OMG i broke down on the interstate

[Mikey]

i was toating along in my 87' grand wag when all of the sudden i lost all power! the steering wheel became hard to turn, the brakes where hard to push, and i was slowing down. my question is how in the hell did this happen? after i pulled over on the side of the interstate i found that it would not restart either. i would turn the key and the power gauge didnt budge nor did anything else? i got it towed back to the house (thank god for AAA) someone help! i dont know what is wrong with it. :confused: :( :mad: :mad: :( :confused:

[Scruffy]

A cousin of mine just had this very thing happen to him, but in his case it was a fusable link. Instead of replacing it, he just replaced it with straight wire.
Hope you find the cause.

[Mikey]

i just got a new fuseable link like 2 weeks ago cause the headlights went out when i attempted to fix the original fog lamps. that may be it or not?

[ibnfe]

Fus link could be the cause, may also be your power distribution wire. When I had this happen, I lost power to everything, starter wouldn't even turn, no lights, nothing. I found that my power distribution wire (wire that goes from battery to fuse box, ignition switch, etc) had laid against the exhaust manifold and burnt in two. Do you have any juice in the battery? If you do, then this may be the cause. If you don't have more than 10 volts at the battery, you may have lost your alternator and just flat out ran out of juice. Your power distribution wire will run from either the starter solenoid or battery (depending on how the PO wired it!) into the wire harness down the right side of the engine and along the firewall to the big square "thru firewall" plug near the brake booster. I think it's the biggest wire in the bundle, and yellow or red, can't remember which. Should be pretty obvious if it's burnt or broken. Good luck.

[Mikey]

about how much is the power distribution wire gonna cost me?

[ibnfe]

It's nothing special, just standard 10 or 12 ga primary wire, cost of about $4.00 for 15 feet or so. I wouldn't go so far as to replace the whole thing unless it's really burnt bad. I would find the bad section or break, if that is in fact the cause, and splice it with some water proof butt connectors, and then zip tie or fasten it away from whatever broke/burnt it. When it happened to my rig, it was really obvious. Big yellow wire burnt in two. Try to isolate your problem a little more too. Check the battery voltage and see what you have. If it's less than about 10 volts, your problem is elsewhere. Also, what does/doesn't work on the truck. If you have some things that work, such as dinger, radio, dome lights, starter will engage, etc, then the pwr dist wire isn't the problem. If NOTHING works, this could be the problem.

[Mikey]

mechanic called and turns out it was the fuseable link. but then he says.... " when we connected the fuseable link smoke came from a cord need the firewall." they dont know which one it was and they wont work on it there. so i am going to take it somewhere else. unless you guys can give me a better idea

[Mikey]

any suggestions people?

[ibnfe]

something shorted out. Bare wire?

[mtn goat]

Mikey,

when ever somthing is smoking there must be heat to cause it. Heat from a wire usually means a large amount of current is being passed, too large for the wire to handle. It heats up and melts the insolation causing the smoke. Try tracing the wire and looking for areas that the insulation may have wore through, or been cut. a similar thing happened to me and I found the wire had rubbed through and was grounding in the firewall.

[Mikey]

i am taking it to the jeep dealership in montgomery alabama to have the wiring checked and everything. i am hoping it wont take long so i can install the tfi system by tuesday night. then when i get my next paycheck i will get the new manifold.. from there on it will be cosmetic restoration!

[andy d]

i would have the rig towed, if you run it you are risking burnt wiring ,possibly worse things. before i called the hook , iwould do some investigating. as has been posted, a major short is pretty easy to find, look for scorched insulation on the wires, once you've found that,the remedy is easy. electrical tape and a little wire is a lot cheaper'n a dealer repair. just my 2 centavos

[Mud Thrasher]

If it's your yellow resistance wire that goes to the starter relay then you need to replace the whole wire. Your wag won't work right if you splice it in. It is rated at a certain ohm(resistance) and if you break the wire then it won't do right. Hope this helps ya. BTW if it is a wire that is chafed going thru the firewall then put something there to keep it from rubbing again.

[bignblue]

Mikey, where will you be coming from? I live in Montgomery, and can recommend two places for electrical work: Carburetor Electric on Mount Meigs Road and Turner's Automotive, just down the street. C.E. is good, but they stay extremely busy so get there early!