Hello all,
Had a rather unfortunate adventure in the 'B today...Started up
the car to go to school and got out of my parking place when the car
quit DEAD. I sat there, thinking the alternator was shot and
wondering how I could get to school. Suddenly, a big gust of smoke
rose from my steering column! I jumped out of the car and quickly
disconnected the battery to minimize damage.
I wasn't far from my parking spot, so I pushed the car back into
place and sat down to think...At this time, smoke started coming
from my passenger's side seat! I ran to the battery and found that
my 'constant ground' wire that I run to keep my radio settings was
smoking! It was pulled from the battery, and all was well (at least
as well as it could be.)
I borrowed a friend's car to use for transportation, and went at
the problem this afternoon. I figured that if there was smoke, I
must have a problem with an unfused wire...Right I was...
The DPO used some silly thin-gauged wire to run the fuel pump.
This wire ran right under the passenger's side seat. It cracked,
and you guessed it, burned. I pulled the steering cowl off to find
the white wire melted, along with my ignition switch. Any hopes of
a cheap repair went down the tubes with that discovery...
Along with this, the remote ground wire that I had run for my
stereo melted too. I *ass*umed that a ground (especially to a
battery post) didn't need wire that was too thick. I guessed wrong.
So, what's next? All the carpet and interior pieces are OK,
with no real burn marks. Obviously, I get to spend some time buying
thicker gauge wire for my stereo and fuel pump, along with some $$$
for a new ignition switch. My question is simple - why did the
white wire melt? It wasn't even connected to the fuel pump, though
the pump wire came from the fuse block at the same spot where the
white wire went in. I checked the end of the white wire, and it was
melted too. I cut it and re-shrink wrapped it to ensure that no
accidental contact would be made.
What did I learn? Don't trust anything the DPO did unless his
last name is 'Goodwrench" and you call him 'Mr.' Don't use thin
wire. By all means, add a battery cut off switch where you can
reach it too. I don't know how bad things would have been if I had
to remove the battery cover and then pry the battery clamp off the
post...
And I was just gonna boast that I had 5,000 relatively
trouble-free miles in my 'B...
Michael S. Lishego
http://www.mgb.bc.ca/virtualgarage/
|