Help Major Problem With Car!

suprasforlife · 08-04-2006, 04:17 AM

I know a lot about them, the machine I use at work has about 20 miles of wire in it and it's 35 years old, so it has had just a few shorts in it from time to time. (It has stumped me and 3 certified electricians) If you see smoke there is your problem. No smoke means it's not grounding out really bad. Get a tester with ohms on it and trace the wire, put a lead on each end, 0 ohms means it's broke. You can also test it with voltage, same process as ohms. Voltage only works on wires with voltage or current running through them, so you have to do it with the key on in the car. If you have an idea where it is start there. With most parts on the car, for example, the wires going to the wiper motor, you can unhook the harness from the motor, turn the wipers on and check for voltage that would or should be going to the motor to make it operate. Put the negative pole of your tester on something that will work as a ground like the block of the engine or a inplace ground wire or something and then take your hot (red) pole and put it into the plug or harness and you should get a reading. Not all wires have constant current running though them so voltage will not work on everything, some wires just have a short brust of voltage to engage something, if you can catch it when it sends the current then you'll get a reading otherwise you won't, that is where ohms comes into play.
You do want to be carefull while doing this, use one hand when possible and put the other behind your back. A car will only give you a little shock because its only a 12 volt system. If you ever have to test 120/240 volts, USE ONE HAND. The one hand behind your back prevents the volts from having a path to connect back to itself, if you have both hands on it and you touch it wrong it will travel through you, back to itself then to the ground, that's how most people get fried. A single path through you is enough to blast you across the room when it reaches the ground, a double path(through both arms) can kill you, quickly, a single path can kill you to, but most people who die where using both hands, so be careful.
Hope this helps

08-04-2006, 04:17 AM	#15
suprasforlife 3" Exhaust Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Montana Posts: 71	I know a lot about them, the machine I use at work has about 20 miles of wire in it and it's 35 years old, so it has had just a few shorts in it from time to time. (It has stumped me and 3 certified electricians) If you see smoke there is your problem. No smoke means it's not grounding out really bad. Get a tester with ohms on it and trace the wire, put a lead on each end, 0 ohms means it's broke. You can also test it with voltage, same process as ohms. Voltage only works on wires with voltage or current running through them, so you have to do it with the key on in the car. If you have an idea where it is start there. With most parts on the car, for example, the wires going to the wiper motor, you can unhook the harness from the motor, turn the wipers on and check for voltage that would or should be going to the motor to make it operate. Put the negative pole of your tester on something that will work as a ground like the block of the engine or a inplace ground wire or something and then take your hot (red) pole and put it into the plug or harness and you should get a reading. Not all wires have constant current running though them so voltage will not work on everything, some wires just have a short brust of voltage to engage something, if you can catch it when it sends the current then you'll get a reading otherwise you won't, that is where ohms comes into play. You do want to be carefull while doing this, use one hand when possible and put the other behind your back. A car will only give you a little shock because its only a 12 volt system. If you ever have to test 120/240 volts, USE ONE HAND. The one hand behind your back prevents the volts from having a path to connect back to itself, if you have both hands on it and you touch it wrong it will travel through you, back to itself then to the ground, that's how most people get fried. A single path through you is enough to blast you across the room when it reaches the ground, a double path(through both arms) can kill you, quickly, a single path can kill you to, but most people who die where using both hands, so be careful. Hope this helps Last edited by suprasforlife; 08-04-2006 at 10:49 AM.