> All had been well until yesterday when
> I turned the lights on (without turning the ignition switch) to
> figure out which parking light bulb needed replacing. Smoke and
> the smell of burning rubber came pouring out of the dash. This
> time the short seems to be in a different place than the last
> one. Only the wire from the lights was singed, whereas last time
> the ground and the wires below it were singed.
Just a thought, Andy, years ago I had an intermittent short that was hard to
find. It turned out to be a single strand of wire sticking out of one of
the bullet connectors, that would occasionally rub through the paint on the
body. When I would get close to the problem, the wire would no longer touch
the tiny bare spot, and I would have no further trouble for months.
> Also, ever since I replaced the
> starter and ignition switch, the engine light has been on. What's
> going on here? Where do I start to trouble shoot this?
In spite of Occam's Razor, I suspect that is a separate problem. Have you
tried repolarizing the generator ?
If it got whacked while you were changing the starter, it might need it.
> I cleaned
> up the wire and it didn't short o!
> ut a second time and the ignition turned the starter just fine
> and all seemed well. But, I'm just waiting for the next time this happens.
>
> Driving on tenterhooks,
You might want to consider adding an in-line fuse, 20 amps or so (US rating
method), to the blue wire from the ignition switch to the main lighting
switch. If you have another short, you'll suddenly have no headlights
(which can be exciting), but at least you won't also have a car on fire.
Randall
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