Had the exact same problem with my 60 Bugeye. I had all original wireing
in it. Turns out the switch had worn and had a spot in it that caused a
short to the taillights. this combined with an overheated tailight
socket caused the wire to smoke under the dash. Turning off the
headlights often turned off the ignition. I cleaned the switch and found
a stiff black residue that washed off and restored smooth headlight and
ignition switch operation. I also patched the wire and replaced the
drivers side taillight socket. I'm not sure which of these fixed the
problem, but it did go away.
Bruce Lowry
HealeyBN4@aol.com wrote:
>
> I am new to the Spridget list, but have a Big Healey and a Jaguar MK2.
>
> I recently bought my wife a totally restored 59 Sprite. On our maiden
> voyage, the car died. We were driving at night and I notice that we "lost"
> the rear tail lights first. The brake lights and directional signals worked
> fine. Then as we stopped for gas there was smoke coming from under the dash.
> The car started fine and we started home and she died after about 2 miles.
> We had plenty of battery, but the starter would not turn fast enough to try
> and start. We towed the car home and when I checked under the dash the
> double red wires going to the combination ignition/light switch was melted.
> The wiring harness was new with a 1998 restoration. I did notice earlier,
> that when I turned off the lights, the ignition would stop.
>
> Any ideas? Do you think that the combination ignition/light switch sorted on
> and needs to be replaced, which caused the wiring to melt? Any suggestions
> and advise would be appreciated. Thanks, Cheers, Pete Sturtevant
>
> ******************************************************************************
>
> ********************
> Pete Sturtevant - Massachusetts, USA
> 1957 Austin Healey 100-6 BN4 1966 Mustang GT
> 1964 Jaguar MK2 3.4 1966 Mustang Convertible
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