2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Almost burned my truck up last night

[John Berger]

Installing a new Westach gauge to monitor my transmission. It was a grade school mistake(not disconnecting the batteries). I was running the wires through the bullet mount and they touched and voila, instant meltdown. I got a bit of a burn mark on the dash above the fuse panel. I shot the hell out of the wiring that came with the gauge, but was able to get the gauge setup with my own stuff. I had electrical tape around some of the connectors that I had already stuffed in that hole under the A-pillar and that stopped the meltdown, but what a mess. So instead of being done at 7:30, I got done at 9:20. After surviving a bad wreck relatively unscathed, I was imagining the following headline: Dodge owner burns truck up while BOMBing gauges. This is the second time I've had this happen to me. Last time was on a Dodge Conversion van while hooking up a switch for a set of fog lights. I keep a fire extinguisher in the truck for these types of situations, but my first instinct was to grab the wire and pull it out. That's about the most useless endeavor I've attempted in awhile. I pulled my EGT gauge out of the lower pod on the A-pillar and the smoke that came out was something to behold. Fortunately, that's all there was to it and there were no other wires in the vicinity. Thank God for electrical tape or the meltdown would have went to other wires and I would have had a big problem. Oh well... . the new gauge is in and functioning. I can't wait to get the new exhaust system. I hope that's not as much of an adventure as the gauge install turned out to be.

 

[rono]

John, it's always bad when you do something that lets the smoke out. It's in there, we're just not supposed to let it out. Glad to here nothing more serious went wrong, like PCM, ECM etc... I've done such thing on several copiers and that is real exciting, especially in a customers office. Trying to remaim calm for on lookers, while realizing what I've done and what I'm going to tell them. Oh well. Glad everything is working now.

Ron

 

[MJawsman]

I know that I've taken the short cut of not disconnecting the batteries before too. But one of the first electrical system BOMBs I did to my truck was to replace all of the battery cables and post connectors with 0 gauge power cable from my local hi-fi shop. I used Rockford-Fosgate battery post connectors, and now it only takes a small allen head screw to disconnect the cables. It's quick, clean, and I'm assuming that it's also a better transfer of power. It also wasn't as expensive as some other BOMBs could be or have been.

 

[wcaldwell]

Now you're gonna have to go get a new bottle of smoke to mount inside your dash... ... ... ...

 

[EMDDIESEL]

My friend drilled through the wiring harness of his Trans Am and the whole car went up in flames. Sorry to hear about your misfourtune.

 

[rono]

What wcaldwell said.

Ron

 

[StakeMan]

The smoke was the ghosts of dead electrons.

 

[Big White Beast]

I'm confused.......

Why wasn't the wire fused. You always size the wire for the amperage your fused to. That way even if you short it the wire will not burn up.



Garrett

 

[John Berger]

Garrett,



The wires were not connected. I was pulling them through the bullet mount to connect them to the gauge and they got jammed up and made contact. I was actually making everything neat as the job was almost done. I should have hooked them up to the gauge and fed them out the bullet mount instead of in to the mount. I had the hot hooked to the ignition switch, the sender was wired and the ground was connected as well. The light was also wired into the dimmer and was grounded. The ignition and the dimmer are both fused, but neither of them broke. I dunno what the deal was with that. Bottom line is I should have disconnected the batteries or at the very least, had the wires hooked to the gauge and spliced them after I fed them out through the bullet mount.

 

[Murietaman]

My switch used to get hot also. All I said was Duramax and it cooled right down. But the little piece of copper the actuates the fog lights popped off the back of the switch shaft. I took the switch out, filed the end of the shaft flat, mounted it in the drill press, drilled, installed a self tapping screw and now the copper piece has a great heat sink. No problems since. And best of all, no $38. 00 to the dealer. This part was designed by a college educated engineer and fixed by yankee ingenuity, (12 th grade). Oo. Oo. Oo.