Thread: Help Please

Ezyrama, I'll confess I don't have a Rangie, but I'd be looking along the passages where smoke might pass. Have you checked the fuses? What about shorts in the wiring behind the instrument cluster or toward the firewall? Have you up-rated the headlights, and if so have you checked the switches and nearby wires?

Steve

Hi Scrambler
Pulled the dash to pieces and repaired a couple of prob's in the birds nest,but no burn't wires and nothing else to indicate where it might have come from.Might have another go at it this weekend if the rain stays away
Cheers Ian

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I used to be indeceisive,but now I'm not so sure??

Having been the (proud) owner of a 83 RR, that smoke was most probably a short in the connectors to the main indicators/high-low stalk. What happened to me was the CKD method of wiring -using metal joiners with rubber covers, gets a bit out of shape after 20 years or so, and sometimes various things short out. The wiring, having been designed without relays, can carry 20 odd amps for a short while, and I know from experience that it will produce a puff of smoke and leave no other indication ie no burnt wires, or outwardly melted bits.

However, the casing for the blinkers, and lights is made of plastic, and it can get hot during a short circuit, and melt sufficiently to move the contacts out of alignment. So no blinkers, or low beam. High beam might work, because it uses a different circuit and set of contacts within the blinker switch.

Remedy: Spend ALL weekend tidying up the birds nest, use a circuit diagrame, plenty of cable ties and electrical tape, and make sure that none of the wiring is going to short circuit on metal.