Fire from steering shaft/Ignition issues

STOP BURNING THINGS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Learn to troubleshoot without smokin' stuff. Once you know there's a problem, STOP!!!

"How" to do this? Easy. You need something to protect the vehicle wiring, and which will help you find the trouble

Get an old stop/ tail lamp socket and bulb. If possible an old headlight. Wire them up with "clip" leads so you can use them.

You can wire a stop/ tail several ways to give you different ratings.

1....Heaviest. Connect to the shell for one conneciton, and for the remaining, twist the two wires together (stop and tail) and use them together. This will put both filaments in parallel, making "one big" lamp

2....A little less..........Connect to the shell and the stop filament. Leave the tail filament wire loose

2....Less yet. Connect to the shell and to the tail filament. Much less wattage

3....WAY less....Leave the shell unconnected. Connect one connection to the tail, the other to the stop. This puts the filaments in SERIES. I used to do this when using a 8--10A charger on a bike / lawnmower battery.

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WHAT DO YOU DO with all this? Easy. Connect the thing for max current, IE no1 above. Or use a head lamp. Unhook your battery ground. Connect the lamp in series with the battery ground. If the bulb lights, you have current draw. Go around the car and make certain everything is shut off. Don't forget dome / courtesy, trunk and underhood lamps.

NOW what you have is 'a kink of' a fuse. Current limiting. When you turn on the key, the lamp will light, showing current. More current will light the thing more brightly. It will NOT allow anything to blow up.

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Next, start eliminating "stuff" one at a time. Determine under what conditions "things went bad." Disconnect "the most likely suspect" one at a time.

Let's say when key twisted to start is what "smoked." First try pulling the yellow "start" wire off the starter relay. No increase? Might or might not be there. Might be bad relay, bad starter. Hook the wire back up, unhook the solenoid wire going to the starter (example). If light still goes "crazy bright" with no starter, the relay might be shorted.

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Additional: If you get to the point with the series lamp, and you can't figure it out, then instead of risking your harness, and fuse link, TEMPORARILY replace the link with a fuse holder. Use increasing fuses up to 30A to try and chase things down. Buy at least two boxes of fuses, LOL

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THE BAD: These old girls were POORLY fused and protected. The fuse link often does not blow, or fast enough, before SERIOUS harness "smokage" happens. The thermoplastic conductors.........the one with the short.....melts the insulation and gets real hot, and MELTS AND WELDS wiring nearby, causing cross connections and more smoke. Often after such a problem, you are going to have to tear apart what you need (the dash) and remove the harness, unwrap / untape it and inspect and repair or replace it.