Hello Friends.
I had a very scary experience today.
I was driving home in my MG, uh, I mean Spit (that's for you Andy)<g>
when I caught the distinctive smell of wire housing burning. Within about
two seconds, I was choking on the smoke that was coming out of the footwell
below me and from under the bonnet. I got to the side of the road, killed
the engine, grabbed my ABC extinguisher, popped the bonnet and filled it
with chemical. After I calmed down a bit and realized that really, the
damage wasn't that bad, I called CAA and got a tow home, conveniently only
two blocks away.
My main harness had developed a severe short, that, from what I could tell,
went from the solenoid switch (by the battery) along the harness to the key
ignition switch, back up to the horn relay. The cable had worked its way
loose and shorted on a hydraulic pipe from the brake system. (Oh good,
something else to check now) The heat melted the casing off *most* of the
cables that ran together with this short, and I am going to have to replace
the whole thing.
Has anyone any experience re-running a main harness? Is it as
straightforward (but admittedly meticulous) as pulling out the old one and
connecting in the new one? I have (and know well) the wiring schematics for
my car from the Haynes Manual.
As an aside, I am very thankful to the list, as it is where I read someone's
posting about a fire extinguisher aboard as a great piece of insurance.
Best $15 I've put into the car. Must get it re-charged now.
Any responses are graciously welcomed by post or e-mail.
David.
'73 SpitFIRE
--
dmbrock@julian.uwo.ca <David M Brock>
The University of Western Ontario
Huket On Fonix Wurkt Fur Me!!
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