Thread: Fire under dash

8O 8O Bugger me. I must check all of my wiring is clear of the exhaust 8O 8O

I had a similar burnout once, although not on the same scale. Part of the sheathing on a wire behind the fuse box had worn through and shorted burning the plastic off a few wites. I've never exited the old girl so fast [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

Took me a while to get it sorted, mainly because the only tools I had on me were a pocket knife and some electrical tape, just call me Macgyver [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

I've had the wiring catch fire 3 times.
It was the wire from the ignition to the coil.
Wire burns - no ignition.

Each time I replaced the wire, and away it went.
After the 3rd time, I tried to source the cause (not symptom).
It ended up being the wire that goes to the fuel pump.
It was shorting on the gearbox crossmember.

The previous owner also had the problem, as the wiring had been butchered/bypassed. He never fixed the fault.

The smell of burning plastic, smoke, and a vehicle that fails to proceed is something I never want to have again!!

Fires are one of those scary things that we can all relate to.

I had an ammeter in the instrument cluster in the middle of the dash just to fill the hole and keep the other two gauges company when I put mine back together the first time.

Little did I know it wasn't a well insulated gauge until a night about two weeks later it shorted through the back of the dash. I now know why they say electrical fires are so dangerous as the speed turned from nothing to smoke to flames was about 5 seconds. Managed to get the battery disconnected but by that time the plastic dash trim was a little melted and cab full of smoke. Bit of a roadside rewire by moonlight and I was cautiously on my way.

Since I have removed the ammeter gauge and now have a clock. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]