Ignition wires get warm

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geno440

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I connected a battery to my 68 barracuda a few days ago to start checking everything electrically before I start turning over the engine for the initial start. I restored the car from ground up and replaced the dash wiring warness with a used one. I went over the harness and repaired what was bad and even put in a new bulk head.

Most everything works pretty well except when I turn the key switch on, within 30 seconds or so i can smell hot wires. I felt most all my wires and devices and the only place I can feel heat is on two of the wires going to the ignition switch. They are only warm to the touch, not really hot. They don't seem they would get hot enough to cause a melt down.

Do you think I need a new ignition switch? Or something else? Opinitons?

Thanks FABO
 
Hot wires are indication of a problem.
Were there any changes or upgrades in electrical anywhere at all?
Reason I asked is because most will add electronic ignition, isolated field charging system, etc.., that get their power through the ignition switch. When the factory added these things in 1970, not only did the ignition switch move to the steering column but the wires going to and from it got larger. Even those would melt down at their connection below the steering column if overloaded.
Some rallye panel owners believe they can throw a solid state gauge voltage regulator in on top of the original mechanical limiter too. That doesn't work and can lead to the problem you have.
 
I guess I should have asked which color wires are heating up , black or blue ?
 
Well, I don't think the ignition switch is causing this. You are going to have to dig in with a wiring diagram and some troubleshooting skills. Only clue in your post is that the wires get warm after the ignition switch is turned on. That would eliminate anything tied to battery constant circuits. You also did not mention any issue with blowing fuses. That would eliminate any fused circuits. Problem will be with an unfused or overfused circuit in the ignition or accessory circuits. A little test with the key will help reduce this further. Do the wires get warm in the accessory position? If so, problem is in accessory circuit. If not, problem is in an ignition circuit. When troubleshooting, I find the best place to look is in the non factory add ons. Car stereo installations are a frequent offender.

Post what you find witha little more detail of what your car is equipped with oer any modifications made and I am sure help will be offered.
 
Vehicles in general and their most common, un fused, difficult to find short circuits.. the alternator.
If it rolled into the service bay, the first thing I would do is pull the field connections on the alternator and see if the problem goes away. You might get lucky and find the problem has nothing to do with what type of car and/or its history.
 
RedFish said:
Hot wires are indication of a problem.
Click to expand...

Yup....especially if all you are doing is energizing things....Now is the time to figure this out, not after you fire it up & are running in the motor...
 
Normally you should NOT leave the ignition switch on for a length of time

Breaker points ignition---hard on points and coil both

Mopar electronic --will warm up the coil and the box

Other brands............MSD probably no foul. GM HEI module does not draw current with key on. Others I don't know

The above has nothing to do with your problem, it's simply a warning

I'm with Red..........

First pull the field wires off the alternator, and unplug the regulator. If this does not slow down the problem,

Disconnect the ignition, depending on "what you have." If points, unhook one end of the ballast. If Mopar ECU, unhook the connector at the box

Be careful. None of this stuff is fused, other than the main fuse link, which is damn poor protection. If it still seems to be heating with the above disconnected, IMMEDIATELY shut it off.

Also realize that "the key" feeds "other stuff." It is important to determine which specific wires are hot

The switched lead feeding to the fuse box switched buss may or may not be getting warm

while the ignition "run" line might be, and vice versa.
 
I did most of the things you guys suggested and found that the when I bolted my dash tight inside the body, the warm ignition wires went away. Maybe it was missing a ground.

I am using a Pertronix in my distributer. The red wire is supposed to hook to a positive source before it goes through the ballast resistor. So i spliced it into the blue wire (with tracer) before it goes to the ballast resistor.

Now when I turn on the key switch to test for hot wires and such, the wire I spliced into is getting hot. The longer i leave the key on the hotter it seems to get. It gets hot if connected tothe resiter or not.

I felt all my other wires and I do not feel anything else get warm or smell any wires. Everything is connected electrically and everything seems to work except one of the inside courtesy lights.

Any thoughts? I have not tried to start my car yet. I was hoping to resolve any wiring issues I could find before hand.
 
I don't know anything about aftermarket ignition setups. Sorry
 
Pertronix ignition draws current with the key on / engine not running.

"How long" are you leaving the key on? It is NOT GOOD for the ignition or coil to leave the key on for long, and it was never designed to do so. It is also possible that you might burn a spot on the alternator brushes / slip rings as the alternator will be drawing field current

WHERE is this wire getting hot?

Only near the switch connector?

Near the bulkhead connector?

Uniformly along it's length?

If near one of the connectors, this would most probably indicate a bad connector

If uniform along the wire, this indicates severely overloaded current flow, and you need to find out WHY.

Try disconnecting first one alternator field wire and recheck

Then disconnect the Pertronix and try again.

You have any other harness modifications, any accessories, stereo, alarm system, etc that's been spliced into the harness?
 
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