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Oops,
I thought the power was off and I accidently grounded a wire at the starter. Predictable spark and pop and now, no dash lights or power.

Did I fry a relay or something and how to fix?

thanks, in advance

Is dash lights the only thing with no power??? Is there power for all else?? Are any of the breaker buttons standing up and needing reset (pushed down)??

what is your avatar pic? i STILL do not know what that is, unless... is it a wiper motor? what's that red stuff?

This avatar is the "JEEP" tip and tilt gauge sitting on the pinz windshield wiper moter. It is maxed out at 30 degrees downward and the rocks in front of the windshield could almost be touched if the windshield was down. It was taken coming down the back side of baby lions back in Moab. I stopped at the bottom and took the pic through the windshield. Oh, the red stuff is a decal of Calvin and Hobbs in their transmorgifier box. Kinda like me in my Pinz.

No circuit breaker buttons are up, no dash lights, no power to start engine. It's as if batteries are missing, thats why I'm wondering if a relay, like a starting relay or something is fried.
Any ideas, thanks.

Ok, No power to starter and any circuit from it. That makes it easier. You have 2 sets of wires to check. With a voltmeter:
1 verify batteries have 24vdc.
2. hold voltmeter negative lead to the negative lead of the batteries. touch the positive lead to the starter wire. (If 24 vdc then the problem is in the negative-ground side. If no voltage then the problem is in the positive lead.)

If positive lead problem: verify positive lead connection at battery. Next step is verify continuity from battery cable end to starter end. if bad the probably need to replace the cable. Not the expected problem, but could happen.

If negative lead problem: first verify the battery disconnect is turned to the on position. (can get knocked off in an emergency) then, hold the positive lead of the voltmeter to the positive battery connection and touch the negative to chassis ground, if no 24 vdc then remove the cover in the driver side wheel well (covers the battery disconnect) and rerun the last test checking both sides of the battery disconnect.

There is no relay or solenoid between the starter and batteries at start mode. There is only the battery disconnect. After the engine is running there is a solenoid that parallels the disconnect so if the disconnect is turned off with the engine running, the alternator will not be damaged.

Hope that helps

You fried your battery disconnect switch.

Jumper the switch and see what happens.


-Sean Philyaw

Well, I tried both sets of suggestions and still no lights at dash or power to start.

I jumped (bypassed) the battery cutoff switch and no improvement.

I ran the voltage tests as suggested by lightningpinz and:
-Voltage at batteries is 25.89 V
-Positive lead of meter to + battery, negative to chassis ground, and I get 25.89 V

Any and all ideas welcomed.

thanks, in advance

It could be a bad breaker.
I just had a VERY similar experience and it turned out to be the breaker.

It was in the 'down' position, so who knew it was bad? A tester revealed the true problem.

Good luck!

Take the front engine cover off and look at both sides of the Molex connector, they are known to corrode or melt.

is there a routine maintainance schedule listed in the pinz manual for tripping the breakers? i know a problem with breakers, in general, is their tendancy to maintain the connection beyond their current rating, if they haven't been tripped for a while. some systems i've worked with exclude the use of them, in favour of fuses.

is that what happened in this case?

michaelh712, did you do the other half of the suggestion? Hold the negative of the volt meter to ground and the positive to the stud on the starter and check for 24vdc + at the stud on the starter? If yes, we can go from there, if no time to look at the power cable from batt positive to starter stud. (big stud on starter)

I have power at the batteries, and power at the starter stud.

I also have power at the red wire going into the Molex connector (Molex looks fine, no corrosion or anything that looks melted or wrong).

There is power at the ignition switch large red wire.

Still no dash lights or start.

Bad ignition switch?

Any ideas or things I can check?

thanks, in advance

Michael

If you have power at the Batteries, Starter lead, and Power to the ignition. You just have to keep working your way out from the batt's. Turn the ignition on and check the back leads for power.

Miles

There are several "small" ring terminals that attach with the "big" battery cable on the starter. One of these supplies power to the rest of the truck. If your dash is dead, and lights, then there is a problem with the main power up to the dash. If your lights work but the dash is the only thing dead, I would suspect a problem at/near the ignition switch (but from making sparks at the starter, I can't understand why this would be). Perhaps you made sparks, disconnected things at the starter, and missed getting one of the thin ring terminals back on the starter terminal?

Good luck,

Jim M.
712W and 710M