Electrical Short! Help!

[Mr Dave]

My Waggy is fried! :( I was driving down the road and it just died on me. After a second or two of trying to figure out what was the problem, I noticed that unmistakable smell of electrical insulation burning. :eek: After unhooking the battery and realizing the wag wasn't actually on fire, I hooked the battery up again. No smell. Ammeter is fine. Turn the key to "run" and the ammeter is pegged. Turn key to "accessory" and the ammeter is fine. All electrical accessories still work (well, the same ones that worked before). I took the dash apart and there is a red/white wire coming from the switch that is burnt. All through the harness. I followed the wire and it appears to go to the ignition coil (that would explain the behavior only in the run position). I checked the wire with my multimeter and it is shorted to ground. Is the coil fried? I couldnt' see any point where the wire is bare (other than where the insulation melted off) or rubbing against anything.

[andy d]

hmmn, 26 yr old wires. some where that wire shorted. the fix is to replace the wire with one of the same gauge. make sure the new wire isnt rubbing.

[Mr Dave]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by andy d:
some where that wire shorted. the fix is to replace the wire with one of the same gauge. <hr></blockquote>

Well, I had that part already figured out.

My question is if the coil could have shorted and caused this. And if it didn't, what is the likelyhood that the coil was damaged?

I know how to fix the wire. But I would rather only fix it once. smile.gif

[86wagproject]

I had the same thing happen to my 86 wag.It was the coil itself,luckily I only burnt the wire back a little bit, but i repaired the wire,replaced the coil and the problem was solved. Hopefully you have the same results -good luck

[Banks]

Mr Dave,i am not going to sugar coat this,but usually,when you have a wire that has burned,it has a tendency to burn thru any other wire that its touching in the harness.this causes a domino effect[coil wire shorts to radio wire,that shorts to brake wire etc.]in my experence,the correct way to replace the original wire is to open the harness[PITA]i take a razor knife and turn the blade over and cut thru the electrical tape so it can be removed,you then have to inspect the harness from end to end[usually you will see any spot that has melted]if the damage is not severe you can tape any spots on the surrounding wiring,replace the burnt wire and retape the harness[i would test the electrical system before retaping]i have removed the ampmeter[replaced all the POS factory gauges with Autometer]as this is a dangerous configuration anyway[full alternator output running in and out of the harness]also for future protection,i would find the wire[circut 13 in my book]and install a circut breaker[25-30 amp]or at least a fuseable link.hope this helps. :(