harness burning up.

[james in mo]

Well my wire harness burned up again. And I think I found the reason for it. When I took the amp-gauge cover off (to repair the wiring) and stuck it back on it got sparks around the side of the amp gauge cover. Somehow this thing has become (+) and I don’t know how. So I think know what went wrong I just don’t know how to fix it. Any help would be appreciated.

James

P.S. this is a six volt (-) ground system.

 

[El Toro]

Why don't you tell us what you think went wrong.
Hal

 

[El Toro]

You must have a short somewhere to get that hot and set the harness on fire. Hal

 

[ScottyHOMeY]

What model tractor and, if I'm reading right, why negative ground on a six-volt?

 

[Anonymous-0]

Never heard of a negative ground on a 6V. It's possible, of course, but.......?!!
mike durhan

 

[old]

Sounds like either a bad gauge and its shorted or you have one of the wires so it shorts to the case of the amp gauge. Seen more then one amp gauge go bad and short and yep it will melt the wiring down fast if not cause a fire. Or you don't have the insulators installed on the gauge mounts or there bad. Amp gauges are insulated on the mounts so the case should not be + or - it should be nutral
Hobby farm

 

[tn terry t]

i bet your mounting bracket insulators have rubbed a hole in it self causing short to metal it dont matter if its positive ,negative or triple top secret grounded you have to keep them separate from each other

 

[Anonymous-0]

Just what sustem do you have that is 6v -ground as they were + ground. something is messed up bad.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I'm reading it that he thinks just because he saw sparks at the amp gauge he thinks it became positive . It doesn't matter pos. or neg . ground when the 2 touch its gonna spark . I , like most of you think its just a shorting problem .
Ps I have been wrong before right Scotty??? ><~

 

[james in mo]

all i know is when i bought my m it was negative grounded, and it worked. the coil is hiched up like you would for a (-) ground. i dont why it is like this but it worked until a couple weeks ago and it went up int smoke. but come to think about it i did mess with amp gauge right before it burned up. mabey that was it. ha ha

james

 

[ScottyHOMeY]

Well, there was that time you THOUGHT you were mistaken, but other'n that, I can't think of a time!

 

[ScottyHOMeY]

If yu're getting the spark just putting the cover back on the ammeter box . . . there's no reason for that plate to be hot, except a short. Bad mount on the ammeter as others have suggested is a good thing to check. It may well be your problem.

You might also have a dangling wire coming up from the battery on the back of the panel. Or a wire terminal sticking out too far. Unhook the ground from the battery, and tidy things up on the back of the panel, everything tight and tucked in away from the edges.

Check your ammeter out and make sure it isn't the problem. If it is, get it squared away.

Put the panel back on the front of the box. Make sure your ignition button is off, and make sure the light switch is in the off position.
Roll your sleeves down, put on some shop goggles and hook the ground back up on the battery. There shouldn't be any spark.