I remember pulling into my girlfriend’s driveway in my 66 Mustang back in the late 80s when I was younger and even dumber. The headlights had started flashing erratically a couple days before and I was hoping her dad might be able to help. He was a farm boy who had kept the family tractors, combines and whatever else running while his dad was overseas during the war. I think he was about eight years old when he started helping his mother look after the place. They were dirt poor and if you couldn’t fix something with what you had in the barn or shed you were going to starve. He told me the contacts inside the headlight switch were likely corroded. I said where the hell am I gonna get another light switch for a car this old? He just laughed pulled the switch out from behind the dash, drilled out the rivets, cracked it open, cleaned out the carbon and other crap, sanded the contacts bright, bent them a bit to restore the tension, found some little machine screws and nuts that fit where the rivets went, put it all back together and popped it in the dash. Worked flawlessly from then on. Pretty sure I heard him mutter something about his daughter wasting her time dating a dumb city kid as he headed back in the house. Happy to say that girlfriend and I just celebrated our 29th anniversary. I think I’ve grown on the old boy a bit since then. I live by his mantra that 90% of machinery that’s acting up isn’t actually “broken” - usually just needs a good cleaning, tweaking, and lubricating. 😎
Hehehehe, I can honestly say that I figured this out on a friend's old Ford pickup. He was having issues not just with his lights, but a lot of electrical in his truck. I started checking fuses and the very first thing I noticed, they all felt crunchy. Checked all the fuses, cleaned the terminals and suddenly his entire truck worked perfectly. :) He felt dumb, because he was about to butcher a 4 year old wiring harness trying to figure out what broke. The truck even started and ran better since the ignition coil was getting full power. Edit: I should add that how I cleaned the terminals with them in the truck was to use a small flat head screwdriver and very carefully scraped, then took an angled pick to get the tighter places. It took me awhile, but it was well worth it. And, I put a very thin film of dielectric on the terminals before popping the fuses in. So far, he hasn't had anymore issues.
I can attest to this corrosion issue…I’ve made thousands of hours from air bag lights and codes by just unplugging and plugging in connectors multiple times to get rid of that corrosion…uncle Tony it happens to new cars but a “harder” repair due to the small pin size on modern cars
I ran into this with a 72 charger that had been on fire. I saw the corrosion and didn't know you could pull the terminals out. I took the box off of the firewall put blue masking tape on all of the plastic that had writing, then used the cheap harbor freight can't blaster with glass bead in it on all the terminals. Then wiped them all with alcohal and used dielectric grease like Tony said. The last thing was fixing the splices on the tail lights. Each socket was attached with a crimp, I put new sockets in and then soldered them together, I basically re wired each tail light. It took me weeks in my spare time to fix all the wiring.
Another critical contact is the fat alternator output wire that Mother Mopar routed thru a rusty spade lug in the middle of the zillion-pin firewall connector, going to the full-current ammeter gauge in the instrument panel and back again thru the firewall before going anywhere useful. I had to check and clean the firewall connector at the side of the road. In Minnesota. In January.
I had a similar issue with a 1977 Power Wagon. The electronic ignition kept overheating and cutting out due to corroded primary wire. The bulkhead connector was OK but the wire from the alternator to the connector was completely green inside the insulation.
Yep, sandpaper and dremels remove the protective plating and REALLY get the corrosion started again, deoxit removes only the corrosion. Also, fuse endcaps are nickel-plated brass, socket clips are tin-plated brass. The corrosion is tin oxide from the clip, easily removed with any weak acid like vinegar on a q-tip if deoxit isn't handy. No baking soda; as a base, it will convert the surface to tin hydroxide and eventually the straight oxide all over again.
Vinegar / salt solution followed by water / baking soda solution to neutralize any remaining acid . Works great and no tedious sanding necessary . The biggest problem with silicone grease is it's tendency to wind up in " creative " places , if you have a shop full of pranksters , IME .
Yep, you beat me to it. :-) And I first learned of it for cleaning the pots on vintage stereo equipment. Works great for cleaning corrosion on old taillight sockets, too.
Typical problem with Aussie Valiants. Many a time you can just reach under the dash and give the fuse a wiggle to regain contact temporarily to get home. Our cars only had a small, 2 fuse box until 1971, and our main looms, very much like the one on your bench Tony, would always overheat the pink light feed wire, creating crusty, brittle insulation. Good info, that most of us don't pay much attention to. Glad you made this one.
Ahh the pink light feed wire.. I've spent considerable time un-taping then re-taping the loom to replace this wire, it goes a lot of places! I'm hoping remote light relay will fix this.
As far as the dremel goes, you can get small wire brushes for them (I've used the smallest cup or end type brush which will fit into that fuse holder) I would not use a burr type bit as it can remove a lot of the metal in a second and weaken the clips. I've had to do the same thing, but while I had the fuse clip removed, I used a pencil tip soldering iron and tinned the inside of the fuse clips with a thin layer of solder and wiped out any excess while still molten and hot. This will stop any corrosion in the future.
I posted a similar comment, I like using a 25acp bore brush in a rotary tool, I've got one that gets up in there without removing the contacts or fuse holder so it's quick and dirty and over with in a minute.
I use .22 Long Rifle cartridges instead of those silly glass fuses. They give an audible alert when they blow and they are good for better than 20 amps 😊
Once again, very basic simple stuff, but very important. And the grease tip is gold! I have used grease on all my battery terminals for decades and I almost never have any corrosion problems on the battery. I just use plain old grease on the battery, but the dialectic grease is best for small connections like fuseboxes.
I like the aircooled VW fuses with the exposed elements, they're right there by your left knee, they rarely ever blow and if they get corroded they're easy to just wiggle around with your thumb and boom, back on the road.
As a VW guy who just got a 1980 Merc 240d ,and i got a fuse set somewhere that used brass instead of aluminum for those fuses. They say the corrosion monster doesn't bite ya as much.
except when you bump a fuse out and are driving at night to work and are pulled over by a cop bc of no brake lights. i even tapped it to show the cop but he did care and tickited me anyways.
I still have the same tube of dielectric grease I've had for somewhere around 15 years, and I use it. A tiny, tiny dab will do you. It makes a difference on any modern plugs too.
Ge used to make a good silicone grease. Pops had (still has) a tube he swiped from work back in the 80s 😂 White label with maroon lettering on it. Who knows maybe they still make it.
Hey, Tony. What I did to sand a glass fuse box connector was I took right angle Allen Wrench of the correct thickness, wrapped it in sand paper and worked it into the fuse box WITHOUT removing the whole box ! It worked fine. I was able to sand the glass fuse holder in the car and saved a bunch of labor !
OMG!!! I'm chasing a damned electrical issue with my 73 Charger and it's the running lights and side marker lights. Also the turn signal. I'll give this a try. Thank you Sir!!!
Working on 208v 3ph power, a loose connector ended up burning up either one of the motor coils or the output of the VFD...joys of industrial electrical
I've always used a dremmel, with a soft wire wheel oin it, low speed, and cleaned them in place. Works great, add a little White lithium grease and good for years. Uncle Tony, always helpin us little guys n gals with our issues! Great stuff.
Yeah, my 71 Camaro has some rust bubbles in the usual spots and was originally a 6 cylinder car, but I can drive it 100 miles no problem. Still has most of the original wiring that I inspected and found that same thing. Even the door buzzer works. Great info
I use a screwdriver and sand paper but it exactly the same idea. Very good content for anyone. Much cheaper then changing the hole box like some would do cause the new era mecanics don't know whats rust or corrosion removal. It's "Order a new one generation".
As you were explaining in the test light it clicked in my head. I chased the dimming on the interior lights and the blinkers in my Toronado. Well now i know some things to check. Amazing information as always UTG
Back in the day we would know if the glow plugs were working on a rabbit diesel by watching if the interior light would go dim or not when ya turned on the key. If not ,first place to look was that crummy tinfoil 55amp fuse in a black box on the firewall it would fracture right next to the edge of the screw ,not visible. Loosen one screw and it crumbles ,yup it was open.
This is a massive problem on boats and exposure to the salt , I would have to faithfully each season look at every single connector test , repair or replace . I couldn’t tell you how many times a customer would be calling freaking out because there navigation light weren’t working, or there bilge pump quit . Fantastic video Uncle Tony . Cheers 🇨🇦
Once you get the corrosion cleaned out, hose the whole fuse box down with an electrical contact solution such as Corrosion-X or Corrosion Guard (Waterguard USA). I have used this stuff for electrical contacts in an offshore saltwater environment. Friends have used it to hose down R/C seaplane and boat receiver circuit boards and servos after a dunking, again, with great results. Musicians/pro sound guys spray plugs and jacks on mics, amps, etc. Also boat trailer connectors and light sockets. This stuff is magic.
Hey Tony - just a few comments about the electrical work. Cleaning those fusebox contacts with a Dremel tool does a much better job and will eliminate any electrical resistance and will last a long time. When the fuses are re-installed you can then check the contact resistance from one side of the circuit through the fuse to the other side with a multimeter (important). All circuits should be less than 0.5 ohms. I've seen faulty fuse boxes in older cars plus faulty high-resistance fuses which cause headaches, so check it all since you have it apart on the table. Btw, the copper contact oxidation is from "electrolysis" which occurs when electrical current flows through two dissimilar metals in a circuit. In the video, you mentioned that copper 'corrodes', but a good beryllium copper alloy just oxidizes and doesn't corrode through like iron based metals. Copper, silver, nickel, platinum, gold are noble metals and they don't corrode/rust through but they oxidize a bit over time, which technically, is a form of rust, but nowhere near as severe as iron based metals or steel alloys. Of course, this is why automakers use copper contacts instead of tin or other cheap metals which would otherwise rust/corrode through in a couple of years. I've helped save friends & family thousand$ with auto electrical problems; and been doing that for 47 years, (plus electronic engineering design work and weather-related analytics.) Everyone working on cars should know how to use an electrical multimeter to check & measure resistance (plus voltage and current measurements) in automotive circuits. Check the fuses themselves on the meter! Sometimes glass fuses measure good on a meter but won't pass higher amounts of current when in the circuit. Also the ignition coil wire plugged to the distributor cap may also oxidize and cause a lower energy spark to the plugs. Good luck.
My car is only 35 years old but the biggest electrical problems I've had are the old connectors. Old bullet connectors, rubber insulators around each bullet are all crumbly. Ended up cutting out old connectors and swapping with modern ones. Which also means adapting modern sensors. Oh what a joy it's been.
I had a '79 Toyota truck, the driver's side headlight got dim. I replaced it, about three days later the new one got dim?? It was dirty grease, someone put Vaseline or silicone grease on the stainless fuze ends to prevent rust over the years the dust collected in the grease, also '79 Toyota truck has a left and right separate fuze, one for each headlamp. Who knew dielectric grease would collect dust??
I spent hours tracing wires, checking the ends, finding the dirty grease was an accident, but I never forgot it!! I guess Fuze holder can rust, its not so much the Fuze ends as the holder, they are just steel right?
Another good one 👍 for all the DIY'ers out there thinking of using a dremel/rotary tool - I want to add that I've found that a regular .22lr or .25acp caliber bore cleaning brush works well for getting in there and removing the corrosion, and it doesn't leave deep scratches like a lower grit sandpaper that could potentially trap moisture and cause the same issue to happen prematurely the next time, depending on your climate of course. Someone hot rodding out in the Louisiana swamp is gonna have a different experience than Ol Uncle Tony over here in Tennessee lol And it doesn't hurt to ensure those little tabs don't stay bent in so that they don't lock back in place when reinserted into the housing. Almost all electrical connectors use a little locking tab, I work with smaller connectors a lot and use a cheap little precision flathead screwdriver to get into the groove and bend them flat to remove the wire and connector from the back of the plug/housing.
Uncle Tony this is called galvanic corrosion, and the issue is the electrical terminations. Alwaus put di-electric grease on bare terminations. This is such an easy fix. A similar metal brush (brass to copper, stainless to stainless) and dielectric grease. I spent 4 hours doing a 68 bug that sat for 20 years and I had 0 electrical issues. I smear di-electric grease on every connector that I put back together now.
You could try spraying with electronic contact cleaner and then use a 22LR copper bore brush bent into an "L" , twist and move back and forth, just don't leave a 22 cartridge in there. Bad things will happen.
Just a quick comment on the initial testing portion. A test light will find a blown fuse. But a voltmeter will not only find the blown fuse but can test for voltage drop across any connection or wire . Loss of power due to resistance. 😊😊
very good info also on old Mopar fuse box has rivets that go bad but the best for the fuse in place of the Dielectric grease, please use PENETROX, one bottle with last a life time or cheaper is Gardner-OX-100B-Ox-Gard Anti-Oxidant Compound. and by the way thanks so much for all you do. WE LOVE IT!!!
I literally had this problem a few months ago on my Fury. I was actually working on the dash wiring and repairing everything in the dash. I put it all back together and had lost power to one circuit. Took a little bit but I found the culprit.
"The halfways". Never heard that in my life, actually had to think a second before I understood what you meant! Everyone I know said parking lights- but you don't really use them for parking, so your term really makes more sense... Pull the knob halfway...
I once had a glass fuse that was visually ok, chased the fault for hours. Fuse wire was broken at the inside end. Always check continuity or substitute another fuse. I like lanolin for corrosion protection, it's dielectric and low toxicity.
Hey Tony, Tim here, just wanna add....the sand paper shud be old school emery cloth, NOT just regular sand paper.....reason: regular sandpaper will deposit some of its grit/media nto the copper terminals, emory cloth is better for NOT tranfering its media to the terminal....since we cant just get good old emery cloth anywhere, i found PLUMBERS sandpaper for water pipe (get it at home depot/lowes) IS an emery cloth type, and will NOT transfer its grit/media as easily, then do ALL what ur sayin, which I KNOW works well!!!.....i just like the cloth....plumbers need it to NOT transfer as they are gonna solder it together, any foreign debris in their joint is a potential water leak.....just a tip
I did the Dremel method a few times, contact loss kept coming back over time (like a week each time), did a video of the Dremel method again then cleaned and heated the clips to accept some solder nice and smoothly, so the fuse had good corrosion free surface, had to do it in the car, been 2 months and so far so good with no issues.
As someone who cut his teeth turning wrench's on the gulf coast , humidity and salt corroded everything. Dielectric grease can reduce and slow corrosion , I unplugged every plug on my Jeep and doped it up with dielectric grease, headlight deep water crossings, no problem.
Good video, uncle Tony, I think it’s called galvanic corrosion dissimilar metals corroding due to an anode cathode set up… The glass fuse looks fine in the tube and then when you remove it, the end caps just fall off, there’s no internal contact
This. I can't speak for Mopars of this vintage but the fuse block in my '68 VW had brass contacts, not copper, so the corrosion I removed was galvanic, not copper verdigris. Take a small diameter dowel, cut a slot in it, stick a strip of sandpaper in the slot, then chuck it in a drill and clean the fuse holders...quick and easy!
Where's my mk1 VW diesel guys ? We love those glow plug fuses on the firewall. Don't even bother with a meter ,have a new fuse too. Loosen either screw holding the fuse and it falls apart. Yup, it was open. Carry a few in the glovebox ,they only last a couple years.
@@MrTheHillfolk VW Rabbit fuse box rust from windshield gasket and firewall tray leaking water onto the fuse and relay box, water filled relays and rust. VW Gas engine fuel pump relay rewire kits to bypass melted fuse box problems. Still have the diesel fuse links in my tool box along with M-B 300D air cleaner box isolaters, three per air-box to cure big noise rattlers...That is if the air box support bracket has not also cracked... Met my wife back in 1981 because other parts changers were throwing lots of parts at her 1973 Duster for an intermittent stalling shut off problem. Every one missed the fuse block bulkhead connector main power lead melting the plastic and dropping connection. A/C blower load was more than it was designed for along with ignition switch main power lead connector also getting weak. Fixed the current load with repairing connections and transferring the A/C loads to the good old Bosch square relays, those little boxes saved a lot of future problems. 1966 Mustangs with A/C had the same problem, ignition switches could not handle the loads from the under-dash A/C units the dealer installed and burned out the switch connectors leading to intermittent shutdowns...
@leeguenveur5853 Yeah I've seen those issues on the vws ,but I'd try and take care of stuff so it didn't very out of hand. Haha water shorting into a rabbit fusebox while it's parked and in gear. Haha come back and your car drove itself away on the starter motor 🤣
As you said, the wiring is fantastic, it is the connectors that fail. 1977 GM products (specifically: Monte Carlo, Malibu, El Camino, et al., had problems with the plastic connectors that held the contacts. The connectors would turn brittle and crumble away to nothing. My Brother lost a nice El Camino to an electrical fire. Also, in reference to glass fuses, I always loved the fuses (usually low amp-rated fuses) that lose contact on one end. The fuse doesn't blow, but you can pull one end off the glass body of the fuse...
Not just American cars, my '72 MGB GT has a similar fuse box - only four fuses! Fortunately it's easy to remove completely. I soak the whole thing in a dish of CLR (Calcium, Lime, Rust cleaner similar in nature to vinegar). As you said, finish by using a small amount of dielectric grease.
I use dielectric grease on all electronic connections that are potentially exposed to water in every car I work on. Also if you have exposed connectors and you can't get heat shrink on them. Use the liquid electrical tape. They even make it different colors
Hey I have an old trick I have used for years. Go to any hardware store. And get a jug of metal prep. Usually found in the paint section. Get a good clean spray bottle. Put the metal prep in it. Spray it on any the corrosion let it set for 10 minutes. Get another spray bottle with pure water and thoroughly rinse. The corrosion will be completely gone. No sanding no scraping. Works great on all connections including battery terminals.
2005 caravan tail lights and tail gate release... same issue. Just did this yesterday. Scuff em up.. I use a very light bit of dielectric grease when done and problem solved. the hope... at least on a caravan tail light is that the contacts aren't rotted away completely lol
No. The best way to fix this is to spray some deoxit on a qtip. The corrosion will go away. CLR will do it. Vineger will do it. Hell, warm water mixed with baking soda will do it. None are as fast as deoxit though. The bad part about deoxit is it stains plastics.
Agreed. These kind of contacts should be cleaned chemically, not mechanically. If you use sandpaper you increase the surface area and it can corrode even faster the second time around. Or you might sand away and form of plating on the contacts that is supposed to inhibit corrosion. I prefer some pure isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip.
Lemon juice, strained of pulp if nothing else is around. The citric acid will clean the rust and dirt. Use an old tooth brush and flush with clean water and dry well. Protect with small amount of dielectric grease.
Great information, but there two things I'd like to add. First, those glass fuses sometimes look good, but have the fuse element detached from one of the end caps. A test light will find those pretty quickly, but just looking at a fuse is risky. Second, the corrosion was 500X worse on German cars that used the GBC style fuse. Those not only corrode and lose connection, but the springy clips that hold them become weak, further complicating the issue. Electrical problems are easy, once you understand electricity.
@@Johann52005 No lights with GBC fuses? Rotate the fuse with your finger to get the lights back on until you can clean the contacts and replace the fuses...
Thanks for the advice. The radio on my Scout is always dropping out and if wiggle the connections of the fuse block it comes back on for a while. Ill be cleaning them soon.
I use silver conductive grease from MG Chemicals p/n 8463A-3ML. Comes in a syringe & easy to apply. Also the Dremel stainless wire brush assortment from Harbor Freight to remove corrosion. Use both products on all my planes, cars, motorcycles & boats.
There are 'ball' end dremel burrs that work really well too....I have a couple in my tool box to use for this particular task......and DO NOT over-use the dielectric grease!!!!!!
I've seen so many fights in the comment sections over Dielectric grease. Apparently because of its name there is a lot of people that think conducting electricity is exactly what it does
the dash cluster on my '93 stopped working. the fix was cleaning the ground near the battery. sometimes unseen corrosion in a crimped wire/connector junction will stop you cold. a dab of solder on the exposed surfaces of the joint fixed that.
ive used a 22 cal. bore brush with the tip just bent sideways to clean the fuse contacts in the fuse box and once scrubbed down to bare metal I take a Q-tip and rub a thin layer of Dielectric grease to help keep rust from forming but is still able to conduct electricity
Noalox is what we use for industrial connections. Vaseline will work for this application, it works really well for disconnects and is a lot cheaper than square d stab grease.
I'm currently living this fuse nightmare with my W126 Mercedes. Most of my electrical issues are fuses and relays...thing is that removing the fusebox is such a big job
My first FE build question. Watching your old videos and came across the fuel washing out the cylinder. On run stand Broke my cam in and ran engine several times. Could not get it to idle but ran awesome reving it up above 2k.. Tore carb apart and cleaned it up. Then found vacuum leak. Carb clean up didnt go well and flooded engine out. Pulled plugs and #1 had fuel shoot out. Pulled carb and cranked to clean cylinder. Sprayed some oil in it and cranked some more. Engine runs well so pulled plugs to check compression. All around 170 except #1 is 150. Should I pull and rering that cylinder or put in truck and run a while. Fig you would know. Not a race engine just dish pistons and a custom cam grind to raise compression from stock. Oregon cams. Guess I will do a leak down test today and see how that is. My kid just moved from Washington State to Tellico Plains TN. I will Have to try and visit next year and say hi
I had a problem with a tail light on my bike, corrosion related. Springy contact for the tip of the bulb is made of brass or similar, you sand it it still goes whacky after a week. So I cleaned it again, and applied thin film of generic lithium grease, no more issues.
Revolver cleaning brushes work really nice for cleaning those contacts too. Beware of prying on cheap glass fuses, they'll shatter much easier then the old ones.
I had a 67 Coronet, 71 Duster, 74 Dart and 78 Volare. All of them had at least one, if not more fuses that looks fine, but remove it and it falls apart due to galvanic corrosion.
CLR will clean the contacts too. Toothbrush dipped in CLR, scrub a dub dub. Also if the harness is out or the fuel block is hanging down and has enough play, dunk it in a large hot pot of coffee for 10 or so minutes. Those copper contacts will shine better than new. Works great on battery cables as well.
I remember pulling into my girlfriend’s driveway in my 66 Mustang back in the late 80s when I was younger and even dumber. The headlights had started flashing erratically a couple days before and I was hoping her dad might be able to help. He was a farm boy who had kept the family tractors, combines and whatever else running while his dad was overseas during the war. I think he was about eight years old when he started helping his mother look after the place. They were dirt poor and if you couldn’t fix something with what you had in the barn or shed you were going to starve.
He told me the contacts inside the headlight switch were likely corroded. I said where the hell am I gonna get another light switch for a car this old? He just laughed pulled the switch out from behind the dash, drilled out the rivets, cracked it open, cleaned out the carbon and other crap, sanded the contacts bright, bent them a bit to restore the tension, found some little machine screws and nuts that fit where the rivets went, put it all back together and popped it in the dash. Worked flawlessly from then on. Pretty sure I heard him mutter something about his daughter wasting her time dating a dumb city kid as he headed back in the house.
Happy to say that girlfriend and I just celebrated our 29th anniversary. I think I’ve grown on the old boy a bit since then. I live by his mantra that 90% of machinery that’s acting up isn’t actually “broken” - usually just needs a good cleaning, tweaking, and lubricating. 😎
Uncle Tony, you’re showing your youth. My first ride, a 1958 Beetle, has those awful ceramic fuses with the exposed element..
Those are known as GBC fuses, and every German car I ever worked on needed fuse and terminal cleaning.
Hehehehe, I can honestly say that I figured this out on a friend's old Ford pickup. He was having issues not just with his lights, but a lot of electrical in his truck. I started checking fuses and the very first thing I noticed, they all felt crunchy. Checked all the fuses, cleaned the terminals and suddenly his entire truck worked perfectly. :) He felt dumb, because he was about to butcher a 4 year old wiring harness trying to figure out what broke. The truck even started and ran better since the ignition coil was getting full power.
Edit: I should add that how I cleaned the terminals with them in the truck was to use a small flat head screwdriver and very carefully scraped, then took an angled pick to get the tighter places. It took me awhile, but it was well worth it. And, I put a very thin film of dielectric on the terminals before popping the fuses in. So far, he hasn't had anymore issues.
I can attest to this corrosion issue…I’ve made thousands of hours from air bag lights and codes by just unplugging and plugging in connectors multiple times to get rid of that corrosion…uncle Tony it happens to new cars but a “harder” repair due to the small pin size on modern cars
You are doing more than unplugging and plugging to address that corrosion...right?
@@rustedhorsepower5132 stabilt generally does the trick
The end of the fuse is not stainless.
It is brass or steel probably plated with nickel.
@@gordonwelcher9598 most likely true. Stainless is a poor conductor compared to other materials, right?
@@rustedhorsepower5132 Flat rate is a ride, ain't it? I've worked beside techs that did stuff like that. (Not saying the guy above does, though)
The way Tony handled the sandpaper and bit makes me realize his smoking isn't for pleasure. It is to keep his fingers limber to clean contacts.
It was hilarious to watch Uncle Tony roll the drill bit. Since I roll my own cigarettes the same way he obviously does. 😂
He might not smoke em but he's definitely rolled joints at parties 😂😂
I ran into this with a 72 charger that had been on fire. I saw the corrosion and didn't know you could pull the terminals out. I took the box off of the firewall put blue masking tape on all of the plastic that had writing, then used the cheap harbor freight can't blaster with glass bead in it on all the terminals. Then wiped them all with alcohal and used dielectric grease like Tony said. The last thing was fixing the splices on the tail lights. Each socket was attached with a crimp, I put new sockets in and then soldered them together, I basically re wired each tail light. It took me weeks in my spare time to fix all the wiring.
Another critical contact is the fat alternator output wire that Mother Mopar routed thru a rusty spade lug in the middle of the zillion-pin firewall connector, going to the full-current ammeter gauge in the instrument panel and back again thru the firewall before going anywhere useful. I had to check and clean the firewall connector at the side of the road. In Minnesota. In January.
I had a similar issue with a 1977 Power Wagon. The electronic ignition kept overheating and cutting out due to corroded primary wire. The bulkhead connector was OK but the wire from the alternator to the connector was completely green inside the insulation.
Yup...most of the time you can tell which one it is right away, because the plastic connector is melted around it...
Another good product to use is Deoxit D5. I use it all the time while restoring old stereo equipment.
That's good stuff
Yep, sandpaper and dremels remove the protective plating and REALLY get the corrosion started again, deoxit removes only the corrosion. Also, fuse endcaps are nickel-plated brass, socket clips are tin-plated brass. The corrosion is tin oxide from the clip, easily removed with any weak acid like vinegar on a q-tip if deoxit isn't handy. No baking soda; as a base, it will convert the surface to tin hydroxide and eventually the straight oxide all over again.
It's expensive though best to use sparingly.....
Vinegar / salt solution followed by water / baking soda solution to neutralize any remaining acid .
Works great and no tedious sanding necessary .
The biggest problem with silicone grease is it's tendency to wind up in " creative " places , if you have a shop full of pranksters , IME .
Yep, you beat me to it. :-) And I first learned of it for cleaning the pots on vintage stereo equipment. Works great for cleaning corrosion on old taillight sockets, too.
Typical problem with Aussie Valiants. Many a time you can just reach under the dash and give the fuse a wiggle to regain contact temporarily to get home. Our cars only had a small, 2 fuse box until 1971, and our main looms, very much like the one on your bench Tony, would always overheat the pink light feed wire, creating crusty, brittle insulation. Good info, that most of us don't pay much attention to. Glad you made this one.
Ahh the pink light feed wire.. I've spent considerable time un-taping then re-taping the loom to replace this wire, it goes a lot of places! I'm hoping remote light relay will fix this.
As far as the dremel goes, you can get small wire brushes for them (I've used the smallest cup or end type brush which will fit into that fuse holder) I would not use a burr type bit as it can remove a lot of the metal in a second and weaken the clips.
I've had to do the same thing, but while I had the fuse clip removed, I used a pencil tip soldering iron and tinned the inside of the fuse clips with a thin layer of solder and wiped out any excess while still molten and hot. This will stop any corrosion in the future.
I posted a similar comment, I like using a 25acp bore brush in a rotary tool, I've got one that gets up in there without removing the contacts or fuse holder so it's quick and dirty and over with in a minute.
Watching you roll that sand paper onto that drill bit you can tell when a feels told his own cigarettes... Like a pro
Rolls a perfect smoke with tobacco as dry as sand, one handed while riding horseback
I use .22 Long Rifle cartridges instead of those silly glass fuses. They give an audible alert when they blow and they are good for better than 20 amps 😊
As long as though they are pointing away from your feet.
😂😂😂 definitely know when you don't have taillights from a fuse huh?
As an owner of two 1960s project cars, this is great information to know. Thank you UTG!
Dremel used to make a small ball tipped polishing stone. I used it on several fuse situation from the salty corrosion here in Florida. Spot on Tony!
Once again, very basic simple stuff, but very important. And the grease tip is gold! I have used grease on all my battery terminals for decades and I almost never have any corrosion problems on the battery. I just use plain old grease on the battery, but the dialectic grease is best for small connections like fuseboxes.
I like the aircooled VW fuses with the exposed elements, they're right there by your left knee, they rarely ever blow and if they get corroded they're easy to just wiggle around with your thumb and boom, back on the road.
As a VW guy who just got a 1980 Merc 240d ,and i got a fuse set somewhere that used brass instead of aluminum for those fuses.
They say the corrosion monster doesn't bite ya as much.
except when you bump a fuse out and are driving at night to work and are pulled over by a cop bc of no brake lights. i even tapped it to show the cop but he did care and tickited me anyways.
This kinda thing can have even veteran mechanic chasing their tail, on an electrical issue. Great tip Tony.
Don't forget to check the back of the box for rust at the terminals. They get loose sometimes from the heat and rust eating away at the softer metal.
I still have the same tube of dielectric grease I've had for somewhere around 15 years, and I use it. A tiny, tiny dab will do you. It makes a difference on any modern plugs too.
Ge used to make a good silicone grease.
Pops had (still has) a tube he swiped from work back in the 80s 😂
White label with maroon lettering on it.
Who knows maybe they still make it.
Hey, Tony. What I did to sand a glass fuse box connector was I took right angle Allen Wrench of the correct thickness, wrapped it in sand paper and worked it into the fuse box WITHOUT removing the whole box ! It worked fine. I was able to sand the glass fuse holder in the car and saved a bunch of labor !
OMG!!! I'm chasing a damned electrical issue with my 73 Charger and it's the running lights and side marker lights. Also the turn signal. I'll give this a try. Thank you Sir!!!
Working on 208v 3ph power, a loose connector ended up burning up either one of the motor coils or the output of the VFD...joys of industrial electrical
Gen tech here ,and what I tell people after an electrical meltdown is : electricity is really fast isn't it ?
😂
I've always used a dremmel, with a soft wire wheel oin it, low speed, and cleaned them in place. Works great, add a little White lithium grease and good for years. Uncle Tony, always helpin us little guys n gals with our issues! Great stuff.
Yeah, my 71 Camaro has some rust bubbles in the usual spots and was originally a 6 cylinder car, but I can drive it 100 miles no problem. Still has most of the original wiring that I inspected and found that same thing. Even the door buzzer works. Great info
I use a screwdriver and sand paper but it exactly the same idea.
Very good content for anyone. Much cheaper then changing the hole box like some would do cause the new era mecanics don't know whats rust or corrosion removal. It's "Order a new one generation".
As you were explaining in the test light it clicked in my head. I chased the dimming on the interior lights and the blinkers in my Toronado. Well now i know some things to check. Amazing information as always UTG
Back in the day we would know if the glow plugs were working on a rabbit diesel by watching if the interior light would go dim or not when ya turned on the key.
If not ,first place to look was that crummy tinfoil 55amp fuse in a black box on the firewall it would fracture right next to the edge of the screw ,not visible.
Loosen one screw and it crumbles ,yup it was open.
check your bulkhead thru firewall
This is a massive problem on boats and exposure to the salt , I would have to faithfully each season look at every single connector test , repair or replace . I couldn’t tell you how many times a customer would be calling freaking out because there navigation light weren’t working, or there bilge pump quit . Fantastic video Uncle Tony . Cheers 🇨🇦
Once you get the corrosion cleaned out, hose the whole fuse box down with an electrical contact solution such as Corrosion-X or Corrosion Guard (Waterguard USA). I have used this stuff for electrical contacts in an offshore saltwater environment. Friends have used it to hose down R/C seaplane and boat receiver circuit boards and servos after a dunking, again, with great results. Musicians/pro sound guys spray plugs and jacks on mics, amps, etc. Also boat trailer connectors and light sockets. This stuff is magic.
Hey Tony - just a few comments about the electrical work. Cleaning those fusebox contacts with a Dremel tool does a much better job and will eliminate any electrical resistance and will last a long time. When the fuses are re-installed you can then check the contact resistance from one side of the circuit through the fuse to the other side with a multimeter (important). All circuits should be less than 0.5 ohms. I've seen faulty fuse boxes in older cars plus faulty high-resistance fuses which cause headaches, so check it all since you have it apart on the table. Btw, the copper contact oxidation is from "electrolysis" which occurs when electrical current flows through two dissimilar metals in a circuit. In the video, you mentioned that copper 'corrodes', but a good beryllium copper alloy just oxidizes and doesn't corrode through like iron based metals. Copper, silver, nickel, platinum, gold are noble metals and they don't corrode/rust through but they oxidize a bit over time, which technically, is a form of rust, but nowhere near as severe as iron based metals or steel alloys. Of course, this is why automakers use copper contacts instead of tin or other cheap metals which would otherwise rust/corrode through in a couple of years. I've helped save friends & family thousand$ with auto electrical problems; and been doing that for 47 years, (plus electronic engineering design work and weather-related analytics.) Everyone working on cars should know how to use an electrical multimeter to check & measure resistance (plus voltage and current measurements) in automotive circuits. Check the fuses themselves on the meter! Sometimes glass fuses measure good on a meter but won't pass higher amounts of current when in the circuit. Also the ignition coil wire plugged to the distributor cap may also oxidize and cause a lower energy spark to the plugs. Good luck.
I wish I had this man's knowledge, I own a 1966 dodge dart with a 273. In one weekend he would have all my problems solved.
67 W200
Mix of military wire and OE wiring
Gutted everything and threw a modern fuse harness, now its easy to understand, and repairable
My car is only 35 years old but the biggest electrical problems I've had are the old connectors. Old bullet connectors, rubber insulators around each bullet are all crumbly. Ended up cutting out old connectors and swapping with modern ones. Which also means adapting modern sensors. Oh what a joy it's been.
I've seen that rolling process somewhere before
I had a '79 Toyota truck, the driver's side headlight got dim. I replaced it, about three days later the new one got dim?? It was dirty grease, someone put Vaseline or silicone grease on the stainless fuze ends to prevent rust over the years the dust collected in the grease, also '79 Toyota truck has a left and right separate fuze, one for each headlamp. Who knew dielectric grease would collect dust??
I spent hours tracing wires, checking the ends, finding the dirty grease was an accident, but I never forgot it!! I guess Fuze holder can rust, its not so much the Fuze ends as the holder, they are just steel right?
Another good one 👍 for all the DIY'ers out there thinking of using a dremel/rotary tool - I want to add that I've found that a regular .22lr or .25acp caliber bore cleaning brush works well for getting in there and removing the corrosion, and it doesn't leave deep scratches like a lower grit sandpaper that could potentially trap moisture and cause the same issue to happen prematurely the next time, depending on your climate of course. Someone hot rodding out in the Louisiana swamp is gonna have a different experience than Ol Uncle Tony over here in Tennessee lol
And it doesn't hurt to ensure those little tabs don't stay bent in so that they don't lock back in place when reinserted into the housing. Almost all electrical connectors use a little locking tab, I work with smaller connectors a lot and use a cheap little precision flathead screwdriver to get into the groove and bend them flat to remove the wire and connector from the back of the plug/housing.
Uncle Tony this is called galvanic corrosion, and the issue is the electrical terminations. Alwaus put di-electric grease on bare terminations.
This is such an easy fix. A similar metal brush (brass to copper, stainless to stainless) and dielectric grease.
I spent 4 hours doing a 68 bug that sat for 20 years and I had 0 electrical issues. I smear di-electric grease on every connector that I put back together now.
I use a porta blast, an airbrush glass bead blaster while bending the tab, a blow gun and then dielectric grease.
You could try spraying with electronic contact cleaner and then use a 22LR copper bore brush bent into an "L" , twist and move back and forth, just don't leave a 22 cartridge in there. Bad things will happen.
Just a quick comment on the initial testing portion. A test light will find a blown fuse. But a voltmeter will not only find the blown fuse but can test for voltage drop across any connection or wire . Loss of power due to resistance. 😊😊
very good info also on old Mopar fuse box has rivets that go bad but the best for the fuse in place of the Dielectric grease, please use PENETROX, one bottle with last a life time or cheaper is Gardner-OX-100B-Ox-Gard Anti-Oxidant Compound. and by the way thanks so much for all you do. WE LOVE IT!!!
Here in Michigan in the Rust Belt Dielectric grease is a must in your toolbox
Super helpful. Learned something new today. Thanks.
I literally had this problem a few months ago on my Fury. I was actually working on the dash wiring and repairing everything in the dash. I put it all back together and had lost power to one circuit. Took a little bit but I found the culprit.
Thank you Tony I've always wondered about my fuses on my satelitte and dim lights I'm getting a dremel now thank you
"The halfways". Never heard that in my life, actually had to think a second before I understood what you meant! Everyone I know said parking lights- but you don't really use them for parking, so your term really makes more sense... Pull the knob halfway...
Personally, I will go thru my fuse block to investigate. Tks UTG!
Great video tony!,thanks for the tips. Salutes from Argentina to you,kathy and all american brothers.
I once had a glass fuse that was visually ok, chased the fault for hours. Fuse wire was broken at the inside end. Always check continuity or substitute another fuse. I like lanolin for corrosion protection, it's dielectric and low toxicity.
You are correct and you know you can avoid the glass fuse corrosion issue by spraying the fuse block with WD-40.
Hey Tony,
Tim here, just wanna add....the sand paper shud be old school emery cloth, NOT just regular sand paper.....reason: regular sandpaper will deposit some of its grit/media nto the copper terminals, emory cloth is better for NOT tranfering its media to the terminal....since we cant just get good old emery cloth anywhere, i found PLUMBERS sandpaper for water pipe (get it at home depot/lowes) IS an emery cloth type, and will NOT transfer its grit/media as easily, then do ALL what ur sayin, which I KNOW works well!!!.....i just like the cloth....plumbers need it to NOT transfer as they are gonna solder it together, any foreign debris in their joint is a potential water leak.....just a tip
I did the Dremel method a few times, contact loss kept coming back over time (like a week each time), did a video of the Dremel method again then cleaned and heated the clips to accept some solder nice and smoothly, so the fuse had good corrosion free surface, had to do it in the car, been 2 months and so far so good with no issues.
I've fixed many! In the process of rewiring a 68 Camaro with an American Autowire update harness. It has the push-in style fuses.
As someone who cut his teeth turning wrench's on the gulf coast , humidity and salt corroded everything. Dielectric grease can reduce and slow corrosion , I unplugged every plug on my Jeep and doped it up with dielectric grease, headlight deep water crossings, no problem.
Keep up the good work uncle Tony.
Good video, uncle Tony, I think it’s called galvanic corrosion dissimilar metals corroding due to an anode cathode set up…
The glass fuse looks fine in the tube and then when you remove it, the end caps just fall off, there’s no internal contact
This. I can't speak for Mopars of this vintage but the fuse block in my '68 VW had brass contacts, not copper, so the corrosion I removed was galvanic, not copper verdigris. Take a small diameter dowel, cut a slot in it, stick a strip of sandpaper in the slot, then chuck it in a drill and clean the fuse holders...quick and easy!
Where's my mk1 VW diesel guys ?
We love those glow plug fuses on the firewall.
Don't even bother with a meter ,have a new fuse too.
Loosen either screw holding the fuse and it falls apart.
Yup, it was open.
Carry a few in the glovebox ,they only last a couple years.
@@MrTheHillfolk VW Rabbit fuse box rust from windshield gasket and firewall tray leaking water onto the fuse and relay box, water filled relays and rust.
VW Gas engine fuel pump relay rewire kits to bypass melted fuse box problems.
Still have the diesel fuse links in my tool box along with M-B 300D air cleaner box isolaters, three per air-box to cure big noise rattlers...That is if the air box support bracket has not also cracked...
Met my wife back in 1981 because other parts changers were throwing lots of parts at her 1973 Duster for an intermittent stalling shut off problem. Every one missed the fuse block bulkhead connector main power lead melting the plastic and dropping connection. A/C blower load was more than it was designed for along with ignition switch main power lead connector also getting weak.
Fixed the current load with repairing connections and transferring the A/C loads to the good old Bosch square relays, those little boxes saved a lot of future problems.
1966 Mustangs with A/C had the same problem, ignition switches could not handle the loads from the under-dash A/C units the dealer installed and burned out the switch connectors leading to intermittent shutdowns...
@leeguenveur5853
Yeah I've seen those issues on the vws ,but I'd try and take care of stuff so it didn't very out of hand.
Haha water shorting into a rabbit fusebox while it's parked and in gear.
Haha come back and your car drove itself away on the starter motor 🤣
As you said, the wiring is fantastic, it is the connectors that fail. 1977 GM products (specifically: Monte Carlo, Malibu, El Camino, et al., had problems with the plastic connectors that held the contacts. The connectors would turn brittle and crumble away to nothing. My Brother lost a nice El Camino to an electrical fire. Also, in reference to glass fuses, I always loved the fuses (usually low amp-rated fuses) that lose contact on one end. The fuse doesn't blow, but you can pull one end off the glass body of the fuse...
Not just American cars, my '72 MGB GT has a similar fuse box - only four fuses! Fortunately it's easy to remove completely. I soak the whole thing in a dish of CLR (Calcium, Lime, Rust cleaner similar in nature to vinegar). As you said, finish by using a small amount of dielectric grease.
I use dielectric grease on all electronic connections that are potentially exposed to water in every car I work on.
Also if you have exposed connectors and you can't get heat shrink on them. Use the liquid electrical tape. They even make it different colors
Hey I have an old trick I have used for years. Go to any hardware store. And get a jug of metal prep. Usually found in the paint section. Get a good clean spray bottle. Put the metal prep in it. Spray it on any the corrosion let it set for 10 minutes. Get another spray bottle with pure water and thoroughly rinse. The corrosion will be completely gone. No sanding no scraping. Works great on all connections including battery terminals.
2005 caravan tail lights and tail gate release... same issue. Just did this yesterday. Scuff em up.. I use a very light bit of dielectric grease when done and problem solved. the hope... at least on a caravan tail light is that the contacts aren't rotted away completely lol
Using Flitz on a felt bob in a Dremel works great, too, and leaves a protective film that helps keep oxidation at bay for a long time.
No. The best way to fix this is to spray some deoxit on a qtip. The corrosion will go away. CLR will do it. Vineger will do it. Hell, warm water mixed with baking soda will do it. None are as fast as deoxit though. The bad part about deoxit is it stains plastics.
Agreed. These kind of contacts should be cleaned chemically, not mechanically. If you use sandpaper you increase the surface area and it can corrode even faster the second time around. Or you might sand away and form of plating on the contacts that is supposed to inhibit corrosion.
I prefer some pure isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip.
@@kjetiloftedal338 It'll work, but it will probably take longer.
Lemon juice, strained of pulp if nothing else is around. The citric acid will clean the rust and dirt. Use an old tooth brush and flush with clean water and dry well. Protect with small amount of dielectric grease.
@@leeguenveur5853 But how do you neutralize it? Lemon juice is fairly weak acid, but I don't know if it can damage copper.
"ROLL" the "PAPER", you should be good @ THAT !🤣
Great information, but there two things I'd like to add. First, those glass fuses sometimes look good, but have the fuse element detached from one of the end caps. A test light will find those pretty quickly, but just looking at a fuse is risky. Second, the corrosion was 500X worse on German cars that used the GBC style fuse. Those not only corrode and lose connection, but the springy clips that hold them become weak, further complicating the issue. Electrical problems are easy, once you understand electricity.
I had two vehicles with GBC fuse, indeed they easily loose connection
@@Johann52005 No lights with GBC fuses? Rotate the fuse with your finger to get the lights back on until you can clean the contacts and replace the fuses...
@@leeguenveur5853 did it plenty of time 😅
Always informative, Thanks!
Couldn't tell you how many I've fixed behind people over a little oxidation in the fuse box or a ditty battery cable
?
Thanks for the advice. The radio on my Scout is always dropping out and if wiggle the connections of the fuse block it comes back on for a while. Ill be cleaning them soon.
yep have done that many many times. Cleaning the contact points always works
I use silver conductive grease from MG Chemicals p/n 8463A-3ML. Comes in a syringe & easy to apply. Also the Dremel stainless wire brush assortment from Harbor Freight to remove corrosion. Use both products on all my planes, cars, motorcycles & boats.
I use contact cleaner and emery cloth. They come out clean and shinny. Works fast and easy. Any time I go under the dash I have a can of it handy.
Nice rolling skills Tony!
There are 'ball' end dremel burrs that work really well too....I have a couple in my tool box to use for this particular task......and DO NOT over-use the dielectric grease!!!!!!
Rolled that sand paper like a joint good job man
I tried nickel coating by electrolysis. So far so good. Albeit, dielectric silicone is is simpler and more convenient.
Mikel
I've seen so many fights in the comment sections over Dielectric grease. Apparently because of its name there is a lot of people that think conducting electricity is exactly what it does
Ive use brass gun cleaning brush with good success but make sure the battery is disconnected.
Excellent video Tony! Keep up the good work!💯✅
I’d think a ball shaped grinding stone, if small enough, would be great in a Dremel to clean those contacts without disassembly. Great video Tony.
the dash cluster on my '93 stopped working. the fix was cleaning the ground near the battery.
sometimes unseen corrosion in a crimped wire/connector junction will stop you cold. a dab of solder on the exposed surfaces of the joint fixed that.
ive used a 22 cal. bore brush with the tip just bent sideways to clean the fuse contacts in the fuse box and once scrubbed down to bare metal I take a Q-tip and rub a thin layer of Dielectric grease to help keep rust from forming but is still able to conduct electricity
Noalox is what we use for industrial connections. Vaseline will work for this application, it works really well for disconnects and is a lot cheaper than square d stab grease.
Excellent show.
in the past working on old fuse blocks I use a copper bore brush from my gun cleaning kit
Going in with the Dremel had me cringing like I was at the dentist 🥶
Great information, brother.
I'm currently living this fuse nightmare with my W126 Mercedes. Most of my electrical issues are fuses and relays...thing is that removing the fusebox is such a big job
I have used Q-tips for the dielectric grease. Easy to control.
My first FE build question. Watching your old videos and came across the fuel washing out the cylinder. On run stand Broke my cam in and ran engine several times. Could not get it to idle but ran awesome reving it up above 2k.. Tore carb apart and cleaned it up. Then found vacuum leak. Carb clean up didnt go well and flooded engine out. Pulled plugs and #1 had fuel shoot out. Pulled carb and cranked to clean cylinder. Sprayed some oil in it and cranked some more. Engine runs well so pulled plugs to check compression. All around 170 except #1 is 150. Should I pull and rering that cylinder or put in truck and run a while. Fig you would know. Not a race engine just dish pistons and a custom cam grind to raise compression from stock. Oregon cams. Guess I will do a leak down test today and see how that is. My kid just moved from Washington State to Tellico Plains TN. I will Have to try and visit next year and say hi
I had a problem with a tail light on my bike, corrosion related. Springy contact for the tip of the bulb is made of brass or similar, you sand it it still goes whacky after a week. So I cleaned it again, and applied thin film of generic lithium grease, no more issues.
Revolver cleaning brushes work really nice for cleaning those contacts too. Beware of prying on cheap glass fuses, they'll shatter much easier then the old ones.
I had a 67 Coronet, 71 Duster, 74 Dart and 78 Volare. All of them had at least one, if not more fuses that looks fine, but remove it and it falls apart due to galvanic corrosion.
CLR will clean the contacts too. Toothbrush dipped in CLR, scrub a dub dub. Also if the harness is out or the fuel block is hanging down and has enough play, dunk it in a large hot pot of coffee for 10 or so minutes. Those copper contacts will shine better than new. Works great on battery cables as well.
Muriatic acid works good if you've got to get aggressive, just flush it alot.
No that is too aggressive and it does not stop eating the copper.
Genius thanks Uncle T
Ok this predates my lifetime. I was born into the era of blade style fuses
A tiny wire brush made for soldering / brazing works great !
put the dielectric grease onto a q-tip. you can bend the q-tip at a 90 degree bend, which makes greasing the terminal super easy.
I have to do this like once every few months keep my dash lights working, very annoying. Ill try the grease next time
Nothing finer than finding a .22 in a old pickup fuse block driven by a Desert Rat begging for a Discount😉
Just had to replace an entire wiring harness cuz a ladies father in law wrapped fuses in aluminum foil after mice had gotten to the wiring
So , I guess the wires burned?
Great tip ut I will definitely use this