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surf_blau
Samba Member
Joined: August 01, 2007
Posts: 18
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 Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 1:58 pm Post subject: smoke (almost fire) from under dash on attempted ignition |
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Well, I got sick of the old, broken antenna on my 84.5 westy and so I put in a new hirshmann antenna from gowesty. Fine.
The first time I tried to start the van, smoke begins coming out of the steering column, I turned it off after three seconds of no cranking (thinking it was a neutral saftey switch problem on my old mb...). Just as I was reaching for the fire extinguisher, the smoke stopped.
It turns out that the black wire that connects the ignition wiring harness to the rightmost fuse on the fuse panel is totally fried. It seems like this black wire is actually 2 black wires in parallel, but I am not sure. The larger of the two black wires has had 15% of its insulation smoked off - from the entire approx 12 inch run of the wire.
Anyone got ideas about what to do next to find the root cause?
(been searching and getting ideas, but nothing is jumping out.) |
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bucko
Samba Member
Joined: December 09, 2004
Posts: 2617
Location: Coppell, Texas
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| Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 5:26 am Post subject: |
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Here's a tip: grab the Bentley wire schematic and see what that wire does. My guess is when you routed the antenna wire in from the fender to the radio, you snagged another wire and caused a short on this one.
_________________
Current VW drives: 1984 Westfalia
Past VW drives: 1967 Beetle, 1973 Beetle, 1977 Bus, 1971 Military Type 181 |
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Vanagon Nut
Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2008
Posts: 10379
Location: Sunshine Coast B.C.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:07 am Post subject: |
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Is this new antenna electric?
If so, did you connect it to the ignition switch wiring?
Neil.
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA
1988 West DIY 50º ABA
VE7TBN |
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surf_blau
Samba Member
Joined: August 01, 2007
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:34 am Post subject: nope, it is a non- automatic replacement for the original |
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original and replacement were both manual antennas.
Can't wait to get home and do some investigation. |
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surf_blau
Samba Member
Joined: August 01, 2007
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:54 pm Post subject: summary |
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| the fuse box frame was in contact with the last fuse, giving a nice path to ground which allowed the starting current to melt the ignition switch. $10 part from van cafe. Too bad it took a week to get it all figured out. |
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Vanagon Nut
Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2008
Posts: 10379
Location: Sunshine Coast B.C.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 10:05 am Post subject: Re: summary |
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| surf_blau wrote: |
| the fuse box frame was in contact with the last fuse, giving a nice path to ground which allowed the starting current to melt the ignition switch. $10 part from van cafe. Too bad it took a week to get it all figured out. |
A week well spent I say! Now you are ( I presume) more familiar with your ride.
And thanks for posting what the solution was. It helps others searching the archives (IMHO) to see the solution. Most listers do this, but some don't. I know I've been guilty of that.
Cheers,
Neil.
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA
1988 West DIY 50º ABA
VE7TBN |
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