Two weeks ago this coming Thursday,I was installing sound deadener in the Sport. I started with the roof, then went to the trunk, and I had stopped for the evening. I was moving the Thunderbird from the drive way when I happened to notice that my clock and radio weren't working. I though to myself " a blown fuse". So, I pulled back into the driveway and got out. I looked up at the fuse panel,and I saw a large burnt hole with a white ashy center. The hole was about the size of a 50 cent piece. I tried to drop the fuse panel, but the wires were to short and tight to allow it to drop, so, I removed the dash and this is what I found upon more inspection............
(http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc205/Vinnietbird/DSCF8629.jpg)
I remembered that the '86 V-6 Thunderbird was at my favorite boneyard (only Bird for miles). I had gotten the dash from it a few weeks ago. Anyway, I drove the 16 miles, and cut out the fuse box leaving about 6 inches of wires on them. I got home,and compare every single wire from the Sport ('88 5.0 car) to the '86 fuse panel....identical to the last wire.... WOO-HOO !!! (looking for anything positive at this point). I then started swapping the fuse panel one wire at a time. Cut and graft.....cut and graft....cut and graft.... until it was all done.
After I finished swapping the panel, I figure now was a good time to install the rest of the sound deadener throughout the floor,firewall,and doors. While I had the carpet up,I found wires on the passenger side and driver side floor running along the door jambs that were melted. i replaced those and finished up. I took the replacement dash and dyed it gray, along with the console, glove box door and associated dash pieces. I installed the passenger side power seat equipment that had been in the garage since early this year as well. I applied sound deadener on the back of the dash and air ducting as well (had an extra roll....Thanks Zillamat !!!).
I then installed the dash, console, and everything else. I turned the key on and no dome light, no radio, no clock, no trunk light.I checked the fuse, burnt out. I installed another,and still nothing. I got to trouble shooting again, and found the dome light harness that goes down the passenger side a-pillar was melted. back to the salvage yard,pulled the dome light harness and installed it. Same issues, no power still to those above mentioned items.
I called Jerry (daminc) and we talked for a while and did some long distance, over the phone trouble shooting and I found that the visor harness was bad. It had a screw from the driver side visor going through it. Grounded out. I swapped that harness and everything worked as it should.
I went out to move the Sport last Thursday night, one week after the whole bunch of started, and the dash lights and head lights didn't work,but everything else did. I swapped the light switch, no change. I pulled the switch again,and looked at the fuse harness with a flash light and there it was.... a wire had broke from it's connection. I reconnected it together and then everything was working perfectly again. What a relief.....for an hour.
I went to pick my son up from school and it was pretty warm,so,I figure "I'll use that a/c I paid all of the money to have working again". No cold air. I called the a/c guys at "Olde and New", and they took the Sport yesterday and changed a bad valve for the R134 conversion and now, really cold air, and all is good again. 46 hours of total labor. I can NOT imagine having to pay someone to do all of that. Holy .
And that's what some of you missed during the forum's hiatus.
(http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc205/Vinnietbird/DSCF8632.jpg)
dots?
I don't know, but I could go for a box of dots candy right about now.
Vinnie, so how did that screw take so long to cause any problems? I mean did you recently do a visor swap? Or was it just grounded all this time and finally arced all by itself?
It had to have happened when I re-attached the visors after doing the sound deadener on the roof. It all sucks,but,on the good side,I got the replacement,minty fresh dash installed, power passenger seat, and a lot of the Zillamat. The car is a LOT more quiet inside now.A HUGE difference for the better.Comfy inside,grumbly on the outside.
What I meant was, when I first viewed this thread, all that was there was the first paragraph, no pictures or the rest of the post.
jeez dude what a mess. Electrical problems are the fn worst man. Especially like that...
Lol... now that I look back at that pic...... That thing is really cooked. Your so lucky the car didn't catch on fire from that. On the upside, I now know all the wiring from the fuse box, all the way to the trunk.
I started typing,then posted,went back to photobucket for a pic,came back and typed some more,posted,went back for another pic,came back and finished.I was distracted.
I think they call that ADD or OCD .
That really could have been much worse I'm glad it's all sorted out now
Hey,I'm glad you learned from my ordeal.LOL. I''ve kept that fuse box.I need to put it in a shadow box and hang it up somewhere.I know a lot more than I did before I got started on the repairs. Yep,learning the hard way. Nothing quite like it........thank goodness.
You're right,it could've been a big fire. For everything I swapped and the work i did,I really did get lucky considering what could've been.....fire,Burned interior,cooked Sport,Vinnie crying......the list goes on.
That must've been a nightmare, at least it's fixed now. Screws through wires cause a lot of hard to find problems for people.
Honestly,it was a nightmare.I slept like every night wondering and buttstuffyzing.I felt more than relieved when I found the screw through the visor harness wire. Like I said,though....I did a lot of work I wasn't planning on til next spring (finishing the Zillamat,passenger power seat,replacement dash). It's all done now,so,I can sit back and find new projects I want to do.
Want to come to Tennessee and help me take all the extra emblems off my car ??:mullet: lol
Vinnie, that looks like it was a hell of an ordeal. Electrical problems are hell on earth sometimes. Glad you got her going again.
YES !!! Yes I do !!!!! LOL.
I'm glad,too. I was hoping she'd come out of it without any scars.....She did. Even better now.
You got some luck on your side:D
How quiet is the Sport now? My LX with all the factory sound deadener is really quiet with the windows up and A/C on even on the highway. I can barely hear the exhaust.
Dude I'd be careful about that one, if you get vinnie over there, I think that might go something like:
:) + :sawzall: = :flame:
:rollin:
With the 40 series Flowmasters,I can still hear them,but nothing like before. I am wanting to get another set of Warlocks and put them on.High flow,low noise. With the windows up,it';s a night and day difference.Before, I could smack the top of the car and it sounded like an empty can,now, it makes a solid "thunk" sound. So do the doors and rear 1/4's.
No way,Man, it's nothing but love.
That wire with the screw caused:
-The melted/fried back of the fuse panel?
- the melted wiring on the door frame?
How did it do all that?, sorry I dont know wiring.
I'd say the screw pierced the insulation on multiple? wires causing a short to ground and between the circuits.
How come the fuse didn't go? I bet Vin is using 50A fuses for everything.
All of the fuses were the correct pieces.,as they are now.The only wire I could find damaged was the one single green wire to the driver side visor above the headliner.How did the others get damaged....I don't know. There may have been another issue somewhere in the melted wires that I didn't know about until it was too late,but,I've gone through all I can see,and everything seems in order now.
50 amp fuses.......that's funny.
I was just pointed to this thread by jrad235 (although it's a completely different issue than I'm having). I don't know why but it seems that Ford ran multiple wires on each fuse and only one wire on each fuse can actually handle a current higher than the fuse. I had the clock/radio/whatever else memory wire burn up a couple years ago from the console to the fuse box. One would think that fusing would be done smarter, at least due to the potential legal issues and whatnot with things burning up rather than blowing fuses.
Of course, pulling the melted wire out is also fun. I just ran a new properly-fused wire from an engine bay fuse box that I installed as I've no idea how to get to the back of the stock fuse box to install a new wire (well, without pulling the entire dash).
Glad it got fixed safely...
I'm glad,too. It could've been worse if there was an actual fire,and not just intense plastic melting heat.The Sport is 100% now.Everything works as it should from the a/c to the lighting,and a few options I added since I had the car brought to me by flat bed from the salvage yard. I removed the compass mirror a while back thinking it wasn't functioning right.It was just unplugged.I may install a new one soon.I have 3 or 4 in the garage. Or maybe I won't. We'll see I suppose. Right now,I'm happy with her the way she sits. I did install sound deadener on the back of the door panels and the outer,inner door (the metal that faces the back of the door panel.I may install some on the inner door as well.I have plenty left and two days off coming up Wednesday.
Wow Vinnie you did have a close call. That would've been terrible with all the work you done to it to to have to watch it go up in smoke. I'm happy for you that it didn't. You've done an awsome job with it that's for sure!
I get used to seeing the Sport daily,and sometimes I "reflect" on the days when I first got it,and look at all of the time and parts,thinking and labor I've poured into it.I can say, I built it all except for welding the exhaust,and spraying the paint (oh,and porting the heads).I have no regrets at all with it.Worth every minute.....although I wish the fuse panel thing never took place.
I was let down by the sound deadening I did a few years ago - exhaust drone and wind noise from the gap at the top of the doors are VERY annoying and there is nothing I can do about them. I put so much deadener over the back half of the exhaust and rear axle that the rear seat can't mount back in place. I used multiple layers of the original RAAMmat BXT (the black ...*sigh*) and many layers of their closed cell foam. While the audio sounds much better after treatment, the majority of noise (exhaust, wind, and slight occasional rear axle) is still there. Any other noises I have are from things not being bolted down or deadened enough from around the interior. The creaks of the plastic interior pieces are annoying, and this is WITH frame stiffening. Stock-like springs but Bilstein suspension with stiff control arms and bushings make a lot of noises :(
Maybe I'm just too buttstuff about these things though...
I can still hear the exhaust,and some wind noise,but,compared to the driving before I installed it,it's night and day.My roof had zero material on it.Only a bare metal roof and a head liner.Sounded like a tin can if you tap the roof from the outside. The noise level inside the car now is way better. A lot quieter. If the windows are down,it doesn't matter anyway. I'll be getting new lers installed this spring (unless ler funds magically appear before then) and I'll remove the Flowmasters.I want free flowing,but less noise at cruising speeds.
I like how straight through my Borla XS lers are but the drone sounds the same as when I had Flowmaster 40's. Maybe it's a decibel or two quieter, it's hard to tell, but I hate the drone I get at 55-65mph and every time I accelerate lightly at all and not locked up. I especially like how no one around with a shop has any ideas to cut it down, although I've read rumors and solutions online.
Either way, they're fiberglass packed and I can see through one side to the other (offset on both ends) so the flow is great and they ARE much quieter at cruise but open up well at WOT. Either way, I hear my rocker arms all the time so I have other annoying things to listen to than the drone. I wish that could be fixed too but reshimming, different lifters, etc do nothing to the Cobra RR noise!
/endrant ;)
Sounds like it was a nightmare.
It really was during the trouble shooting part of the ordeal.Other than the harness on the driver side,and the front and rear windows,there is NOTHING left on the Sport that it had when they rolled it off the truck 4 years ago....literally.
Really odd....My cougar was always totally soundproof. Couldn't hear any noise outside, or hear any stereo sound from the inside....My ears will pop when I close the door.. even still
lol, someone burnt your spaghetti! that really sucks, i bet rewiring it was fun :p
The Sport is all sealed and insulated now.. It had sound proofing from the factory,but a lot was removed when I was doing the interior swap a few years ago,.Now,all I have left is to get new door striker posts,and re-align the passenger door.Nothing of concern.
I got new ones too, the old ones looked bad against the new paint.