[jims68ragtop]

Hi,

A couple days ago, I was driving my '68 Lemans and there was a very loud pop that sounded like an electrical short in the engine compartment. Smoke rolled out of the engine and I had to tow the car home. On the driver's side of the engine, there is a bundle of wires leading from the cowl to the alternator and some go down to the starter. The medium sized wire leading from the alternator to the starter was burned in two a few inches from the starter. This wire had been so hot that it melted some of the insulation off of the wires that are harnessed together with it and all of the insulation burned off the broken wire. I am just starting to dig in to figure out what happened and I will be replacing the burned wires soon. I pulled off the starter to check things out. The large starter solenoid stud nut was loose (the one that tightens against the solenoid housing). The wire that burned in two is the one that attaches to the large starter solenoid stud along with the positive battery cable. The battery cable is unharmed. At the alternator, the stud that the burnt wire attaches to also had a loose nut (again, this is the nut that tightens against the alternator housing). These nuts were not loose when I installed the starter and the alternator. I am guessing that the extreme heat running down the burnt wire may have loosened these nuts somehow.

- Any ideas what might have shorted to cause this?
- Do you suppose that there is damage to the starter or alternator?
- How do I check starter alternator for damage?

Thanks, Jim