Electrical Problem--Need Help Fast!
 

I was driving to work this morning and stopped to get coffee, I left my car running as I walked into the store, when I came out the car was dead--not running.

NOTHING electrical worked, one of the wires that comes from the hot side of the solenoid was burnt clean in two (not the battery cable). This wire goes from a single wire before the fusible link to two wires after, one yellow heading to the front of the car, one red heading to the rear of the car.

If I reconnect the wires, they burn themselve apart--dead short. In the short few seconds before they burn in two, everything works and the car will start. I've narrowed it down to the Yellow wire. Where does this wire go.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, my other vehicle gets 10mpg, at 2.20/gal, and 60miles a day driving, I need my car back.

I had this happen to me once. I found it to be the starter kill on my car alarm. The wire was burnt really badly. All I did was disconnect the battery for about 10 minutes to reset the alarm and put a new wire in. It was fine after that. If you have an alarm , that may be it.

If it's the yellow wire that's larger than most of the other fusible links then it powers a LOT of things. I suspect you'll be wanting to invest in a circuit tester and start probing around. Check the library for a detailed schematic, then you can at least narrow it down. Have you performed any service on the vehicle lately? Did you get into an accident at all? Any of these things could've pinched a wire somewhere, or possibly one has an abrasion through the insulation somewhere and is shorting to ground. Have patience with it, and just keep narrowing it down methodically; peel back the wire looms to get a better idea of where it goes. It may help to disconnect things one at a time on the circuit to see what's causing it, or at least to isolate it, too. Happy hunting.

have you checked fuses? some of the links provide power to the given circuits. so if the fuse blew, it would give you an idea of what the wire powers.
i think on 87 on up cars, there is a yellow wire up there for the voltage regulation of the alternator. also, i think there is a yellow wire for the ignition and fuse 1.

good luck.

No car alarm, the car has a clean title and hasn't had anything dramatic happen since I've had it. After work today I'm going to spend more time tracting it down. I've got a Chiltons, but it's wiring scematics suck, hell the whole book sucks.

I'm going to unplug the alternator tonight. When the wire burnt in two, the back of the alt. was very warm.

Thanks for the replies.

Try the obvious step..... pull out all of the fuses. Replace the bit of wire that remelts immediatley. See if it melts again. If it does, you're in luck because that rules out a lot of systems. If not, you're also in luck. Put fuse by fuse back until you see the wire melt (actually the fuse will blow as you push it in). Then you know what system to chase down.

There is a color wiring diagram of these curcuits in this thread...............

http://forums.mustangworks.com/showt...threadid=35028

GOT IT!!!

It was the alternator.

Thanks for the help and the prompt replies.