Wow! I had a very similar problem this week.
My headlamp switch broke, so I bought a new one. Being the idiot I am
went to install it and didn't disconnect the battery - big mistake!
Everything was going fine until I went to put the clip with the light
bulb on it on the back of the new switch. The old, cracked insulation
going to the bulb hit something and arced. All of a sudden the car fills
with smoke and I can hear the wire burning. The burning stopped before I
could get the battery cover off, but upon inspection, I can see that the
wire burned all the way into the harness. Long story short, I disconnect
the three connectors on the dash loom and and take out all the fuses
except #3 for the ignition and end up driving home about 70 miles to
my parents' house so my dad can help me. (Sounded much more appealing
than sitting in the cold, dark school parking lot trying to figure it out
myself.)
It turns out everything in the loom is OK, but two lessons were learned:
always disconnect the battery when doing electrical things and carry a fire
extinguisher.
I was lucky, but I learned my lesson.
Good luck getting your car going....
-Greg McCauley
PS: On the 70 mile trek home, two or three CHP passed me and didn't stop
me for driving with only my aux. driving lights and my rear fog light.
Pretty lucky...
On Tue, 23 Mar 1999, Mike Lishego wrote:
> 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/
>
>
--
Greg McCauley
gmccau00@umail.ucsb.edu
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