[TR] does sparking indicate a short?

[Randall]

> > I guess, it wouldn't be sparking unless
> > something is
> > shorted... right?

A better way to check for shorts is to find an old headlight bulb with at
least one good filament left.  The low beam filament almost always burns out
first, leaving the high beam useful for testing (which is why I save old
headlight bulbs).

Find which two pins go to the good filament, by connecting one to the
battery and one to ground until the bulb lights full brightness.  Then leave
the jumper to the battery in place, and use the other jumper to supply power
into your suspect circuit.  If the bulb lights brightly, the circuit is
shorted to ground.  If the bulb doesn't light, or only glows dimly, the
circuit is not shorted.  And since the bulb will limit the current to less
than 5 amps, you don't have to worry about hurting the harness if there is a
short.

This will work for testing almost everything, except the horns and starter.
Those two items will light the bulb brightly even if nothing is wrong,
because they draw more current than the bulb does.

-- Randall