New painless and ron francis wiring woes

[4x4man514]

Hey guys. I finally got my wiring on my eb finished and well I have quite a few problems I need help with as I'm am not good with this sort of thing to begin with. In the last year I have really buckled down to get her on the rd and this has really taken the wind out of my sails. To the point I dunno if ill ever get to enjoy it.

Anyways enough crying. A lil backstory. I just put a painless harness in my 72 and a ronfrancis efi harness on my 393. Both came from wild horses in case yall are wondering the exact model of harnesses.

Both are not working correctly. I don't think the issues are connected but they might be.

First . The battery is old. I didn't want to buy a new one and watch it go bad while the eb never left the shop so I have a charger on it when I'm testing everything. When its right ill buy a good battery.

1. Wiper motor. Ran on low but blew the fuse when I went to high the first time I tried it. After that it blew as soon as I switched it on . With motor unplugged fuse is fine. Is this indicative of a bad motor or something else? How can I test motor?

2. Fuel level reads e on both tanks. I know they both have 5 gallons in each of them. at rest the needle is below E when switched on it rises to E then stops. Would this be senders? Coincidental that its the same on both tanks. How can I troubleshoot this?

3. Maybe worst issue. Blinkers work fine with lights off. Lights on and the front left indicator light comes on and blinks slowly. The actual bulb doesn't burn at all. I've checked grounds and connections they seem good. I've swapped side markers and blinkers and yhe problem moves accordingly so I don't think there is a problem with the lights themselves. Im leaning toward something in the column but don't know where to start with troubleshooting.

4. Maybe separate altogether but I cant get the motor started either. It will crank fine but not start. I have spark at the plug. I've checked to make sure I wasn't 180 out and I've moved the dizzy all over with out so much as a cough. I tried a noid light on the injector harness and it flickered but I'm not too sure the injectors are firing . Swapped plugs and they looked dry. 38 pounds of constant pressure on the rail.

5. I dunno i if its the charger or something else but when the ignition is on the alternator and the efi relays start heating up. That doesn't seem right to me but I don't know what to look for.

I dunno if any of these issues are related. And I don't know which direction to turn. I have worked so hard to get to this grand finally and poof. I feel like Clark Griswold with his house lights in Christmas vacation. This sux.

Thanks
Kevin

 

[73azbronco]

1. Check resistance wiper motor ground to negative battery post, bet ground is bad, bad ground, lower voltage, much higher amperage, blown fuse. What is the voltage at the wiper ?

2. Check resistance fuel tank sender to battery post negative. BTW, showing empty with 5 is way better than the other option. Only true way I know to check fuel senders is to remove them from tank.

3. Blinkers, connections and grounds seem good. No such thing, they are good, or not. Need to check ohm readings all over that front clip and signals to battery negative. Same for rear signal lights. After that, need to run resistance or continuity checks from each electrical tab on column connector, and double check each is going to correct spot. Mixing rear and front wires is not uncommon. Ask me how I know.

4. Double check plug wires routed for the camshaft you have. What EFI system do you have, because 38psi on most systems is far below 60psi normally used. EFI very finaky about fuel pressure, it's not like it will sort of run at lower pressures, it just stops running.

5. How hot? Use an IR thermometer. To hot to touch? Thats to hot. Really warm, ehhhh, maybe not right.

Bottom lines sounds like loads of grounding issues, since that is usually what is wrong, and fortunately it only takes time to fix, fairly cheap to fix.

 

[302fix]

... grounding issues...

Check the big grounds. Grounding the frame to the body is probably your fuel tank issue.
Stay after it or maybe even move on to something else and come back. Most of us have been there at some point. Weird how a little distance can force your mind to figure things out without even trying.

 

[carter2772]

grounds!!!!! and get yourself a good battery, old ones can have shorts internally but "test" fine with a volt meter. You know its bad and low, if your at the point of trying to start it you need a good power source. Ground from the battery to the block, block to the body, body and block to the frame, and i always ground body and frame in the rear too. It never hurts to have an extra one.

 

[don k]

Call Ron Francis. They are very helpful. As for the painless I have no idea.

 

[73azbronco]

grounds!!!!! and get yourself a good battery, old ones can have shorts internally but "test" fine with a volt meter. You know its bad and low, if your at the point of trying to start it you need a good power source. Ground from the battery to the block, block to the body, body and block to the frame, and i always ground body and frame in the rear too. It never hurts to have an extra one.

Excellent points, and what I did. But, I used fusible link wire for grounds off firewall to block.

 

[4x4man514]

Thanks guys. I think maybe I'm getting ahead of myself with my limited knowledge. I should have asked one question at a time I guess.

So back to 1st question. Is the wiper motor supposed to ground through the bracket? I don't see a ground wire and everything I've been able to look up said blue and white were hi and low and red and black were park and power to park. What am supposed to be checking between the negative post and the motor?

And I tried to check voltage and it is bouncing all over the place. I don't know if its my meter or if I'm doing something wrong. Like I said I know little about even using this meter.

Thank yall for your patience.
Kevin

 

[4x4man514]

Call Ron Francis. They are very helpful. As for the painless I have no idea.

I tried calling them. Rf called me back a couple hours later but I couldn't talk. I couldn't really grasp what the guy at painless was trying to explain to me about the blinker problem.

 

[4x4man514]

grounds!!!!! and get yourself a good battery, old ones can have shorts internally but "test" fine with a volt meter. You know its bad and low, if your at the point of trying to start it you need a good power source. Ground from the battery to the block, block to the body, body and block to the frame, and i always ground body and frame in the rear too. It never hurts to have an extra one.

My battery was out of my daily driver ford ranger. It worked perfectly but a bit weak for the 393 and it was about 6 yrs old . I was gonna get a battery but I'm having a hard time getting one that will fit and I want a good battery and it seems there is no universally accepted battery anymore. At the cost of a good battery o didn't want to let it sit and go bad.

 

[DirtDonk]

So back to 1st question. Is the wiper motor supposed to ground through the bracket?

Yes.
And that bracket grounds to the windshield frame, but the windshield frame is not always a good ground to the body.
I’ve had to add jumper wires before between the cowl/dash area and windshield frame. And, oddly enough, that was to get the windshield wipers working.

And I tried to check voltage and it is bouncing all over the place. I don't know if its my meter or if I'm doing something wrong.

What were the circumstances when you were checking? What is the engine running, or off?
I’m assuming off, since it sounds like it’s not running yet. But it certainly should not be bouncing all over the place.
Usually that means either a loose connection, faulty, wire, or a bad meter.
When you check a known good battery with the meter, what does it read?
You can run over to your daily driver and use the positive and negative leads on the battery and see what you get.

Are the leads attached to the meter correctly?
Black should be to the terminal marked COM, and red should be to a specific red one.
It’s usually got a lot of writing, where the one you don’t want is usually marked with a “miliamp” symbol.
Or something similar.

 

[4x4man514]

Yes.
And that bracket grounds to the windshield frame, but the windshield frame is not always a good ground to the body.
I’ve had to add jumper wires before between the cowl/dash area and windshield frame. And, oddly enough, that was to get the windshield wipers working.

What were the circumstances when you were checking? What is the engine running, or off?
I’m assuming off, since it sounds like it’s not running yet. But it certainly should not be bouncing all over the place.
Usually that means either a loose connection, faulty, wire, or a bad meter.
When you check a known good battery with the meter, what does it read?
You can run over to your daily driver and use the positive and negative leads on the battery and see what you get.

Are the leads attached to the meter correctly?
Black should be to the terminal marked COM, and red should be to a specific red one.
It’s usually got a lot of writing, where the one you don’t want is usually marked with a “miliamp” symbol.
Or something similar.

Wwll dang I didn't realize that ill have to check that bracket and ground this afternoon. Man I hate scuffing all this paint everywhere to get a worthy ground.

I did check a new battery with my meter and it held a steady 12.8 so I guess the meter is fine. Maybe I should bite the bullet and get a good battery before I go any farther. My tach jumps around a little too when I try to starr it. I put a different thing module on there and it got 90 percent better but it still jumps

 

[4x4man514]

Ok so new battery. Voltage seems to look better. Not jumping around. I've tried checking ohms from negative post to every ground I can think of about 3.7 everywhere. Is that about right?

And on wiper wires

Ignition Switch off nothing hot
Ignition switch on
Wiper Switch off white wire 12v
Wiper on low white and red 12v
Wiper on high white and blue 12v
All this with motor unplugged
Is that right?

 

[Viperwolf1]

And on wiper wires

Ignition Switch off nothing hot
Ignition switch on
Wiper Switch off white wire 12v
Wiper on low white and red 12v
Wiper on high white and blue 12v
All this with motor unplugged
Is that right?

It looks like the white and red wires are swapped. Red should always have 12V with key on. White has 12V (key on) in low speed and when wiper is off but unparked.

 

[DirtDonk]

Viper’s diagram reminded me of something.
See the grounding strap indicated there? If I remember, isn’t the wiper motor rubber mounted? Or is it bolted directly to the windshield frame?
If rubber isolated, that would be why that accordion copper strap was added.
And for sufficient ground, you may not necessarily have to scrape or grind paint off the windshield frame. Just make sure the bolt holes are clean and the bolts themselves are not rusty or overly painted.
Somewhere, you need good metal to metal contact for the motor to be grounded.

 

[4x4man514]

Ok thanks guys! Some progress i think. Viper I think you're right the red and white wire were crossed on the predetermined plug. And then the switch broke in half at the plug trying to remove it. (Luckily I still had my old one)That definitely does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about painless wiring. I wonder if the rest of my issues are quality control issues with the harness.

Anyways now the power seems right at the plug but now the motor does nothing. Do you think I fried it with the crossed wiring?

Thanks guys!

 

[Viperwolf1]

Not likely, but there may be problems with the motor in any case. With the wires switched as they were, the motor should have ran in low speed any time the ignition was on. I think there's more to it.

 

[4x4man514]

So if I run power to blue and red or white and red the motor should run?

 

[4x4man514]

So I tried that power to blue and red and I grounded the black. Wires got hot fast but nothing happened.

Does that mean bad motor ? Or i just goofed up?

 

[Viperwolf1]

Don't ground the black wire. It's not a ground. It delivers current back to the switch when the motor is unparked.

 

[4x4man514]

Yea I figured I did something wrong I only touched it for a second. I just can't see anything other than the motor not working. But it was when I first powered it up