Being an electrician for 9 years forced me to develop the trait of severe distaste when electrical systems (read:
any electrical system) does not function properly. When I bought my Luv 2 days ago, the person knocked off $50 from the price because when he was bringing the truck over to me, it wouldn't start because the resistor on the coil was bad. He also told me that the instrument panel lights weren't working and he had eliminated the fuse as a possible fault.
So, I took his word for it and ripped the bezel out (I do mean
ripped because one of the wing nuts was stuck) just to find out that there wasn't even a fuse in the block for those lights. The good part is that now my gauges and bezel are spotless. Downside is that I have a broken bezel. If anyone has one that they can send me, I'd be interested. I also found a wiring mess that I now have to clean up. The blinkers were cut and wired to separate switches mounted on a plastic panel, and the running lights are wired to a switch that is laying on the dashboard. I'm going to try and relocate all of this to the original switches if I can figure out what happened to the original wiring. I suspect that the factory flasher relays went bad, and he looked for the cheap fix.
Ok, now on to the resistor on the starter coil. I replaced it with a universal one from NAPA, and the system didn't like it at all. Now, until I can find an original replacement I'll have to short the resistor to start it when it's cold and then remove it for normal running once it starts.
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to vent and shed some light upon some problems that occur in many vehicles (those which some of you are already painfully aware). Other than electrical problems, my truck is great, and the only things that I really need to do are move the seat back (I'm 6'0" with the legs of someone 6'3") and replace the steering wheel (with something "Grant") with a horn system rework (air horns possibly, the current system is inoperable).
Take it easy,
Jon
_________________
Kuranosuke
Grampa's Driving:
1990 Luv 4X4 "Family Cab"
with the big 4 banger on 31" Dueller A/Ts
1989 Dodge Raider with some junk...
"Urban Fighter F.P.C" coming soon to a road near you...
got BOOBIES?