Loss of Power in Bombi!!

For the second year I was invited to drive the Bombi in the Oakland Maryland Christmas on Main Street Parade. Santa Claus on a fire truck, a second fire truck, a bunch of sled dogs pulling a four wheeler, my bombi, and a horse carriage on wheels carrying the snowflake queen. Anyways 100 feet into the parade the Bombi shuts off - no electric - no power - nothing. Third try, 15 seconds later it starts right up. This happened one more time then I shut off the heater. The alternator belt kept squeeling everytime I put it in gear.

I was using 2 50 watt Helas, 1 rear tractor light, stock lights for electric. Turned heater off thinking back to previous light thread (have not done any calculations yet).

Got home had to jump start cat off trailer (was using lights to tie down on trailer) and noticed alternator belt was loose.

Was this a loose electrical connection or not enough juice to power everything because the battery was not getting a good charge?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

79Bombi

Best to check in this order:

1. Tighten alternator belt
2. Check all electrical connections and clean battery cables
3. Charge battery and check
4. Check alternator for problems
5. Check voltage regulator

Does your alternator gauge or idiot light show little or no charge?

Poor battery cable connection would be most likely, make sure they are good and clean, not just the outside but inside the clamp and post. take off the cables and clean them and the posts. The wire brush type cleaners work ok but the ones that scrape off the corrosion work much better, then put some corrosion guard on the posts and cables. change the bolts in the clamps if they dont properly tighten down on the post, any loosnes will cause arcing inside and foul up your connection.

Went to fiddle with the cat tonight (it's finally snowing) and no power at all. Battery is good. Cleaned terminals and clamps. Now I will work my way backwards from the battery. I think this is a good thing as it will allow me to trace the problem in the garage.

79Bombi

If You got a good battery and good cables including the negative side , it has to be at the starter .

BigAl said:

If You got a good battery and good cables including the negative side , it has to be at the starter .

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I'm going to agree with Al on this one, but with the caveat that you check your wires all the way backwards from the battery to make sure the insulation is not worn in the middle and that the connections to the starter are all good. Follow Bill's checklist (mtntopper's post above) too.

I've got a similar problem with my Snow Trac and because I'm putting in the dual battery set up all the wires are being replaced at the same time. When I finish I will know if it is the starter that is the problem or if it was the wiring. Good luck.

It was the battery. Lesson - look for the easy and obvious.

79bombi

I was wrong again. It was a 30 amp circuit breaker. Appears to running fine now after I took a short ride last night.

79Bombi

79bombi said:

I was wrong again. It was a 30 amp circuit breaker. Appears to running fine now after I took a short ride last night.

79Bombi

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I had a similar problem with my Snow Trac. I still can't figure out what happened to it. It was running fine, I stopped to take a photo, the engine died. I still had electric but I could not crank over the engine, it was like I didn't have enough power. I walked home, ate dinner, walked back out and it fired right up. I've been testing it ever since and can't find the ghost that caused it.

At least you know what your issue was. Just carry a couple extra 30 amp fuses.

I had this happen to me out in the woods at -5 F at midnight. It was working fine then everything went dead. I was going to get out and lift the engine cover and I heard a slight "click". Then all the power came back on and it worked fine. I knew what that sound was as soon as it made the "click". I had to shut off all of the items that drew high current and I made it back fine. The " click" was the sound that a thermal circuit breaker makes when it opens and closes (it will reset it's self after it cools down). For some reason (at least on mine, which I purchased used) they ran all the power (except the heavy cable to the starter) thru this thermal circuit breaker. This included the power to the ignition system. That is why when you draw a lot of power for a period of time (it is a function of current draw and time) everything goes dead and it will start working after a short of time.
I put an old high output, self exciting Delco alt. on mine. It works great and has a lot of power. But you will need to rewire the electrical system so you can safely draw more power. I removed the thermal circuit breaker and installed separate fuses to all the circuits. It now works great. You still need to check all of your battery and cable connections too.
I also installed a Subaru ignition system (with a few minor mods) and it starts up much easier.
I hope this helps you.

There is a thread somewhere about using the proper gauge wires to in starter switch. This happened to a Bombi I had. Would start fine and then not start. It is common on the Bombi. Check with Bogge!!! He figured out the problem was the factory wire was not heavy enough and It solved the problem. Post was probably last summer.

Fascinating read...

You guys are all so phenomenally knowledgeable in the mechanical department. I just hope that if I break down out in the wilds, with no phone or dwelling in sight, that someone who thinks anything like you guys do when it comes to engines, comes by.

All I know when I lift the hood is that the battery is the big square thing that looks like an enormous ice cream tub.

Check out the thread in Snowcat repairs and problems by Boggie titled "Starter Problems" dated 8/21/2010. It may help you out alot!!!!!!!!!!! Don't know how to open a link to it????

Bob on your starting problem gheck your ground snow trac grounded to the body and for best reliability you should be grounded to the engine block than ground the engine block to the frame

northeastheavy said:

Check out the thread in Snowcat repairs and problems by Boggie titled "Starter Problems" dated 8/21/2010. It may help you out alot!!!!!!!!!!! Don't know how to open a link to it????

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http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/showthread.php?t=39818&highlight=starter+problems

Thats the one!! Thanks Lia!!!! Sounds just like the problem 79bombi was having.

I had a similar problem with my skiddozer last weekend. We were out for a ride and it was like a bucking horse then die. sit for a couble of min. then it would start and make another 50 yds, and do it all over again. Finally figured out that I had a loose/broken wire on the power sw.(power on/off and push to start) finly fot back to the shop. got to town and bought a ignition sw for it and will completley rewire with a fuse block and breakers for the lites. hope to have the laptop worked on by then so I can post pics