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Chewed Up Behind Dash Wiring

2K views 25 replies 16 participants last post by  Blown 5.0 
#1 ·
The mice have made a mess of my behind the dash wiring.
1. My speedometer has a black face with the speed running counter clockwise. Anyone know who makes this speedometer and if service is available. I assume a new one could be purchased through Factory Five parts.
2. The two sets of wiring for the gauges are a mess. The red, white, black set light the needle on the gauges. The two small black wires are for the actual gauge light. Has anyone had experience replacing these light harnesses? Where can they be purchased?

Any help would be greatly appreciated... Jim
 
#3 ·
Pictures would help, but from your description those sound like Speedhut gauges. Wiring and/or complete gauges are available from Speedhut. Contact them directly and I'll bet they can help you get this resolved.
 
#8 ·
IF the needles are independently lit they are Speedhut gauges. You can go directly to their site for repairs, service parts, and replacement gauges/bezels, etc.

HTH...
Mark
 
#9 ·
Just finished a chat with the Auto-meter support group and got the address to send the gauges to. They do not have the harness.

The mice chewed the wiring down to the case so I had to take the case apart to get to the wire. After attaching a new wire the light did not work. Yesterday I bought a new solder gun, solder and wiring. I'll give it one more try before sending it off. Maybe there is a problem with the gauge itself.

Funny: Part of the stuff packed in the rat's nest was three pieces of mice and rat killer that I had scattered around the shop. The ends were chewed up on all three. Can't find a dead mouse but he may have made it back outside.
 
#10 ·
Wiring Around C01-12L Inverter??

My gauges are the Speedhut variety. I didn't have the bottom of my dash isolated from its bottom support and shorted something out blowing a couple of fuses. With the support situation corrected and the fuses replaced I now have a problem with the little black "inverter" box C01-12L. I've read that it does not like voltage surges and I think it is blown. No juice coming out of it!!

Does anyone know if there is a problem wiring around the inverter? Its Saturday by now and Speedhut is closed for the weekend.
 
#11 ·
My gauges are the Speedhut variety. I didn't have the bottom of my dash isolated from its bottom support and shorted something out blowing a couple of fuses. With the support situation corrected and the fuses replaced I now have a problem with the little black "inverter" box C01-12L. I've read that it does not like voltage surges and I think it is blown. No juice coming out of it!!

Does anyone know if there is a problem wiring around the inverter? Its Saturday by now and Speedhut is closed for the weekend.
Short answer, no. The inverter is required to supply the AC voltage to the Speedhut backlighting. Are you sure it's really blown? If you don't measure the output voltage as AC you might not get a valid reading.

Further details from Speedhut's website, explained better than me: "A: It is a DC to AC inverter. Yes, you do need it for gauge dial backlighting. It is not necessary for gauge operation. The dial lighting is accomplished via an electroluminescence panel behind the dial. This panel glows when it is subject to around 200 volts AC. The DC to AC inverter takes 12 volts DC and creates the needed 200 volts AC to power the dial lighting. Without it connected, the dial will not illuminate. Normally customers will wire the black wire from the "black box" (inverter) to a chassis ground and the white wire to the same location as the white wire on the gauge power distribution cable (red/black/white ribbon)."
 
#12 ·
Effects of Different Wiring Size??

The comments from edwardb were most helpful. I used the AC setting on my volt meter and had a positive reading. I sure did a lot of reading to not realize the use of AC on the backside of the inverter.

The red/white/black piggybacked wires between the gauges has been chewed through at least twice. One of the female connectors is missing. I'm thinking about running individual wires instead of trying to piece together the chewed up wiring harness.

SO... The gauge wiring harness uses very small wires. Does it screw up the circuit if the new wires I patch into the harness are larger than the originals??
 
#13 ·
SO... The gauge wiring harness uses very small wires. Does it screw up the circuit if the new wires I patch into the harness are larger than the originals??
Not a problem.
 
#14 ·
I finally got my dash wiring resolved. Had to send the speedometer and clock back to SpeedHut to solder new wiring harnesses to each unit. Haven't taken it out for a drive yet to set the speedometer, etc.

I've been having problems with hard starting so Sunday afternoon, the weather was beautiful, I decided to go through all setup for the QuickFuel 680VS carburetor. The fuel bowls were empty as it has been setting for several months. The instructions say to crank it for 10 seconds, wait a few seconds, and crank it for another ten seconds. Of course the battery was too low to get this done.

I have the battery in the trunk. I lift up the cover to attach the charger and guess what. A mouse was laying comfortably in the nest he had build on top of the battery. He looked at me like "oh crap" and started running around the trunk. The best I could do was to drop the charger, grab the industrial vacuum setting behind the Cobra, turn it on and try to suck up the little guy. He was very fast and ran down the side of the battery to points unknown. I did suck up one dried up mouse which must have taken my mouse poison.

I certainly do not want to go through the wiring issue again. I'm going to have mouse poison scattered everywhere and as a last resort I'll lock a cat (that I don't have) inside the garage. The cat would probably crawl all over the Cobra and scratch up the paint. What is a guy supposed to do?
 
#15 ·
Jim, I feel your pain. I keep my Cobra in a pole barn. And about two years ago one spring I pulled back the car cover sit in the car, stepped out to get a drink, look back and see a mouse sitting next to the roll bar.

I freaked out ( I hate mice ) yelled at him and he ran outside. Now don't laugh....called my brother and he found a nest ( with mom mouse and babies) living in a glove that was behind the passenger seat.

I found if you use real peppermint oil poured into a small lid and placed in the trunk, on the floors in the car and around the garage will keep them away. You will have to top off the peppermint oil as it evaporates.

Good luck.
 
#16 ·
Ok I don't get it? You have mice peeing and pooping all through your car, chewing up the wiring, causing lots of damage, and you worry that a cat is going to walk on the car???? If mice where in my car (not an issue as have about 3 or 4 neighborhood cats), I would be putting a food and water bowl on the floor and a nice cat bed in the passenger seat. Cats won't scratch the paint, they have retraceable claws! You sound like a cat hater? :|
 
#17 ·
Maybe it is just terminology usage. But just in case. You should never use a soldering GUN on electronics. They are WAY overpowered and actually induce damaging levels of voltage into electronic components. They also have a transformer that can damage sensitive electronics. The excess heat damages circuit boards and can lift the pads and traces. Not to mention frying small components. Use a soldering IRON on electronics.

People like them because they heat up fast. But they are kind of like using a sledgehammer on a finishing nail.
 
#18 ·
As soon as a cat starts to slip off of the hood of trunk, the claws are coming out, and they will scratch the paint.

They do have these things call mouse traps, that won't damage your car and they don't make your house smell like a cat toilet either.
 
#19 ·
I built my first Roadster when I didn't have a garage. We get snow where we live, so I built a make-shift tent for it that winter. Come Spring, I did the usual inspection and then started it up for the first time in about 5 months. I heard a loud pop out of the drivers side exhaust and looked back just in time to see a large rat bounce off a nearby tree. It got up and never stopped running, wish our cat had been nearby.

Rick
 
#20 ·
I did something similar but it was with a leaf blower - shot little mice all over the driveway! in pieces - the clean up was the worse part!
 
#21 ·
Mices Are Back

After about 90 days of piece and quiet I found the beginnings of a rodent nest behind my dash again. The dash gauge light wiring was chewed up again. I think the mices like the smaller wires. Maybe they taste like licorice. I've got SpeedHut on my Internet favorites list. Took about a minute to order two wiring harnesses so now I'll have a space. Per a forum suggestion I'm going to douse the inside of the car with real peppermint to see if I can discourage the little rascals. Should be back on the road next week. I'll use the downtime to install the shift light and clean it up for a local car show next weekend.
 
#22 ·
What ever you do, do NOT poison them. They crawl some place to die that you can't see. You only find out much later when the odor keeps you away. Anything like the peppermint suggestion that they don't like is fine. Other than that, traps where you can see them are the best solution. Now you just have to experiment w/ bait.
 
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#23 ·
P-nut butter. Never caught anything on glue traps or any other bait in a trap other than p-nut butter. Got a few after I first put them out but haven't had any takers in quite some time. Maybe they're all gone?????? One can hope.
 
#24 ·
Here in southern AZ, we use moth crystals or moth balls to keep the pack rats away, and it is effective both outside and in the garage. Will it work on mice, I wonder?
 
#26 · (Edited)
Mice/rats

You guys are too funny with your rodent control solutions, keep in mind that rodents are little mammals so food and shelter is the primary reason they end up nesting inside places that don't get disturbed or moved much, also chewing on wires is something they need to do because of their incisors teeth which are constantly growing so they need to chew on stuff to keep them "filed" down otherwise the teeth will grow out to the point where they will not be able to eat, rodents chewing on house electrical wires are a common cause of residential fires.

Best thing (if possible) is to inspect your garage for dime size holes for mice and quarter size holes for rats, be sure to check door seals and utility cable entry points and seal any entry points to exclude them from entering. Trapping with snap traps or glue boards works best once they have found there way inside but it's not the best method of controlling them since by this point you are fighting them from the inside.

As a licensed killer a great deal of my business (Termite and Pest Control) is rodent control and it involves reducing rodent populations down to manageable numbers by using rodent baits on the outside, however this is best done after other control measures such as exclusion have been implemented otherwise you will end up with dead rodents inside your garage, attic or interior wall voids (or car!) so don't use poison baits in your attic or inside your garage or you may end up with the dreaded dead animal smell, maggots or worse hundreds of hatching flies.

Saul :smile2:
 
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