Rusty 87 build thread

[musigenesis]

Naturally, the entire fricken world runs out of 16 ga. stranded wire at the same time I do.

[Bus'n it]

LOL, I've relegated my bus to my driveway behind the gate too! If it starts up then its a blessing. I have noticed the same thing with materials for my business and for the bus. Seems as if there isn't something you need when you need it.

[musigenesis]

Anybody know what the black lead on a red 7" LED is supposed to be hooked up to? These are used as the brake lights, and the red lead (high-power?) works to turn them on (white is ground, I think). The black leads were hooked up before I cut everything, but after tracing it, it turns out the black leads were connected to wires that themselves were never hooked up to anything.

Seems like brake lights would be either on or off, so I'm not sure what the low-power lead is supposed to do anyway.

[musigenesis]

Amazingly, I have everything working again except the tail lights, and also the running lights but they haven't been working for a while anyway.

With the tail lights I am somehow not finding the cut wires that match them using my ohmmeter. Doesn't make logical sense because I've cut the only bundle of wires leading to the back, and my taillights have always worked.

[Native]

On my bus, the black is for running (tail) light, red is for brake light.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Native

On my bus, the black is for running (tail) light, red is for brake light.

Ah, ok, so when just the running lights are on it glows faintly, and then goes full when you press the brakes?

I need to figure out why my running lights aren't working. I should have fixed that before cutting all the wires so I'm not compounding my mysteries. I think perhaps I blew a fuse but I'm not really sure how to check fuses. Some of them are like this solid metal box thing instead of the transparent colored plastic variety.

[Native]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Ah, ok, so when just the running lights are on it glows faintly, and then goes full when you press the brakes?

Yes, that is it.

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I need to figure out why my running lights aren't working. I should have fixed that before cutting all the wires so I'm not compounding my mysteries.

Of course, hindsight is 20/20. Are there *ANY* running lights working on the back? Hmmm, I suppose the proper tense is "were there". If you KNOW of one that works, you might be able to trace it back to the junction box and run new lines to the back.

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I think perhaps I blew a fuse but I'm not really sure how to check fuses. Some of them are like this solid metal box thing instead of the transparent colored plastic variety.

They all test the same with a voltometer. Most will have a way to test across the fuse without removing it from the circuit. For those that must be removed, then they must be removed before testing for continuity.

[musigenesis]

Got the tail light wiring figured out, so I just have to figure out the running lights now. Unfortunately they're all out (including the ones I put in and some of the original ones still remaining) so I don't have a working starting point.

[Bus'n it]

Despite being an electrical contractor dealing with different voltages and wiring techniques, I still dread dealing with the bus wiring. You'll get it sorted out. I have one of those "tone generating" tools that sends an audible signal to track each wire. It won't work if the wire is grounded or shorted. Might be worth a try. HD or Lowes carries the tool.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Bus'n it

Despite being an electrical contractor dealing with different voltages and wiring techniques, I still dread dealing with the bus wiring. You'll get it sorted out. I have one of those "tone generating" tools that sends an audible signal to track each wire. It won't work if the wire is grounded or shorted. Might be worth a try. HD or Lowes carries the tool.

I really should have dealt with this wiring a year and a half ago. It wouldn't have been any easier, but it would have been done a year and a half ago.

My bus' wiring seems extra-strange. When I first got the bus the backup lights did not work, which turned out to be because one of the two big multi-wire connectors in the back was unplugged. When I plugged it back together, though, a buzzer went off constantly while driving, so it seems like somebody at some point "fixed" the buzzer at the expense of the backup lights (probably unknowingly).

I will be so happy to pull this mass of wiring out of my bus.

[Bus'n it]

Yep. As I pulled down my ceiling this afternoon, I realized before I get to dreaming of cutting the roof and raising it, I must address the unneeded wiring for the emergency hatches/windows, rear flasher lights, overhead stock interior lighting and finally the speakers. Once those wires are deleted from the loom it should make life a tad easier. I get it though. Its so easy to just go onto the build before ironing out the stock bus wiring. As I said, i am sure you will sort it out. These things are really basic. I don't even have a wiring diagram, but have figured out alot of the wiring colors and what they go to on my rig.

[cadillackid]

getting rid of extra wiring definitely is a help.. although in all my busses ive kept those wires in the loom.. since i dont pull the ceilings down.. I want speakers in thye back of my DEV bus.. those coiled up school-light wires that i tagged and taped off are just the ticket as i dont have to run new ones..



if you are deleting wiringm I highly just dropping a few extra 12 gauge runs down your chaseway before you close it up after the roof raise or such.. that way if you want to add something later you just go uncoil that wire, splice in extra as needed and bingo no need to tear apart whatever looming or chaseway you created during your build..




as for the running lights.. im assuming you are talking about the top lights on the body.. many busses run these off a separate switch on the panel and label them CL lamps or Clearance Lights.. Bluebird almost always did.. some schools SPEC'd them to be on a separate switch.. so look for a switch in your switch panel as the feed may be there..

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

if you are deleting wiringm I highly just dropping a few extra 12 gauge runs down your chaseway before you close it up after the roof raise or such.. that way if you want to add something later you just go uncoil that wire, splice in extra as needed and bingo no need to tear apart whatever looming or chaseway you created during your build..

Is 16 ga (stranded) no bueno for running these lines? All lights are LEDs at this point.

I'm not sure yet how I'm going to be doing the chaseway, so these will just be hanging out inside the bus for a bit. I'm considering running them in a conduit underneath along one of the chassis rails.

Originally Posted by cadillackid

as for the running lights.. im assuming you are talking about the top lights on the body.. many busses run these off a separate switch on the panel and label them CL lamps or Clearance Lights.. Bluebird almost always did.. some schools SPEC'd them to be on a separate switch.. so look for a switch in your switch panel as the feed may be there..

Ha ha, yeah, it only took me a year to spot the CL switch. That used to turn them on successfully, but at some point at least a few months ago it stopped doing anything. So either I ripped a connection loose or blew the fuse on the circuit, I suppose.

[cadillackid]

I like 12 gauge stranded because they are spare wires.. you dont yet know what you would use them for so it might be a light or a speaker or a motor or a ??? , with 16 you limit yourself to something very low amp esp if it runs the 30 feet of the bus

[musigenesis]

Hmm, I've got everything wired up and working now except the clearance/id lights. I've traced the two wires for them back to the main trunk of wires coming out of the electrical box, but no juice. Tested the fuse for the circuit and it's fine. I wonder if I broke the dashboard "CL" switch somehow.

[musigenesis]

Giant mound of removed wiring. I should weigh this.





Coiled up all the unused wires just in case. A lot of these are high-amp feeds so they may come in handy someday.



All the actual used wires.



Back end looks so much nicer without those masses of wires. Without them there's actually room underneath the cap here; I could have built an indentation into this wall, but it seemed like it would be a lot of extra work for just a tiny extra space.



Trying to figure out why my clearance/ID lights don't work any more (they were working at one time). Thought it might be the switch is busted, so I opened up my dash. The yellow wire here connects through to the wire in the bus that I identified as the one for this circuit, so I know that's correct. I also checked the switch functioning and it's working correctly - when it's pushed on, the tab for the black wire here connects to the yellow wire.



A couple of shots of my fuse layout. I checked out every fuse that seemed like it could possibly be the one for this circuit, and they're all fine.





Noticed something driving tonight with the headlights on: The CL switch (that turns on these lights) isn't lighting up with the rest of the switches.





So it seems like the CL switch is not drawing any power? Which is why switching it on doesn't send any power to the clearance lights?

Any thoughts on how I can trace this further? Seems pretty weird and I don't know where to go from here. I guess I should probably check every fuse in my box just to be sure.

[Native]

There may also be a relay involved, though I would think the switch would have power regardless of the state of the relay. If you have a voltmeter, you may be able to measure the pins referenced to grounnd to see which pins have power in which switch setting. Could also do this with the switch removed and do continuity checks.

[Oldyeller]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Decided to deal with my giant mess of a wiring situation by labeling and cutting everything. Now it's all-new wiring or my bus is never leaving my driveway again.

Attachment 49179

Didn't your bus have plugs in the harness just in front of the cap? All I had to do was disconnect 3 plugs on each side and the wiring was handled. Should I consider myself to be very fortunate?

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Oldyeller

Didn't your bus have plugs in the harness just in front of the cap? All I had to do was disconnect 3 plugs on each side and the wiring was handled. Should I consider myself to be very fortunate?

Didn't disconnecting those 3 plugs on each side also disconnect your rear lights? My problem is that I didn't know which wire coming out of the trunk next to the driver's seat went to which light in the back, so removing the old wiring wasn't really a problem, it was getting the new replacement wiring to be hooked up correctly.

[Oldyeller]

I wasn't driving the bus so it didn't matter. Hopefully next week I'll take it out for it's first drive if my friend comes through and makes it out to torch off the frame.