Excalibur
27-01-2012, 04:03 PM
Well chaps and chapesses ( cos we've recently acquired a couple more of them. Pop in and say hello to them if you haven't already, it's only polite after all, and some of us are very keen on politeness. ) Ihave referred many times to an ancient Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times ". Life's never boring, when you have a van like mine. Oh the fun I've had slipstreaming cyclists, so I can slingshot past them on the long straights. I rather fancy one of those DRS thingies that the F1 lads have, but with less than seventy horsepower, and an all up weight of over five tonnes at times I think I'd actually need booster rockets! :( :( :o :o :o
So, picture the scene, a nearby customer's forklift failed to roar into life recently, so we charged the battery, and having replaced it, were gutted to see even less life in the system. Off we went to acquire a new super duper battery to persuade the old girl to play the game. Bad news. Old battery tested fine, so fault is in forklift. Fabulous, cos the wiring in it is absolutely :Censored: beyond belief.
Never mind, since ninety per cent of the bits in the cabin haven't worked for years, ripping out surplus bits of equipment is no barrier, as long as we can get the thing to start and move ( the only electrical requirements on it at the moment ) then that's fine.
So, we are returning home resigned to chasing wires and fuses on this forklift, and proceeding at our normal leisurely pace, when my passenger asks
"What's on fire? Blimey, we are!! " :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: The cabin fills with smoke and the stench of melting plastic, so we shudder to a halt, and lift the bonnet to hit the kill switch. By this time the conflagration has ceased, so we take stock of the situation. Having calmed down a litle, we find that the old girl will start, and the main casualties appear to be the instruments, as this was where the main smoke was coming from. We limp home, and further investigation reveals that our initial diagnosis was correct.
No fuses have blown, so this morning sees me removing the dashboard, steering wheel and tachograph, in order to find wires I've never even seen before! :eek: :eek: :eek: In the process, I think I found the immobiliser which once worked so well that it immobilised the van against my will one day. :( A single wire disappearing into the hidden bits of the loom is the obvious culprit, since it has no insulation left on it, and it's melted in two. Tests reveal that it no longer is live, so it can probably be taped up and left to its own devices. Hopefully. A fused ignition feed is found, and all the dead bits come to life when it's connected. Hurrah! :banana: Reassembly is close to a reversal of the disassembly procedure, and once again I'm mobile. And cold, cos I haven't a garage to work in. :( :( Still, it could have been so much worse.
So, picture the scene, a nearby customer's forklift failed to roar into life recently, so we charged the battery, and having replaced it, were gutted to see even less life in the system. Off we went to acquire a new super duper battery to persuade the old girl to play the game. Bad news. Old battery tested fine, so fault is in forklift. Fabulous, cos the wiring in it is absolutely :Censored: beyond belief.
Never mind, since ninety per cent of the bits in the cabin haven't worked for years, ripping out surplus bits of equipment is no barrier, as long as we can get the thing to start and move ( the only electrical requirements on it at the moment ) then that's fine.
So, we are returning home resigned to chasing wires and fuses on this forklift, and proceeding at our normal leisurely pace, when my passenger asks
"What's on fire? Blimey, we are!! " :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: The cabin fills with smoke and the stench of melting plastic, so we shudder to a halt, and lift the bonnet to hit the kill switch. By this time the conflagration has ceased, so we take stock of the situation. Having calmed down a litle, we find that the old girl will start, and the main casualties appear to be the instruments, as this was where the main smoke was coming from. We limp home, and further investigation reveals that our initial diagnosis was correct.
No fuses have blown, so this morning sees me removing the dashboard, steering wheel and tachograph, in order to find wires I've never even seen before! :eek: :eek: :eek: In the process, I think I found the immobiliser which once worked so well that it immobilised the van against my will one day. :( A single wire disappearing into the hidden bits of the loom is the obvious culprit, since it has no insulation left on it, and it's melted in two. Tests reveal that it no longer is live, so it can probably be taped up and left to its own devices. Hopefully. A fused ignition feed is found, and all the dead bits come to life when it's connected. Hurrah! :banana: Reassembly is close to a reversal of the disassembly procedure, and once again I'm mobile. And cold, cos I haven't a garage to work in. :( :( Still, it could have been so much worse.