Spent 9 hours chasing a ghost in a Cessna 172 harness

Last month in Phoenix I had a 172 coming in with intermittent NAV lights. Pulled the wing connector, checked pins, traced the ground, all good. Tested the switch, fine. Turned out the install from 1998 used a splice that looked solid but had corroded inside the heat shrink. Nine total hours for a 10 cent splice. Anyone else have a fix that took forever because the wiring looked brand new on the outside?

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oliverbailey14d ago

...and that right there is why I always check the heat shrink now before I even pull out the meter. Had almost the same thing on a Piper last year, corrosive white powder hiding under perfectly good looking shrink wrap. The wire even flexed normal, so you'd never suspect it. My trick now is to give any suspect splice a gentle squeeze with my thumb and forefinger, if it feels even slightly crunchy or soft, I cut it out right there. Saves me from the classic three visit job where you replace everything except the actual problem. Also, invest in a good pair of strippers that have a cutter built in, makes ripping out old splices way less painful on the fingers. Nine hours stings but the next guy will have it fixed in ten minutes, so take some comfort in that.