Disconnect the wire going to your ignition coil. You might wish to
start
disconnecting any accesories that are not switched through the fuse panel.
Since the test light was not on with everything off, you can be assured
that there is no dead short in the system as it stands- or sits, rather.
This means that the battery will >not< go dead over time if the vehicle
sits overnight. If there was any sort of load on the system, even a dash
light, the test light would have gone on.
Now we have the test light on when the ignition switch is turned on.
That
is expected since you are now supplying power to the accesories and
ignition coil. The melted wire you speak of is very suspicious. Most
ignition systems are built with a 'hot' start and the normal ignition power
supply. When you turn your ignition switch to START, you supply a full 12
volts to the coil for the hottest spark needed for starting a cold engine.
This will bypass any resistor in the system. It's the same as running a
wire from the battery to the coil directly.
When you release the key and it slips back to just ON, the power is
routed
through the switch and then to a different wire to the coil feed. This is
your ballast wire or coil resistor. Some vehicles use a ballast wire and
some use a ceramic 10 watt resistor. The reason for using a ballast for
the ignition at all is to help save wear and tear on your distributor
points. Starting voltages are 12 volts, but normal running is usually 8
volts. It prolongs coil life (and keeps it cooler and more effecient) and
by reducing the voltage at the points, it can help reduce arcing on the
contacts.
You are running into a burning smell and later on nothing is starting
period. We can assume then that the ballast wire has melted down and is
connecting to the chassis ground somewhere, OR that it's melted into
another wire next to it that DOES connect to the chassis ground, even if it
goes through another device. If this happens, you have all your power
shunting down to the chassis and not even getting to the coil.
Using your test light, check the coil terminals with the key switch ON
and
also on START. If it doesn't light on either circuit, then you need to
check that particular wire's pathway.
You may wish to disconnect the coil's positive wire completely (on a
negatively grounded car) and run your own temporary testing wire from the
battery's positive terminal to the coil, bypassing the key switch and the
possible short. This is only for testing to ensure the coil and
distributor is operative.
-Vegaman Dan
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