Any ideas ???

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318willrun

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'85 Ramcharger (just bought). engine wiring harness was cut and spliced in a lot of places, had a jumper at the starter relay, and boiled the battery (tried another proven alternator, new voltage regulator and another battery). However, it did start flawlessly by the ignition. So I swapped for another '85 harness.

Now, if I try to start it with the key, the 2nd orange wire (not the outside orange wire) I'm pointing at coming out of the black "Y" junction in the pictures smoke immediately, and that's all that happens. I can start it by jumping it at the starter relay no issues. No wires get hot when it's running. I've checked the grounds that stem off of the harness. Having a little trouble chasing this one down.

Any thoughts?

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Jadaharabi said:
Where does the wire end?
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strangely enough, the larger, single black wire that goes into the "Y" junction, does a U-turn and heads right back towards the bulk head. The orange wire that smokes heads towards the bulk head as well, goes into the fusible link and is a red wire coming out of the fusible link. That red wire continues towards the bulk head, but I haven't peeled the cording/cover back enough to see exactly if it ends in the bulk head, or another place. Seems to me the orange part of the wire is what's bent on smok'n.
 
^^^^ But obviously that orange wire's purpose and use is only when the ignition is in the "start" position.

Yes, I replaced the starter relay

It never gets hot if I jump the engine at the starter relay and let the engine run with the key in the "run" position. Ignition shuts the engine off as it's supposed to
 
If the orange wire is the fuseable link it would be the first to burn when the circuit is shorted.

The orange fusible link wire that turn red headed back to the bulkhead and went to your steering column to the switch on the steering column. And when you turn the key to the start position that slides down makes contact an heads back out through the firewall probably as another red wire that goes to the starter relay.
 
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smoking wires is either power to power or power to short, it's either plugged into the wrong spot or its shorting out like it or not your going to have to back track it
 
I unplugged the starter relay and it still smoked. I unplugged the ballast resistor and it still smoked.
 
lilfontleroy said:
smoking wires is either power to power or power to short, it's either plugged into the wrong spot or its shorting out like it or not your going to have to back track it
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I'll trace it back, I really don't have a choice... LOL Just thought somebody might be able to say "that is this and I'd suspect this"...…. Also looking online for diagrams
 
mycuda said:
Was starter relay changed before or after you swapped harness?
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before. but I can totally unplug the starter relay and it will still smoke when the ignition is in the start position. I believe the power is coming from the ignition and it's not making it to the starter relay for whatever reason
 
lilfontleroy said:
shouldnt you have done that before you mucked with the wiring :poke:
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LOL... well, it's like this. The original wiring had been cut up, spliced up, and pieces missing like the ECU connector (they were running it off of points, and I still am at the moment), all by previous owners. I figured the right thing to do was replace with another original piece that was in decent condition. This wiring harness came off another '85 dodge truck that I had previously driven. No issues with the wiring when it was last driven before being parted out (years ago). It was kept inside. So, changing harnesses sounded like a good plan to me. :)
 
Switching wiring harness sounds like a good plan to me too.
Now was the wire smoking before you changed the harness? was the engine cranking over by the key before you changed the harness?
 
Is the neutral safety switch on that same circuit?

By the way the switch on the steering column that I'm talking about is the one down under the dash that your key actuates down below by a linkage rod.
 
I had a similar problem with a 1984 power wagon I bought. Wires kept burning up when I attempted to start it. Turned out to be the ignition switch. Put a new ignition switch with harness and connector, worked fine after that.
 
Jadaharabi said:
Switching wiring harness sounds like a good plan to me too.
Now was the wire smoking before you changed the harness? was the engine cranking over by the key before you changed the harness?
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No. None of the wires smoked and the engine started from the column just fine. They did run a jumper wire at the starter relay (could this have been because they bypassed part of the switch?????? )

Jadaharabi said:
Is the neutral safety switch on that same circuit?
I don't now. It has to be tied into it somehow I'd think.

By the way the switch on the steering column that I'm talking about is the one down under the dash that your key actuates down below by a linkage rod.
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Yes, there is a rod going down there, and I can investigate that switch as well.
 
Evan Dutch said:
I had a similar problem with a 1984 power wagon I bought. Wires kept burning up when I attempted to start it. Turned out to be the ignition switch. Put a new ignition switch with harness and connector, worked fine after that.
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this the switch under the dash at the end of the rod?

This may be why a previous owner had a jumper at the starter relay.
 
Okay you still have the Harness that you took off of it originally. You need to trace the wire that goes to the starter up to the plug-in for the firewall and compare it to the harness that you just put on and see if that wire is still in the same position on both harnesses. There may be a couple of wires that are switched an you're actually grounding out instead of sending power to the starter relay.
 
Jadaharabi said:
Okay you still have the Harness that you took off of it originally. You need to trace the wire that goes to the starter up to the plug-in for the firewall and compare it to the harness that you just put on and see if that wire is still in the same position on both harnesses. There may be a couple of wires that are switched an you're actually grounding out instead of sending power to the starter relay.
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Starter has a "thicker" brown wire that goes to the relay, and the main power from the battery. I believe when I switched harness, this was the same.

***I'm really thinking now about the switch under the dash at the end of the rod. I'm thinking this because they had a jumper at the relay itself from ignition to solenoid. that's why I bought the new relay to begin with. Also, they jumped pass the orange wire at the black "Y". I think they may have bypassed a bad ignition switch. Now with things hooked up correctly, I'm seeing the same results they saw and bypassed. I think that ignition switch under the dash is where i'm headed next.
 
Neutral start switch, or wiring grounded/shorted.
Circuit tracer would come in handy right about now.
 
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