Redneck-Related Electrical Problems

[sailorboy1]

For those not from the US, Red Neck Related is like marrying your cousin/sister, so you were related to start with.

Last year I had an engine starting problem that I tracked down to a bad pin in the wiring harness. So I installed a jumper around it to fix it. Afterwards my engine tach didn't work, but it was late in the year and I knew by sound what the engine was doing. But I also noticed that the engine alarm wasn't coming on when I started the engine (low oil pressure) and then it occurred to me that this started at the same time as the other 2.

So after reading the wiring diagram etc I finally just unplugged and reconnected the tach wires and it worked afterwards (was next to the harness connector for the engine start problem). Then after chasing the alarm, including pulling the buzzer, for a few hours found that the wiring harness pin in the same harness connector had just plain corroded away (probaly was OK till I unplugged it to fix the engine starting prtoblem).

So it seems that electrical problem are all related, just like red neck cousins. And to top it they are a three-some! From now on I'm always going to think related red necks when I have a problem as they probably have something to do with each other!

[Christian Van H]

Well Don, what ya found here is the reason that some people refuse to have an engine harness with plugs in a marine environment. I would much prefer ring crimps with heat shrink going to screw terminal blocks over anything with pin plugs... but not many new engines come that way. Just for grins, go to Radio Shack sometime and get their DeOxit / ProGold spray cleaner pack and try it on those male and female connectors...Just might be the ticket! See here: DeoxIT™/ProGold™ Twin Pack - RadioShack.com

[Ex-Calif]

- If one pin corrodes/breaks in a harness the others are right behind.

- Grandma used to say, "If something stops working go check on the last thing you "fouled" up."

She also said, "If it ain't "fouled" up don't fix it."