---
title: Fixing a flakey, shorted, Dewalt 20V drill
slug: fixing-a-flakey-shorted-dewalt-20v-drill
published_at: 2020-08-24 15:55:03 +0000
updated_at: 2026-03-04 20:14:50 +0000
summary: 
description: My Dewalt 20V drill has been flakey since I got it about 3 years before this video. I discovered and fixed some bad soldering. Hope this is helpful for others.
tags: [dewalt 20v, repair, DIY]
views: 70
author: CJ Avilla
url: https://www.cjav.dev/videos/fixing-a-flakey-shorted-dewalt-20v-drill
youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72ENpeAsw94
youtube_id: 72ENpeAsw94
embed_url: https://www.youtube.com/embed/72ENpeAsw94
thumbnail_url: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/72ENpeAsw94/hqdefault.jpg
type: video
---

# Fixing a flakey, shorted, Dewalt 20V drill

*Published: August 24, 2020*
*Views: 70*

## Watch

[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72ENpeAsw94)

[![Fixing a flakey, shorted, Dewalt 20V drill](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/72ENpeAsw94/hqdefault.jpg)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72ENpeAsw94)

## Description

My Dewalt 20V drill has been flakey since I got it about 3 years before this video. I discovered and fixed some bad soldering. Hope this is helpful for others.

## Transcript

all right so i got this drill it's a dewalt 20 volt it's about three years old and i've had this issue with it since i got it [Music] where the uh like it just doesn't it feels like it's shorting out like i can see the lights turning on but it doesn't actually turn on if i put it into like the faster speed it still doesn't work i've tried adjusting [Music] these it's like sleeve up here a bunch this doesn't seem to make it any better i have to kind of like jiggle it to get it started and then once it's started it'll go but uh yeah nowhere near as dependable as my um impact driver so i'm gonna try to take it apart and see if we can see where it might be shorting out [Music] so i think these terminals are pretty clean um i haven't had an issue with the impact driver that i got at the same time [Music] oh [Music] okay so we've got the the assembly is coming apart here so this piece is my okay that's my push back and forth or changing the direction forward and backward okay and then in here here's my entire assembly [Music] [Music] here's the motor at the back [Music] this out all right so we've got the the drill completely free there's the motor okay here's our gears inside [Music] and i kind of feel like plugging the battery into it and then just seeing what happens when we pull the trigger here so my gloves on don't get zapped [Music] seated like that [Music] confirm this thing actually runs okay so definitely once it's disassembled [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] my [Music] something to this [Music] switch [Music] all right so i'm convinced it's something over here let's try to narrow it down [Music] so press on okay so by pressing on this it stops working so that leads me to believe there is a short somewhere back here whoa okay i don't think it's supposed to sparkle [Music] whoa okay so i press on this red one sparks so what's going on back here [Music] okay so i've got a soldering iron and a little bit of solder here and my thought is that if i can improve this connection with the red [Music] my hope is that [Music] should be should be helpful when i'm pressing it against this surface and screwing together the edges [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] okay so now that i'm looking at those closely it looks like they're not actually the problem [Music] supposed to work this contact here i think i'm pretty sure this is like the ground right okay so that just fell right off okay so i'm wondering if the soldering between this thing and this contact that's where it was bad okay so let's [Music] okay just a little solder i have like the most jank cheapest soldering iron came as like part of a kit it's not pretty but that's why i do computer science and not electrical engineering that was touching the soldering iron [Music] let that cool off this guy all right so now we go back into the process of putting this thing back together [Music] [Music] uh [Music] [Music] and i should be good to go so let's see all right we've here all of our pieces back in go forwards we go backwards double speed single speed all right we are good to go that's how you fix a 20 volt drill

---

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