HELP! Electrical gurus!

[4cefed]

Chrysler strikes again... I started my truck after not driving it for a few weeks and noticed a bunch of idiot lights on the cluster were on, I had no speedo, and it wanted to stall everytime I stopped. I double checked all my fuses and they were all good. After searching around a dodge truck forum a few people said that the fuse block itself will corrode on the bottom where the harnesses plug in. I got mine out today and it looks like this is the case.

My question is this: Is there a way I can clean the harness plugs without taking out all the pins? I was wondering if I could dunk them in a solution of baking soda and water like for a corroded battery terminal. I know my skills and I'm capable of this, but the odds that I'll get something wrong during re-assembly or generally screw up are pretty high. I would also love to avoid buying new pins and soldering in new connectors. So is there a way to clean these without taking them all apart?


The underside of the fuse block


The pins in the block.... these I can clean.


The plugs:

[IanS]

The best advice I can give you, is fix it somehow, then get as far away from it as possible.

[4cefed]

Very long story on this truck, lets just say I've got it for life. It's handy and is usually dependable which is kind of a surprise for being a Chrysler. Short bed regular cab 4x4 with a manual trans and a manual transfer case. I hate automatic transmissions and those stupid electric transfer cases.

This is the thing with these POSs... they never have the decency to just break something. It's always a symptom or a noise, or something isn't quite right. Other cars I've owned break stuff. You look at it sand say "that there is broken." Replace that thing and it's fine again. It's this retarded engineering crap that kills me.

[Dattebayo]

If you want to clean the plugs, you could probably dip them in some plastic safe acid real quick and then wash with plenty of water...

[4cefed]

Any idea what kind of acid?

[Dattebayo]

One that doesn't melt plastic but works on metal?

[Looneybomber]

acid corrodes metal. Not a good thing if you want good electrical connections. Clean with a baking soda and water solution, and a dremel with a cotton wheel, or plastic bristle brush. As for the plug and the inner metal pieces, without taking it apart, good luck with it because you can't get to the metal components without taking it apart. A whole box of flat toothpicks maybe and about 24hrs of spare time?

Use dielectric grease on metal connections when done cleaning to keep from corroding.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Neat trick that I picked up doing low voltage work, you can clean most connectors with the eraser on a #2 pencil, yes it does work, but you need to get the crusty stuff off first by pouring Coca Cola on them to eat the corrosion away and then clean the coke off with some rubbing alcohol, then get yourself a bunch of those giant erasers (they have to be the real rubber ones) and start erasing away the discoloration. Swear to god it works.

Or you can go get some of this stuff and let it the connectors soak for about an hour...

[Dattebayo]

Ah yes, CLR. I heard that works, seriously.

And I didn't mean a really corrosive acid, just something to eat the crap off it. Bah, whatever, nevermind! lol

[4cefed]

Wow thanks guys. I'm a bit torn though. The corrosion on battery terminals (and I'm guessing on these connectors) is like an acidic salt right? That's why the baking soda and water clears it up. The baking soda is a base. CLR is a mild acid right? Calcium and lime are bases that's why the CLR works.

I guess I'll try the baking soda first since I have that. If that doesn't work I'll get some CLR and try soaking it. Might be a good idea to dump some rubbing alcohol in the connector to absorb any water trapped in there before it corrodes somewhere else.

Looney- I've got a dremel with a nylon brush I'm sure that will clean the pins up on the fuse block. I'll try an eraser on what's left. I have some dielectric that I'm going to pack in these when I get it working. I think I'll spend some quality time under the hood and dash and see what other connectors I can get to and do the same.

I'm hoping this works. it looks like there's only one or maybe two connectors that I might have to take apart if it doesn't. Thanks for the help.

[4cefed]

This gets better.

I was thinking about what some guy on the ram forum said about corroding on the inside of the fuse block and having to get another one. Those plugs are the output form the fuse block. Those corroded pins may be a problem soon, but that's not where the problem is now. So I took apart the fuse block.

This was not meant to come apart. I started prying after I drilled out a few melted plastic fasteners. I extracted a pile of layered boards that contain all the pins that connect the fuses and plugs.



In the center of all this is an actual circuit board. None of the layered boards really looked like trouble, then I saw a bubbly spot on the circuit board and cleaned it off. Looks like the board corroded on some blank holes that weren't used.



ON the bottom I think the corrosion ate through most of the trace. I can clean off two of the sides and solder in a jumper wire, but I have no real way to tell if any of the sandwiched layers are affected.



My problem is this. If I get a replacement either new or from a yard, it will happen again. If I fix this one and slime it up with dielectric, it shouldn't corrode again, but I don't know for sure if I'll be able to fix it or not. If I go with a new one I should tear it apart and grease it up, but maybe I'll break it. Chrysler sucks.

[Dattebayo]

Fix it and dielectric it up y0.

Board-level fixes are always like a little adventure, and the payoff is personal triumph.

But you can't brag about it because everyone will fall asleep...

[Chaotic_Warlord]

If you get a new one how long do you think it will be before it fails again? If you get a used one from a yard it might already be burned out or not long for the world, if you fix the one you have can you guarantee that it won't haunt you everytime you start your truck? Just some things to think about.

Easy test to see if any electronic is burned out... sniff it. The magic fairy dust in solenoids and other board components will give the board a unique smell.

[4cefed]

If you get a new one how long do you think it will be before it fails again? If you get a used one from a yard it might already be burned out or not long for the world, if you fix the one you have can you guarantee that it won't haunt you everytime you start your truck?

Those were some of my concerns I posted.


I've been kind of busy and I just got around to reassembling that thing. I can't believe I got it back together without something breaking. I'm still baffled by the logic of this thing. Half of the fuses don't receive juice from the battery. I think certain relays are energized, power leaves the box into a harness plug, then re-enters to feed some other fused circuits. This must be done for my safety.

If I were to buy a brand new one, I think I would literally use a couple tubes of dielectric to seal the harness plugs, the seams in the plastic, and oll the holes from the fuse stabs. That would be a pile of suck.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

It would be a pile of suck, but you shouldn't have to worry about the electronics for more than a few years, the board would probably outlive the frame and chassis since Dodge didn't know how to paint or use rust preventative methods until like 2002.

[4cefed]

Trolololol... I've already foamed and bondo'd the space where the rockers and cab corners used to be. Long story short, I got it fixed. There was a major wire that corroded in half in one of the harness connectors. I fixed that an another small sire that did the same thing. Truck runs fine again. Except for the lifters... the diff cover.... front main seal... well, we don't have the bandwidth to keep going, but electrically, it's back to normal.

I used the baking soda and water a bit. That seemed to eat up the corrosion pretty well. I emptied a tube of dielectric onto the plugs and the innards of the fuse box. Thanks for the input guys.