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| Basic Fiero electrical testing "How To" and equipment...with pics. (Page 2/4) |
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Nurb432
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MAR 17, 03:22 PM
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I might suggest a butane powered soldering pencil, no cord to lug around if you need to solder 'on the car' instead of your bench.
I also prefer autoranging DVM's myself, but i dont carry my good fluke on the road with me, but instead a cheapy 3.00 harbor fright special ( with lighted background.. for those times you get stuck at night )
Flashlights and mirrors are good too, so you can see where that stupid wire is going when you cant get daylight down in to see it.
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fierohoho
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MAR 17, 03:37 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by Nurb432:
I might suggest a butane powered soldering pencil, no cord to lug around if you need to solder 'on the car' instead of your bench. |
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That's a good idea.
Also with the small soldering guns and irons the usually don't have a very big draw.
My Weller gun has a dual heat of 100 and 140 watts controled by the trigger pull, pull the trigger half way and it's the 100 watt, all the way is the 140 watt.
This gun is small enough so if you have a 300 watt power inverter you can run the gun on your car battery if an electrical outlet isn't handy.
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Racingman24
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MAR 18, 12:56 AM
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You must live out in the middle of no-where, where you have entirely too much free time, and all you do is stare at the moose....sheesh. 
nice write up though
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BobadooFunk
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MAR 18, 02:04 AM
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fierohoho
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MAR 18, 07:21 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by Racingman24:
You must live out in the middle of no-where, where you have entirely too much free time, and all you do is stare at the moose....sheesh.
nice write up though |
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Yes I do,
yes I do,
we have no mooses, does a cow count?
Thanks everyone. 
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twocoda
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MAR 18, 10:28 AM
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nice write up .....just as a suggestion ....maybe you might like to add " how to test sensors" if its possible without requiring another car to swap out onto as a test . i know it would be valuable info to me
------------------
It isnt re-creation....its recreation!!!!
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Richjk21
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MAR 18, 10:56 AM
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Excellent write up ... + for you. One tip I would recommend, instead of using a lighter or matches for heat shrink, just use your pencil type soldering iron. run the side of the tip back and forth along the heat shrink, works like a charm ... and no open flame required. If you have a heat gun (kinda like a blow drier on steroids, but not everyone has one) they work great too.
Rich
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Marvin McInnis
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MAR 18, 11:16 AM
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Excellent write up. I have a few ideas to add from my own experience.
1) I prefer to use clear heat shrink tubing for most jobs. It's not as widely available as common black tubing, but you can usually find it on-line or at a wholesale electronic supplier for about the same price as black. Clear tubing allows you to inspect the connection at any time, and you can also place wire labels under it.
2) Even though insulated crimp terminals are handy, I prefer to use uninsulated terminals and then cover the crimp barrel with clear heat shrink tubing after crimping. Uninsulated terminals require a different crimping tool, but the final crimp is much more secure ... and you can visually inspect it. The heat shrink tubing also provides some measure of wire strain relief at the terminal.
3) Whatever kind of terminals you use, I highly recommend buying a ratcheting crimp tool designed for those specific terminals. A ratcheting crimp tool is much more likely to produce a good crimp, and thus a good connection, and the results will be much more consistent from one crimp to the next than with a cheap tool.
4) It is very important that whatever wire stripper you use (like the very good design fierohoho shows) cleanly strips the insulation from the wire without nicking the wire itself. A nicked wire, or even a single nicked strand in the case of stranded wire, is a point of future failure in a high-vibration environment like an automobile and is cause for rejection. Many wiring intermittents can be traced back to a nicked wire, often from a poor repair made many years earlier.
5) Finally, I would highly recommend an inexpensive heat gun for use with shrink tubing. It produces more consistent results and makes the job much easier, with less danger of damage to the shrink tubing or the wire insulation.
Decent quality tools usually cost a little more (sometimes a lot more) than cheap tools, but they almost always do a much better job and are an investment that will last a lifetime.[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 03-19-2007).]
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Austrian Import
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MAR 18, 02:39 PM
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Great thread!!! Props..
I was looking for one like that.
Quick thing I would like to ask/add? How do you test if all the idiot lights are working, other than taking the dash apart and looking at the bulbs?
-M
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fierohoho
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MAR 18, 05:48 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by Austrian Import:
Great thread!!! Props..
I was looking for one like that.
Quick thing I would like to ask/add? How do you test if all the idiot lights are working, other than taking the dash apart and looking at the bulbs?
-M |
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As I recall when you turn the key to on but not all the way to start they should light up as a test, if not you have to pull the back cover to the dash pod and check the bulbs one at a time.
To pull the top rear cover it's only three screws on top, T-15 torx bit as I recall, and two T-15 screws at the bottom.
All screws can easily be seen through the windshield if you're not sure where they are.
The bulbs can be checked using the same method I showed to check the fuse.
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