This is a question about my Mark. I recently did some work in the dash area, my gas gauge and some other stuff was acting up, and on the Mark boards I have learned that these cars have very bad grounding points, and there is a tech article showing how to do it. So I did it and all seemed well, until I saw smoke coming from the engine bay, from a fuse link coming off the positive side of the starter relay, it is a thick black/orange wire and a smaller yellow/white wire coming out of a 12 ga. fuse link. :punchballs: So, I immediately shut the car off, and unhooked what I had grounded, thinking I may have grounded a hot wire, even though I metered it beforehand and it had no power. Started the car back up, same thing, the wire starts smoking.
So I take a look into my EVTM, and the two wires mentioned above are part of the charging system. The bigger black/orange wire runs to the alternator, and the yellow/white wire runs to the voltage regulator (which I beleive mine is external). After fishing around broke the wire in two, so now it is basically disconnected, and the car will start and run, but the amp light stays on telling me I am running off of battery power. I have no clue what may have caused this issue. It seems the stuff I did in the dash earlier and this issue are not related, (I could be wrong) maybe just a coincidence. You guys got any ideas?
Did you have to drop the steering column? I had a similar issue on a fox mustang when I dropped the column. When I put it back up, I pinched a wire in the mounting ears.
No, just took out some of the cluster surround, removed the cluster, cleaned the circuitry on the back of the cluster, spliced into the black ground wire and regrounded it, and re-installed everything. I have smelled the burning smell before, although very faint, it was the same odor I smelled when the wire(s) burnt up and in the same general area.
I think it may just a coincidence
I hope so, but I still have no clue how to track down what happened. I don't just want to replace the wire and it happen again.
replace it
I guess I could replace the whole wire(s) from the starter solenoid all the way back to the Alt. and see what happens. I just don't like seeing smoke, especially electrical smoke. :mad:
I understand that.......... smoke is bad lol
Well, I repaired the wire, it was only burnt in one spot, and there was some kind of brass crimp connector right there where it burnt. I fixed the wire, hooked the battery back up, and gave it a start. Let it idle for at least 5 minutes, patiently waiting for a smokeshow. Nothing happened. No more amp light either when the car is running. I'm thinking it had something to do with that brass connector, I don't know what, but that's where is was burnt.
Well that is fantastic news sir .. I'm workin on a link for ya
If the wire that that connector spliced together is a smaller guage than the actual wire, it will burn up at the connection point. Trust me, I've had this happen cause I'm stupid.
Could have also been a bad crimp, and there was little bitty teeny tiny minor arcing which will causing it to burn up there too.
Seems like it was just a bad crimp, replaced the burnt up fuse link wire with new 12 gauge wire and some weatherproof heat shrink and all new connectors and all seems well. If I am not mistaken, fusible link wire has to be 2 sizes bigger than the wire it protects.
Generally 2 sizes SMALLER :)
It also has special insulation that will not catch fire. You should not replace it with regular wire.
I meant to put 12 ga. fusible link wire lol Had to buy a 10 ft. roll from NAPA, the only place I could find that carried 12 gauge.
the length matters as well, i would suggest RHH/RHW 90deg C wire oil resistant. Although not as important as the shunt wiring going to an amp gauge, it still cant be too long. I think the fuse links are about 5 or 6 inches on our cars.
Ive made a few fuse links for people here, not too bad of a job.