["QUICK-SILVER"]

Scott,
The pics pretty much look like any other car that melted fuse links. Just looking I'd say you'll want to add a junction block to get rid of all the clutter on the back of the alternator, but that can wait for now.
The dead battery, no start situation that happened, is all the more reason to check out the burn area at the tube. Along that same line of thinking, did you try to crank it when the wires smoked under the dash? If the purpe wire is shorted out at the tube, wires could've smoked behind the switch while trying to crank it.

The melted fuse holder to the fan obviously overheated. You didn't say if the fuse was blown or not.

The fuse condition and the key on smoke (crank or not) is just a couple of more pieces of the puzzle that'll help trying to figure out what happened or what's going on.

There's more but that's enough for now. Just trying to narrow down possibillities.

Clay

[ScottMDGTO]

Originally Posted by "QUICK-SILVER"

Scott,
The pics pretty much look like any other car that melted fuse links. Just looking I'd say you'll want to add a junction block to get rid of all the clutter on the back of the alternator, but that can wait for now.
The dead battery, no start situation that happened, is all the more reason to check out the burn area at the tube. Along that same line of thinking, did you try to crank it when the wires smoked under the dash? If the purpe wire is shorted out at the tube, wires could've smoked behind the switch while trying to crank it.

The melted fuse holder to the fan obviously overheated. You didn't say if the fuse was blown or not.

The fuse condition and the key on smoke (crank or not) is just a couple of more pieces of the puzzle that'll help trying to figure out what happened or what's going on.

There's more but that's enough for now. Just trying to narrow down possibillities.

Clay

Clay,
The electric fan waterproof fuse holder did burn 1 week earlier, but the fuse didn't blow. It did fall apart in my hands when I took the holder apart, but the fuse didn't blow. I replaced it with a metal 40 fuse for the power seat that I never installed, was this bad?

As for the key position, when I jumped the wires(10 guage wire), no smoke until I turned the key, I'm not sure, but I dont think the car ever cranked either, but I may have never actually turned the key that far, the second I saw smoke I turned the key off and disconnected the battery.
Come to think of it, that was the difference between the problem Saturday and the problem Sunday. On Saturday, I lost ALL power inside the drivers compartment. Once I found the issue and temporaly made a new fusable link, it started and I made it home. On Sunday, I installed a new, correct 16guage link and drove for about 30 minutes, and when it died later in the day, same thing, all power died to the drivers compartment, I installed another spare fusable link, got drivers compartment power but no cranking, when I tried to start it, it smoked like mad where the link was, that's when I tried the 10 guage wire, dumb, huh?
Is that the missing piece to the puzzle Clay? Wht would a starter wire burn up my electric fan fuse on the other side of the enging compartment?

Also, where do I get a good junction block and how to make it look blend in, if possible? Maybe one for the convertable?

Thanks,
Scott

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Scott,
The starter wire has nothing to do with the fan fuse. There was some arcing going on in the fuse holder that caused it to overheat and burn up. The fuse NOT blowing, tells me nothing is wrong with the fan, just had a bad fuse holder.

I suspect wires are shorted out at the tube going down to the starter, and that's what started blowing fuse links. I'm guessing the only wire that's shorted to ground and stuck is the purple solenoid engage wire. That was at least to start with. Others may be melted together now.

You've got to get those wires (tube area) checked out before we go much further. It's definitely possible now that there's some more wire damage behind the switch inside. That would be from the 10 guage experiment, but don't worry about it for now though.

Pics look like some of the wires on the back of the alternator may have crimp on terminal ends. That will all need to be done right and won't be a problem, or can be took care of, when you add a junction block. Convertible top piece might work, but something heavy duty would be better. I'll check into that.

Enough for now
I do have more thoughts on this and will probably have more questions.
I suspect the wire from battery to alternator may have a poor connection.
Test/check out those wires at the tube.
Clay