do you smell something??????

that is what my wife asked me right when we pulled up in the driveway in our 51 yesterday. As I shut the car off the cab filled with smoke so we got out and smoke was rolling out of my trunk and hood also (worst smell in the world). After the smoke cleared I saw that my clutch pinched my alt wire that was running to my battery in the trunck. My question is, what could the possible damage be? Alt, points,? I haven't really checked anything out, but I will be when I get home from work today. I cranked it over last night and it sounded different....no umph, just really flat sounding

 

Bummer.

 

Replace your points,starter,alternator,and battery wiring...Then reroute that wire to avoid further problems...You probably shorted something out...The battery probably has a ****ed cell in it now,and the alternator and starter may have taken some damage...

 

I figured that this was going to cost me some $$$

 

Before I'd start throwing parts at it, I'd replace the wire obviously. It sounds like you know where the short was. The burnt insulation will tell you a lot about what could have been damaged by the short. I doubt it affected the ignition system. It's possible that the amperage ran directly from the battery to the short without going through anything else but that wire. Hopefully the insulation from the location of the short up to the alternator is still intact leading you to believe that the excess amperage never went through the alternator. If the wire is in a harness anywhere along the path of the short it could have melted other wires that were touching it. Check those wires too. The battery may charge up again. Follow the burnt insulation that is the path of the short.

 

Real good chance you just smoked the wire. Alternator would be the next in line to go, sometimes they don't appreciate being dead shorted. Battery is likely OK. Charging wire is probably small enough that it's gonna melt the wire before reaching fatal current flow for a battery. Good Luck!

PS- unless you're cool with a smoldering pile of ashes, don't be leaving that battery hooked up til it's fixed!

 

I did trace the short yesterday tommy you were right, the melted wire started at the clutch pedal and back to the battery, but the insulation from the clutch (pinch spot) to the alt. was perfectly fine. I will definitely check to see if it was touching any other wires, but it was not in a loom, just ran by itself

 

If you wanna be sure, take the alternator to the parts store and have em test it before you go buying a new one, or test it yourself if you have a load tester, then load test the battery too, but it should be ok.

 

I don't see any reason to start replacing parts until you're sure that you need to. Most any parts store eill test your alt. for free, you can load test the battery or do like I do replace the burnt offering and drive it until you decide theres a further problem.

 

It is also possible with a hot wire being directly to ground that a ground wire from the engine/trans to the frame/battery may have been damaged as well. This could cause a "flat" crank over with not enough ground. Bad on starters too.

 

Ya might want to put in a fusible link this time

 

I like to put a fuseable link in that wire. I get the biggest one that they have at the parts store and put it right at the battery. It's just cheap insurance against a possible fire. My alternator shorted out once and the whole wire from the bat. to the alternator went up in smoke until I could grab the wire behind the dash and yank breaking the circuit. It burnt my palm but it saved the truck. If you had one, the link would have blown instantly protecting the wire. You are lucky that the wire lost contact with the metal it was shorting against. If it had maintained contact, there is nothing to stop it from shorting until the battery goes dead or the wire finally melts into two pieces. By that time your ride is probably a crispy critter. You might want to reroute the wire and mount it a little better

 

And, aren't you glad that you put that fire extinguisher in the p***enger compartment so if things had gotten worse it would have been handy to save the car. You did put one in there didn't you?

Frank

 

oh yeah! Just because I had that funny feelin something was going to go wrong.

 

and the fuseable link is a good idea...I will definitely be using that this time

 

That is what I was thinking.........I even carry them in the late model cars and the wife thinks that I am to cautious.