth?  This happens infrequently
after the battery is charged up from the last startup and only at high (by
IH standards) RPM.  I've pretty much surmised that my lousy (I used wire
nuts) splices of those wires have either corroded or become loose and are
causing this.  I just need to spend the time bypassing the ammeter all
together with soldered splices in front of that bulkhead connector.


I guess I'll have to add a voltmeter then to monitor the charging system. 


Tom H., '76 Traveler