river crossings and well......it seemed like a good idea at the time..

[punkrawker]

ok so.....I was muckin around outside of town yesterday with a buddy of mine goin wheelin and I crossed the river to get to the other side, something I have done previously in the donkey express with ZERO issues the next day. the river was far from white water worthy and came up to the bottom of the door give or take. when we figured we had enough fun for one day wheelin I dropped my buddy off at home, stopped there for a visit. fired up the van an hour or so later no problems, did some more running around and stopped at a few other places before finally returning home. shut the van down for the night, plugged in the block heater (say what you want but she surely starts easier in the am plugging her in) went to bed with not a thought of waking up to any issues the next day starting the van up....

woke up this morning, went to start her up and I could tell that she was mad at me (the donkey express). lifted the seats, sat in the drivers and cranked her over, was sounding like she was gonna fire but didn't. ok, looking over everything and everything looks how it should. lit up the plugs again, let em get nice and hot, fire her up and same thing except this time I noticed smoke coming off the negative from one of the dual batteries......because that is normal right??? (insert sarcasm)

like pretty much everyone else on here I bought my beloved donkey express off a guy from kijiji, since owning the an I have defiantly been noticing a lot of neglected matianence and very sketchy(at best) wiring...ie, excess wiring going to and from where? who knows.., too much wire length (voltage drop) and circuit protectors on the negative side?? I was always told that circuit protectors/fuses were supposed to be on the positive side of the electrical equation.

any advice, comments etc. much appreciated

[FalcoColumbarius]

First thing is to clean the terminals and the cable ends. I just yanked my batteries out and did a major clean up. I can't say that I know electrickery well but I know a little. I had a constant failing 15 amp ATO fuse in my shock compressor system. I was going through fuses like it was going out of style. After taking the wire brush cup to the terminals and cable ends I don't blow fuses anymore. I'm really not sure why this is but I'm reckoning that the wire brush has something to do with it.

Regarding the wiring: Have you taken a look at the "Engine Electrical" manual? Perhaps that might give you an idea what's stock and what's not.

Do you have the Winter package (dual batteries in parallel)?

Falco.

[punkrawker]

yes, I do have dual batteries in parallel. I am not the most tech SMRT guy out there and a far cry from an electrical ninja but with help from forums and youtube....the average gal/gal can edgeamakate themselves enough to figure things out on their vehicles.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Wiring/Part1/ is a very well written and in depth explanation of 12v circuitry. yes its a bit of a read but if its either read for a couple hours or pay an average shop rate of $100/hr to have someone else try and figure out previous owners "amazing" wiring job.....well then I guess reading free information isn't that bad......having said all of this, where is my mail order Russian sugga momma?