gf261

Started onto the interstate yesterday afternoon. Car was warm to temp, everything in normal range. I punched it into kickdown and it suddenly lost power and started running rough. Then, smoke started coming out from under the dash on the passenger side. Immediate grab of the extinguisher and a quick prayer that it wasnt something with the fuel rails. Not a peep from under the hood. I had it towed to where we are staying, (you know nothing ever happens near home) and ventured into the footwell. I pulled the fuse panel and found a ground wire that had shedded its coating and grounded out on a positive wire, which ran to the top fused section. I replaced the wires and their connectors and buttoned everything back up. Now I have no interior lights, no dash lights and I can't hear the fuel pump running. It turns over with vigor, just nothing there to burn. Any suggestions? thanks in advance.

Alan

Well - check all the fiuses for starters - then report what you find

Alan

cambria

Garrett, I suspect that you have some wires that have fried jackets and are now commingling with one another. I had the same problem with the smoke under the dash and have now stripped the harnes of it's outer friction covering. So far I have found 2 fried ground wires and about six wires that were fused together. I would suggest getting a tester that has a continuity checker and start testing each wire related to the nonfuctioning eliments to the electrics panel. This is what I am doing, maybe a 2-3 day project.
Good luck Terry

gf261

All the fuses are good. I jumped the fuel pump relay on 30 and 87 and got it to run and the ignition turns over, but no start. I swapped out non-essential relays for the engine firing ones that would exchange, but to no avail. Terry, same problem as you on mine. I have no interior lights, no dash or warning lights, no rear hatch release, but all the fuses are good. My main downfall is that I am at my mom's about 100 miles from home, so not so much as a test light here. I Radio Shacked enough to replace the burned wires and got the fused ones separated and replaced, but still no action. It spins over like a champ, just nothing from there. Thanks Alan and Terry. Hopefully the new dawn will bring a renewed frustration tolerance and a new idea to try. I sure hate to have it trucked back home, but its certainly looking like theres not any other option.

928drvr86.5

Will the car start if you jumper the fuel pump circuit?

928drvr86.5

whoops nevermind, i should have read more thoroughly. I am wondering if maybe you have lost one of the contacts from the ignition switch. As you mentioned the fuel pump runs when jumpered but the motor still will not fire, so i bet you are not getting power to the ignition and/or fuel injection brains.

gf261

Thanks Ben. I've got a buddy with one of the wrap around spark plug wire testers, so I am gonna try that in the AM to see if there is any fire getting there. I may be mistaken, but I think that one of the relays I swapped out was for the brain, a 53? Anyway, I'll know more then. Is there a way to jump the ignition relay? Thanks again for the input.

Alan

Well - you'll need to pull the central electric panel and see whats amiss - the easiest way is direct inspection...

Look for recent info on doing that been poseted several time is lasy month by me an others... photograph wat youve got for your own records and for us to tell you whats next, meanwhile is there any funky rewiring you know about?

Alan

928drvr86.5

Ok, i am guessing that you have "lost" 12V power to the 15 buss from the ignition switch. When the ignition switch is on the 15 buss sends pwr to the ignition brain, LH fuel injection, and fuel pump relays. The interior lights as you mentioned as well as a host of other things are also on the 15 buss. Since the fuses are good I suspect you have a short to ground that is upstream of (before) the fuses supplied by the 15 buss has caused the feeder wire from the ignition to the buss itself to "burn" open.

The ground and positive wires that you mentioned had fused together may have caused the power from the 15 buss to burn open between the ignition switch and the fuse panel. Can you determine whether the positive wire that was burnt was infact from the 15 buss, additionally does the repaired wire have power on it now with the ignition switch on?

gf261

Central as in main panel under the passenger footboard?

SharkSkin

'fraid so... You're going to have to get behind there and find the toasty insulation. Pull the Passenger seat all the way back, disconnect the battery, remove the package shelf and the fuse panel cover, then remove the two red wires on top of the panel. Remove the LH/EZK boxes and at this point you should be able to remove the two screws on the top of the central electric panel and rock it forward. Leave all of the harnesses connected for now, you just want to flip it 180° forward so you can inspect the back. Take a pic if you can... odds are you will be able to see where the wire insulation melted. You may have burnt the ground that daisy-chains along the back of the panel, possibly other wires as well.

gf261

Already done Dave. I replaced the scorched wires and separated and replaced what was fused together. I am leaning toward Ben's take on the 15 buss.

Alan

Well certainly test for 15 supply - you can test any of the ignition suppled fuses at the top to see if they get power. It could still be any number of things... Did you happen to trace what exactly got fried to what and any idea why. If a ground got scorched the power came from a 30/15/X supply - which one and why did it do that - it certainly shouldn't have...

Sequence of events - Something went wrong and caused a short, the short fried the wire you fixed and maybe some other hidden things. You fixed the wire that acted like a fuse...

Now if you did nothing else you'd expect the wire might fry again since you likey only fixed the symptom not the cause... keep looking for the cause. Even if the ignition switch is toasted too - that is probably not the cause - just another symptom.

Do you recall if you operated any accessories just before this happened? have a look at the wiring in the engine compartment - anything suspicious (esp 14 pin connector near jump post...) Accepting that the car doesn't run - what other equipment is inoperative. Try everthing with ignition on and note what else isn't working... trace to find out why...

I would not immediately try to get the car to run untill I knew what went wrong - you may just be getting set up for a repeat run... get another fire extinguisher handy...

Alan

gf261

I ALWAYS have the extinguisher handy Alan. Interior lights, headlights, dash lights, clock and hatch release are dead. Windows, cigarette lighter, and central locking all function. Didn't occur to me to try the sunroof, but will. I will check the under the hood things asap. Also Alan, A/C was on, CD player on, but other than that, no accessories. The A/C light still comes on and the fan blows while its trying to start. I know its a huge drain on cranking power, I just tried it out of curiosity. Also, the cooling fan, not sure if its #1 or #2, comes on when the A/C is on during starting. I'll see what the burned ground actually went to and get back to you in a few. Also Alan, could you tell me what and where the 15 buss is? Thats a new one on me.