Smoke!

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XakEp

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If it aint one thing its always another. Got some other issues on the car figured out today, and tried to start it. Crank and crank, no fire. I pull the key out and a bunch of smoke starts coming out of the bulkhead connectors.

What? Had to pull the negative terminal off to stop the smoke. Should I get a new engine harness?
 
Upgrade the wires off the battery to thicker ones. Also the ground straps from battery to body, engine block/head to body.
Check out where the smaoke came from and inspect closely for burnt and/or distorted wires. Make sure there still covered. No bare strands.
 
rumblefish360 said:
Upgrade the wires off the battery to thicker ones. Also the ground straps from battery to body, engine block/head to body.
Check out where the smaoke came from and inspect closely for burnt and/or distorted wires. Make sure there still covered. No bare strands.
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What Rumble said and by-pass that dang ammeter!
 
ammeter? Do you mean that amp guage in my dash? The smoke was not in the cab of the car, how would that effect it?

I'll have to go through and re-do all my grounds I guess. There was alot of ghetto work done on this car by the previous owner, ugh. I might just replace the engine harness and headlight harness for the sake of sanity.

On the plus side, my 15 month old kid really enjoys working on the car with me. He'd rather sit behind the wheel of the car than have his mommy hold him - thats saying something!
 
The AMP meter carries a full current/amp load and can ethier go bad or catch fire.
 
XakEp said:
ammeter? Do you mean that amp guage in my dash? The smoke was not in the cab of the car, how would that effect it?

I'll have to go through and re-do all my grounds I guess. There was alot of ghetto work done on this car by the previous owner, ugh. I might just replace the engine harness and headlight harness for the sake of sanity.

On the plus side, my 15 month old kid really enjoys working on the car with me. He'd rather sit behind the wheel of the car than have his mommy hold him - thats saying something!
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All of the power from your alternator runs through one bulkhead connector, to your ammeter, then back out to another bulkhead connector to your battery. When those conductive blades in the bulkhead build resistance from corrosion, they go "poof".
 
I went to madelectrical not to long ago and did the wiring as it shows bypassing the amp meter. I also upgraded form pre 70 to 76 alternator and voltage regulator. The head lights stay bright all of the time now. I tell you after looking at the bulk head connector and seeing those small wires I'm glad I did what madelectrical showed. I can tell the difference in a healthy electrical system compared to what I used to have.
 
http://www.painlessperformance.com/InfoSearch/partnumber_list.php?SearchField=10127

http://www.painlessperformance.com/InfoSearch/partnumber_list.php?SearchField=20103

Here are a couple of links to a couple of the Painless harnesses. And as Rumble said. "get rid of the ammeter". They are known and thought of across the industry as a problem and a hazard. If you were to call up here and ask the opinion of any of the techs and the engineers they will tell you to drop it like a bad habbit. Also the bulk head connector on the original harnesses were a little inferior as far as standing the test of time. I would check the connection and most likely do the pass through that is shown on the link given to you earlier. Let me know if there is any info you need and I'll see what I can dig up.

Jason
 
this happened to my car the bulkhead melted where the alternator wire went in i just bypassed the ammeter and it was all set good luck
 
Holy cow!! I'll definitely route around the amp meter. ANyone got a link handy for how to do that? I guess I could just run the line directly to my battery, but would have cause other problems?
 
Duurrrrrr.. Just figured out there's a page two on that link provided earlier. I feel dumb. I'll let you guys know when I get it rerouted and if it fixes it. Thanks a ton!
 
Ok, finally got the power issue resolved and it no longer smokes under the hood. However, now my headlights dont work! When try to turn them on, on my dash both turn signals come on solid (dont blink, just turn on) and the bright indicator comes on. Think its the flasher?
 
Remember, everything electrical is powered by smoke. Once all of the smoke has leaked out of a particular component, it will no longer work and must be replaced.

Oh, and somehting in either your headlamp or signal wiring is bad. I would look at your bulkhead connector really close.
 
C130 Chief said:
Remember, everything electrical is powered by smoke. Once all of the smoke has leaked out of a particular component, it will no longer work and must be replaced.

Oh, and somehting in either your headlamp or signal wiring is bad. I would look at your bulkhead connector really close.
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lol - nice. Turned out it was a bad ground off the headlight. Now its out of ******* gas. What the ****!??!??!?
 
It sounds to me like you have had enough problems with your harness and grounds to make any one insane. I would probably look very closely at the rest of the harness and make sure that you aren't going to run into any issues. Once the electical demons start they just about never go away without a complete overhaul.

Jason
 
Once the electical demons start they just about never go away without a complete overhaul.This Week i'm gonna do that complete overhaul in my Dart 73.Demons are going back to HELL!!!
 
Remember, everything electrical is powered by smoke. Once all of the smoke has leaked out of a particular component, it will no longer work and must be replaced.
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LOL!! Can I steal that and put it in my sig?
 
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