Tech Talk
Once a week or so I like to browse through the latest comments on our online forums (http://forums.fleetmag.com/) and see what people are talking about. There’s a saying in the trade publication industry that editors need to always be writing about the topics that “keep our readers up at night,” and reading the forums is a good way to keep up on what you, our readers, and losing sleep over.
I’ve noticed recently that the forum posts are taking on a more technical edge: more and more readers, it seems, are using the forums to post specific technical questions about vehicles and components.
Take, for example, this recent post about a wiring problem one reader has been experiencing with a certain make of truck: “This yellow insulation is being worn by the split loom that it is installed in. The insulation will have many wear marks from the ribs of the loom, eventually wearing through to the copper, add a little salt water and the wire breaks. I am not talking about one spot, I’m talking about dozens of wear marks along the entire length of the wire, from the headlight pods to the point that it disappears into the frame rail…” A response from another reader appeared today, saying, in part, “The most common thing I can conclude is that the split loom chosen is too large of a diameter for the amount of wiring. And by going to a smaller diameter split loom, plus securely wrapping with tape every so often prevents the wiring from moving in the loom and wearing out…” There’s more to this exchange, and you can read it at http://forums.fleetmag.com/showthread.php?p=160#post160.
Maybe you’ll have response of your own to this particular problem. Maybe you have your own troubles to write about. Either way, you’ll find a supportive community in our growing body of forum users, and you might just get some answers to your problems, that will help you sleep more soundly tonight.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:16 am
——————————————————————————–
We have a fleet of Volvo’s and have many times experienced the same issue. Our problem usually shows up with a truck ABS light coming on. When troubleshooting we find that a wire harness ABS system sensors had the wire loom actually cut through the wire insulation of more than one wire at the same time. When water sprays in from rain soaked roads, it causes the electrical current to run between the open wires which then trips on the ABS light. It only causes problems in rainy weather. But I believe it is definetely the fault of the Manufactorer for pulling the zip tie to tight against the frame bracket. I don’t believe that is is actually “wearing out”, it’s more like prgressively cutting the isulation.