electrical short... melted wires

[andy05]

Something starting with.... F! I was just doing something in my boot today, and I bumped the boot light. Boot light came out of its socket, sparked, and then bloody hell, went into the cabin, smoke was pouring from around the fuse box. I ripped the fuse box cover off (literally) and pulled all the fuses, thinking that rear light postive terminal must've touched the body causing a short. Could'nt stop the smoke for a while, eventually stopped. Looked at all the wiring in the car, guess what? The wires going to the igition is where all the smoke was coming from!

There is wire where the insulation has melted off, and a few others are melted together. I went and moved boot light back into its socket, when and put the interior light fuse back in. Noticed the fuse plastic was melted, but had'nt blown out. Also noticed when I put the fuse back in the interior lights came back on.

Thing is, it all seems pretty much OK execpt for that one melted wire not having insulation. But I dont wanna turn the car on, perhaps there is damage to the wiring I cant see. Perhaps better to replace the wiring loom to the iginition? Is this hard to do? Whats your advice?

[andy05]

Something starting with.... F! I was just doing something in my boot today, and I bumped the boot light. Boot light came out of its socket, sparked, and then bloody hell, went into the cabin, smoke was pouring from around the fuse box. I ripped the fuse box cover off (literally) and pulled all the fuses, thinking that rear light postive terminal must've touched the body causing a short. Could'nt stop the smoke for a while, eventually stopped. Looked at all the wiring in the car, guess what? The wires going to the igition is where all the smoke was coming from!

There is wire where the insulation has melted off, and a few others are melted together. I went and moved boot light back into its socket, when and put the interior light fuse back in. Noticed the fuse plastic was melted, but had'nt blown out. Also noticed when I put the fuse back in the interior lights came back on.

Thing is, it all seems pretty much OK execpt for that one melted wire not having insulation. But I dont wanna turn the car on, perhaps there is damage to the wiring I cant see. Perhaps better to replace the wiring loom to the iginition? Is this hard to do? Whats your advice?

Went back out to the car, had a good look at igition wiring. That wire that lost its insulation is actually totally broken, its the wire that heated up and melted the others. The others just seem melted togther. Plucked up the courage and turned the igition key, started up fine. Lights, indicators work fine. Can't figure out what that wire does, but car is running. Bit nervous to drive the car though in this state, might wanna reconnect that burnt wire at the very least.

[commy92]

meh if it aint broke dont fix.. lol. nar ide be getting the gregories manual out or taking it into a auto spaarky.

[andy05]

meh if it aint broke dont fix.. lol. nar ide be getting the gregories manual out or taking it into a auto spaarky.

Looks like its manual time then! Car went OK, just the one burnt wire thats the real problem. Seems to be the wire that goes to the dash for the engine warning light and some other warning lights. (noticed it didnt come on when I turned on the ignition as it normally does

[mouce]

I'd be trying to find out what an un-fused wire was doing there. There should have been a fuse somewhere that should have blown before it got to the stage it did. Lucky you looked when you did though, otherwise it could have been a lot worse.

[PaRaDoX]

exactly, but one thing can lead to another thing burning... lol

my boot release button got jammed in....
motor shorted and caught fire.... lotsa smoke and no wire left lol i know the feeling of hrm... sniff sniff... whats that smell and why does is smell like im being stabbed in the nose.... oh wait thats beacause its plastic burning .... O_O

bad to smell when your driving

as for hte shorted wire, it happened to my trip computer , i just re ran the wires and it works fine

i suggest you do the same thing trace the wire to its source and re run it just to be sure that a part of it isnt severed!

[andy05]

exactly, but one thing can lead to another thing burning... lol

my boot release button got jammed in....
motor shorted and caught fire.... lotsa smoke and no wire left lol i know the feeling of hrm... sniff sniff... whats that smell and why does is smell like im being stabbed in the nose.... oh wait thats beacause its plastic burning .... O_O

bad to smell when your driving

as for hte shorted wire, it happened to my trip computer , i just re ran the wires and it works fine

i suggest you do the same thing trace the wire to its source and re run it just to be sure that a part of it isnt severed!

I was thinkin something like that. Glad to know I'm not the only one with the smell of frying wires in my nostrils... good you could work it out too. Yeah I thought I'd just replace that one wire, too much effort to redo the lot