Something Fried?

[John G.]

I was putting the clock back into my '67 and noticed a loose wire near the ignition switch. Assuming that my groping around under the dash pulled the wire loose, I reattached it to where it appeared to go - right above the ignition switch.
I turned the engine over to make sure everything was okay and it started-up, ran for 2-3 seconds and died. Now everything is dead. I took the wire off and rechecked but only the horn is working - WTF? Clearly something got fried... main breaker... I'm not even sure where to look. Help. John

[Brian M.]

Re: Something Fried?

Doing electrical work without Dr. Rebuilds OhSoEasy wire diagrams is just plain silly JMHO.

[John G.]

Re: Something Fried?

I suppose its a fusible link but where would it be located?

[Rob V.]

Re: Something Fried?

John--I am sorry to hear that you might have damaged your wiring harness. You might get lucky and have experienced minimal damage; however, to be safe, you might want to remove the instrument panel harness and have it checked for damage. Unfortunately, I destroyed my wiring harness years ago on a '64 convertible that I had owned less than 12 hours. I was tired; found a wire that was disconnected; and re-connected the wire incorrectly--when I started the car, I melted portions of the engine, as well as the instrument panel wiring harness. My wife and I subsequently replaced both harnesses with new Lectric Limited harnesses. We were really pleased with the quality of the harnesses, and the ease of installation. Then, less than six months later, I was working under the dash installing a clutch/brake pedal assembly, and bumped the connector to the ammeter gauge (which was hanging loose from a previous excursion of mine under the dash), and I fried the new harness. While this time I could not readily detect any melted/damaged wires, I pulled the harness and sent it back to Lectric Limited for evaluation. I had damaged the harness; Lectric Limited gave me a repair quote; and I had them repair it. I would like to note, that once they started repairing the harness, it was worse than they anticipated. To their credit, even though the repair far exceeded their quote, they were true to their word, and only charged me the quoted price. Upon installation, the repaired harness worked like a champ. I will always recommend Lectric Limited. The morale of this post: 1). You are not the first to inadvertently fry a wiring harness; as I stated, some of us have done it more than once; 2). damage to electrical harnesses are not always readily apparent; 3). always disconnect the negative battery cable from the battery prior to doing any work on your car as advised in shop manuals such as Chiltons. (I did this just last night, and all I was doing was swapping out seat belts in my car). Anyway, good luck with this issue.Best Regards,Rob Vanderhoeven

[Richard M.]

Re: Something Fried?

John, You say "Fried". Literally burned up wiring. or just a figure of speech that things don't work now?

That Brown wire is the ACC(Accessory) circuit. It gets power when Key is in the RUN or ACC position, no power in START(cranking). This powers all ACC circuits such as Radio, Heater, Wipers etc. That terminal connector is used for one thing only.....A Radio Suppression Capacitor, that's mounted to the back of the cluster with a mating male terminal. This may or may not be there. If you don't have a factory radio it won't be there, and if so, the Brown wire terminal is left unused. But it's always powered as explained above.

You said you plugged it in "right above the ignition switch". If that place you plugged it into was a Ground, you likely just blew a fuse or maybe a fusible link if there is one in the circuit. I'm going from sparse memory, not a circuit diagram, so I could be mistaken about a link.

Unplug that Brown terminal from whatever you plugged it in to, and check you Fuse Panel for the blown fuse in the location marked ACC. You may have been lucky.

Rich

[John G.]

Re: Something Fried?

Hi Guys,
I did have the battery disconnected. I was reinstalling my clock after fixing the minute hand. Putting those clips on is like birthing a baby through an eye dropper. Thats's when I noticed the "loose wire". It sure seemed like the connector shown was the place it belonged. I reconnected the battery and started the engine to make sure everything was okay. As I said it fired-up and died 2 seconds later. You could smell insulation burning so I ran around and disconnected the battery. I checked fuses - all intact. I gave a cursory look at the wiring in and around the fuse box but didn't see anything that looked out of the ordinary. I've read about others who have had similar issues and suspect that its a fusible link. I'm going to need to jack it up tomorrow and see if I can see anything underneath. I was getting ready for the chapter meet this coming weekend - I think its going to be next year now.

[Richard M.]

Re: Something Fried?

John, What exactly did you plug the Brown wire connector into. It could help diagnose where to look.

The smell could have in fact been a fusible link. All it is is a copper wire 2 Gauge sizes smaller than the rated wire/load for it's purpose. There are many on the '67, first year for the extra protection.

Rich

Edit.......Here's the back of a '67 cluster. There is no male spade lug there normally. It may be the Ground lug that someone moved further down on the backside. The ground is normally up high near the top, not shown in the photo as it's above the rear housing IIRC.

The Capacitor shown near the bottom normally has a wire on it for the connection to the Brown wire terminal. The Capacitor up high has a special "scotch-lock" like connector with a drive pin to pierce the wire from something else, I forget but maybe the Headlight Warning power lead as it has a flashing bulb.

P3120034.jpg

[Richard M.]

Re: Something Fried?

I'm on my way out for the day but let's see if we can get you fixed up for the Chapter Meet............While I'm out maybe someone else can add some ideas too.

I think one of the fusible links at the Voltage Regulator may be bad. There are 3. Disconnect the battery. Unplug the 4 way connector at the Regulator and the two way connector at the Alternator. In the 4-way, there is a Brown/White tracer wire, which is the ACC circuit coming from the Ignition switch when RUN or ACC. This goes through the Bulhead connector under the Driver's Side Female Hood latch. it's the Connector with the Tan wire going to the Brake Warning Switch Block under the Master Cylinder. That Brn/Wht wire comes out there then up to the Regulator.

Using a Ohmmeter, check each fusible link at the Regulator area(the small cylindrical rubber tubes with wires coming out of each end) for continuity. You may find that one is open circuit.

The other possibility is that the pins in the bulkhead connector wiring got arced when the short occurred. Carefully pull out the Bulkhead connector(s) and check there too.

Rich

[John G.]

Re: Something Fried?

Richard,
I don't know if you can see from the initail photo I posted I marked the wire and where it connected to. I'll try a get a better picture tomorrow - I'm out of town today. Looking at your picture there is a (capacitor?) near the ignition switch hole. The lug is hidden from view (behind) that capacitor.

[Richard M.]

Re: Something Fried?

John, Yes I saw that lug, but I have no idea why it's there. It shouldn't be. I think someone added it or moved the upper ground lug to that position.

Regardless, if it is a ground, which I suspect it is, this is why you have a problem. What exactly the failure is will need more diagnosis.

Rich

[Dan D.]

Re: Something Fried?

Wiring a Windshield Washer PumpIt all started when I took my '72 in for State inspection. I got some static about the washers not squirting. I've had the car for 30 years and they never squirted. When you pushed the switch...you could hear it hum, but no squirt...I figured the internals were gone so I decided to install a new pump. The fact that there was a "Mickey Mouse" aftermarket pump there always was a minor source of irritation anyway. Why on earth anyone would install this pump in the first place still baffles me...the pump was attached to the firewall and they had to buy and install a plate where the original pump was and put in a bunch of weird looking hoses. This had to be done prior to 1985 when you could walk into any Chevrolet dealer and buy the correct part off the shelf. Anyway, I get a replica correct pump, put in the correct hoses, connect the wires...it doesn't work...no hum. I'm wondering if I connected the wires wrong. Everything else on the car works fine...no problems. I was thinking of reversing the wires...but after reading John Golen's thread...I chickened out. My question is...if I reverse the wires, can I hurt something? I've gotten a lot of good advice from you guys in the past...so thanks in advance...Dan DiCio

[John G.]

Re: Something Fried?

Smart move Dan! John

[John G.]

Re: Something Fried?

Hi Rich, My son got his phone back there and took a better picture. It looks like that lug is on the same stud that that capacitor bracket is attached to. So I'm certain the lug would have acted as a ground. I looked at the starter and there doesn't appear to be any fusible links or fuses between the starter and where the harness goes to the bulkhead connectors. John
lug.jpg

[John G.]

Re: Something Fried?

I pulled the bulkhead connectors and they looked okay - crusty as expected but no signs of excessive heat. Out of the bulkhead the harness heads over to the solenoid. There are 2 fusible links that I can see. One on a wire that comes out of the harness and is connected into the connector on the soleniod. The other comes out of the harness and goes right back in (Presumably just to expose the link) and I guess goes forward to the voltage regulator. The wires that come out and go to the alternator look fine - no signs of heat. Both fusible link wires feel soft - but they're smaller gauge so maybe that's how they should feel. John

[John G.]

Re: Something Fried?

Here is a better picture with the lug shown (red arrow).

LUG2.jpg