Listers:
We're nearing completion of our BN4 restoration and ran into a little
wiring issue the other day. I think I've got it solved but wanted to
run what happened by the list to see if we're on the right track.
The car has a new wiring harness. The connections necessary to run the
engine were installed initially to get the car running and to get the
car on and off the traier when it was taken to the body shop for
painting.
Subsequently, when the car came back the wiring in the dash was
disconnected, the dash recovered and reinstalled, and the wiring
connections at the dash completed. I had tested the lights (which
worked) but had not tried to turn on the ignition until the other day.
When I tried, nothing happened, I immediately thought "there's a
short" and tuned of the battery (matter of 5 seconds or so). When I
reached around behind the dash to the ignition swith area , I could
feel that a wire had started to become hot.
When I got a chance to check the next day, I found the white wires in
the overdrive circuit had become hot enough to start melting the
vinyl - no other wiring seemed affected including the rest of the
ignition circuit and the rest of the overdrive circuit. The overdrive
switch was in the off position.
The overdrive circuit had been in place since before the car had been
started and run, only the switch had been connected since. I
disconnected the overdrive circuit at the fuse box and the ignition
cuircuit worked (including fuel pump and starter) with out a problem.
I checked the overdrive switch connections and, sure enough, I could
see the smallest glint of metal through the cover of the connection
which I'm thinking was resting against the tach and was the site of
the short.
Only thing was, this white wire showed no sigh of heat damage nor was
there any scortch marks that I guess you'd expect if there was a
short.
My questions are: Is it reasonable to think that this was the site of
the problem ? If so, did the damage to the wires in the overdrive
circuit occur in that area because they are closer to the source of
the power (the fuse box) ? (I'm guessing the bullet connections to
other wires helped slow the heat buildup enough to help isolate the
problem)
With the overdrive switch in the off position would there still be a
chance the overdrive relay could have been damaged ? How would you
check ?
I've ordered a new overdive harness from British Wiring and fixed the
problem at the switch. Any further suggestions ?
Sam
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