Seeing is believeing

[ccmarsh]

Yesterday, after taking off 3 miles of teflon tape I saw something that blew me away. I found 6 wires all connected together, grounded incorrectly, touching my engine block, and apparently eating away at the block. The wires weren't properly protected and slowly the tape that surrounded them either rubbed away or was melted away. I found a yellowish powdery substance like battery acid all back there while I was picking away at my block with my finger.

I corrected everything last night and I will double check it today however my question is, what do I do when I'm done? Should i try to start it? Or are there other things I should check i.e compression checks before I try? I am really at a loss here.

The coast guard should outlaw that tape on boats. I hate it. Buy the way, mineral spirits work great when removing the gooey stuff off the wires that the tape leaves behind.

 

[mkast]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Help me out, why a compression check because of an electrical problem? Sounds like you found a negative wire coupling.
It's not unheard of for the factory to gang five or more ground wires together, and tape it up. Found the same arrangement on my boat.
I installed a negative buss, routed the wires there and then ran a twelve gauge wire to the block.

 

[Coors]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Sounds like a rig to me. Do you have a factory manual, to trace the wiring?

 

[Don S]

Re: Seeing is believeing

What color were the wires? IF they were black, it won't hurt anything that they were touching the block, eventually they are ATTACHED to the block.
I would also bet you meant black electrical tape and not teflon tape (which is a pipe thread sealer)
Where were these wires located and what engine is it?

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: Seeing is believeing

......

 

[ccmarsh]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Yes, they were all black as far as hurting anything maybe not but that setup just seems stupid to me. And yes electrical tape not teflon tape, my mistake.

 

[ccmarsh]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Help me out, why a compression check because of an electrical problem?

That was a joke. There is a certain person on here that always tells people that.

What color were the wires? IF they were black, it won't hurt anything back electrical tape and not teflon tape Where were these wires located and what engine is it?

Yes, all black. I don't care if it won't hurt anythink it just seems stupid. Yes, electrical tape and I'm not going to write down where all the wires were located. It's a 1972 302 Ford w/ an electric choke 2bbl holley, 188.

Sounds like a rig to me. Do you have a factory manual, to trace the wiring?

I don't think that it is a rig. yes I have the manual to trace the wiring. That's what I did all day today was correcting things. If Don would be so gracious as to add that Seloc wiring diagram that he sent me a couple of days ago you would be able to see just what I am talking about.

 

[ccmarsh]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Up north here we call that rust.
Battery acid is clear.
Teflon tape is not adhesive.

Ok.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Seeing is believeing

The five way gang thing does not sound normal, but if they are all black, it should not hurt anything.....
The main block ground is located at the aft end of the starboard exhaust manifold on the plate that the slave solenoid is bolted to........​

 

[Don S]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Yes, it's normal. At the factory, all the ground wires to seperate items are all soldered to one spot on the harness and usually a #8 wire is bolted to the block and the others go off to the individule item. Such as the shift interrupt switch, choke coil, trim senders, etc. Then they are clamped so they can't chafe on things. But who knows who has worked on a 1972 engine since it was factory. That's over 35 years.
Today, electrical tape is still used in some places, but plastic sleeves and split looms are used quite often too. Another sign of progress.

 

[ccmarsh]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Did I mention that the wires that were all soldered together were actually grounded to a rubber clamp and that the clamp wasn't really grounded to the block it was grounded to the post that holds the wire plugs? You know that part where all the wires come together and then are plug in to the part where all the wires from the dash come together.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Did I mention that the wires that were all soldered together were actually grounded to a rubber clamp and that the clamp wasn't really grounded to the block it was grounded to the post that holds the wire plugs? You know that part where all the wires come together and then are plug in to the part where all the wires from the dash come together.

No...you didn't mention that. As long as one of the wires is grounded somewhere, it really doesn't matter anyway.

 

[ccmarsh]

Re: Seeing is believeing

As long as one of the wires is grounded somewhere, it really doesn't matter anyway.

Your joking right? So what if I ground all the wires to the fiberglass would that still work?

 

[mkast]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Your joking right? So what if I ground all the wires to the fiberglass would that still work?

Be nice Chris

 

[Alumarine]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Your joking right? So what if I ground all the wires to the fiberglass would that still work?

They would be attached to the fiberglass.

They wouldn't be grounded.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Your joking right? So what if I ground all the wires to the fiberglass would that still work?

Read what I said again.

"As long as one of the wires is grounded somewhere, it doesn't matter"

If you trace down the thickest wire in the bunch, my bet is that it goes to the engine block or the negative cable of the battery.

What prompted all of this...having an electrical problem or just found a weird looking wiring joint?

 

[ccmarsh]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Your right I'm sorry.

 

[Windykid]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Yea, what was the problem in the first place??

 

[ccmarsh]

Re: Seeing is believeing

"As long as one of the wires is grounded somewhere, it doesn't matter"

If you trace down the thickest wire in the bunch, my bet is that it goes to the engine block or the negative cable of the battery.

What prompted all of this...having an electrical problem or just found a weird looking wiring joint?

Yes, you are right, and I didn't mean to be a smart *****. The thickest wire in the bunch wasn't grounded to the engine block nor the negative cable of the battery. Yes, I was having an electrical problem and that is what prompted this.

Just so everyone knows, I routed everything to it's own ground and I finally got it to turn over. It still has a few issues, i.e the electric choke, but i'll figure it all out. One thing that I know about electricity is that it is "Magic" it is always looking for a place to go. If you ground a bunch of wires together and one of the items that are grounded in the bunch goes hay wire, you run the risk of having something else go bad in the bunch. Me personally, i think i'll play it safe and ground everything to it's own ground at least that way, problems in the future will be easier to trace. Another thing that I have learned is that it is worth it to solder and shrink wrap all the connections because when I am done it's one less thing that could go wrong.

What Don said is true also, 35 years of having everyone and their mother working on the boat is a risk you take when you buy a used boat. That's why it is also worth it to track down the manuals for your boat so you can make sure everything is the way it is supposed to be. Remember what Captjason always says "just because you found it that way, dosen't mean it's supposed to be that way". In a week I found at least ten things that were wired wrong. Now that dosen't mean it didn't work, it just means it was jerry-rigged to work. After 35 years of things being hooked up that way......well, you get the picture, and I am paying the price.

 

[Windykid]

Re: Seeing is believeing

Chris, I just read your other threads, I now have an Idea what your up to. Now that you have the wiring straight is it turning over fast enough or firing?