The wiring that burned up was due to two parts of different electrical
potential touching each other. In this case I would guess that a wire had
its insulation chafed away by some mechanical part. Switches usually die
in other, more confounding ways.
The most damage is usually done right next to the problem. Other areas can
be damaged, however. I once spent a week and a half removing, inspecting,
and replacing as necessary every wire in a Dat**n 610 sedan. I have had
more fun in my life. One area- where the wire bundle entered the left kick
panel area- was fairly charred but there was damage in other areas
particularily near connectors of associated circuits. I don't mean to
scare you too much but you should take your time on this or you will be
chasing electrical gremlins until the cows come home.
Two more things you will need: A volt / ohm meter and a test light. A
test light is the fastest way to asses the gross health of a circuit. The
VOM gives more information such as being able to find (sometimes) poor
connections. You can make a test light and VOM's are cheap nowadays. Of
all the diagnostic tools that I own, I use my VOM the most.
Someone said that they knew of no cars with a fused headlight circuit. I
had a Hon*a Ac**rd with retractable headlight that had the terrible habit
of twisting off the headlight wires. This car had fused headlights but
they were fused seperately so a short would only kill one of them. This
was a good idea.
The wiring on the A is less than prestine but, as of now, all circuits are
functional. I have pondered whether, at such time as attention is needed, I
would use stock style wiring or update to a more modern electrical layout
(ie fused circuits, sealed connections). As I get older I am learning to
appreciate originality although I am still an "improver" at heart. I did
attempt to clean / lube the turn signal switch and now the air bleed timing
feature (if you don't understand, you probably don't have one) no longer
functions reliably. I have decided to live with this for now although, if
I had understood how it worked before I took it apart, I may have assembled
it differently. I am sure that I screwed it up. Oh, well.
Regards,
Bill Eastman
61 MGA fully Lucas-fied for now.
|