140m broken wires

Hello everyone, problems with our 140m again, this time the machine suddenly took to flashing lights on the dash followed by shutting down, turns out that it was broken wires in the wiring harness, the cat man bypass the broken wires with new wires, I know some where on this forum I read something to the affect that the wiring harness in the 140m's should be replaced every 5 or 6 years to avoid broken wire issue's, has any one read this on this forum somewhere? thanks

Which harness exactly had the broken wires inside it..?

AFAIK there isn't a recommendation to replace wiring harnesses every X number of years or hours worked, it's solely based on harness condition. As a rule we would do the first set of component changeouts on a machine (12-16k hours) and leave the harnesses be unless a particular harness was showing signs of deterioration in which case it would be replaced. Often this happens where a harness is constantly moving such as where it jumps from a chassis to a moving component - the harness in question is generally only a short one. At the second go round all the harnesses would be changed irrespective of external condition. Wiring harnesses are a wearing part just like an engine, they just wear different.

Nige said:

Which harness exactly had the broken wires inside it..?

AFAIK there isn't a recommendation to replace wiring harnesses every X number of years or hours worked, it's solely based on harness condition. As a rule we would do the first set of component changeouts on a machine (12-16k hours) and leave the harnesses be unless a particular harness was showing signs of deterioration in which case it would be replaced. Often this happens where a harness is constantly moving such as where it jumps from a chassis to a moving component - the harness in question is generally only a short one. At the second go round all the harnesses would be changed irrespective of external condition. Wiring harnesses are a wearing part just like an engine, they just wear different.

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Thanks Nige, now that I got to thinking about it alittle more it was a cat tech that told me about replacing the harness every 5-6 years, we are in a area where our machines are exposed to a lot of salt, really bad in the winter months which play's hell on electronics in all our machines, I am not sure which part of the harness had the broken wires but I'm almost sure this is just the start of a on going harness problem with our 140m. see what happens, thanks

There is a Cat "Best Practice" for protecting wiring harnesses and their connectors from humidity and chemical ingress, which I assume would also include salt. The process involves opening every connector and applying a chemical gel to the inside, then sealing them. It might be a good idea if you ask your dealer to get hold of a copy. Who know, it might be the answer to your problems.

Nige said:

There is a Cat "Best Practice" for protecting wiring harnesses and their connectors from humidity and chemical ingress, which I assume would also include salt. The process involves opening every connector and applying a chemical gel to the inside, then sealing them. It might be a good idea if you ask your dealer to get hold of a copy. Who know, it might be the answer to your problems.

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Thanks Nige, I will ask about it, this gel maybe something like electrical grease, which I use on every connector on my own gear at home, this practice makes good sense in our climate. thanks for the info

If your dealer says they can't get it, let me know. I might be able to score a copy from somewhere.

Nige said:

If your dealer says they can't get it, let me know. I might be able to score a copy from somewhere.

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Thanks so much Nige, I will let you know how I make out.

Cat does not recommend applying dielectric grease to any connector heres snip of a cat publication.

PAcattech said:

Cat does not recommend applying dielectric grease to any connector heres snip of a cat publication.

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Weird how the world turns ins't it.? We always used dielectric grease on sensor connections when VIMS-equipped machines started to arrive on the scene back in the early 90's. They were the first really full-on electronic machines we had come across, not like today. Di-electric seemed (to us anyway) to help with Deutsch and Sure-Seal connectors that were either suffering intermittent contact or where damp was getting in, even though it wasn't specifically designed to solve that problem. Then a few years later when we mentioned this at a Cat Hi-C meeting in Tucson we were shot down in flames and the Service Mag you quote above came out "prohibiting" the use of di-electric grease on electrical connectors. (We still carried on using it BTW & fcuk 'em because in our opinion it still worked....)

Then a couple of years ago a Best Practice on "Electrical System Preventive Maintenance" came out written by the a Cat dealer in Latin America jointly with a mining customer using what appears to me to be a di-electric grease. The reference is 0910-1.01-1179. I've actually been digging and found it in my hard drive. If you want a copy PM me with your email address.

Another common use of dielectric grease is on the rubber mating surfaces or gaskets of multi-pin electrical connectors used in automotive and marine engines. The grease again acts as a lubricant and a sealant on the nonconductive mating surfaces of the connector. It is not recommended to be applied to the actual electrical conductive contacts of the connector because it could interfere with the electrical signals passing through the connector in cases where the contact pressure is very low. Products designed as electronic connector lubricants, on the other hand, should be applied to such connector contacts and can dramatically extend their useful life. Polyphenyl Ether, rather than silicone grease, is the active ingredient in some such connector lubricants.

12M 2012 Cat Man + Computer = Don't Join Broken Wire ( Computer Says NO )

True. The Computer thinks its a short ( or disconnect ) its to do with 0=off 1=on / Ohms law = resistance / Computer says NO.

New Loom ( wire to damaged ) By the way some of the boys in here are dead right. Fool the Computer and it will work ( aka.. least resistance in the wire ) Simple eh..