Smoke From Wiring

[Guest lansledj]

I accidentally shorted the wiring on the back of my foglight switch yesterday and caused the wiring to burn !! there was what seemed to be lots of smoke from behind the dash but on investigation all i could find was 2 small burn marks on the wiring !! which I taped up for the moment (intend to replace sierra clocks over the winter). I have put the wiring back correctly and it all seems to work ok but I'm sure that much smoke should have caused more damage. Can anyone reasure me that I should be ok for now

 

Thanks

 

David

[Mitch]

No keep checking, there could be a earth wire thats gone, do you want to see the car in flames.

 

then longboarder will come and say its okay and tell you all about wires being tubes for smoke it only release's when theres a break.

 

then again i know bugger all about electrics and all could be fine, but i would replace the two you think are damaged

 

 

Mitch

[enforcer]

I did exactly the same thing wiring the foglight. Even though I reacted immediately and ripped off the earth lead (which was only clipped on) I found that I had quite a bit of wiring to replace - not just the loom to the foglight, which was completely stripped of insulation, but also several wires which had been in contact with it.

 

As Mitch says, all you need is one wire with the insulation melted to contact the chassis and you've got a fire!. A couple of years ago a member building in Belgium suffered a fire which not only destroyed his car, but half his garage and house as well! We all had a whip-around being the soft-hearted bunch that we are so that he could replace the car, then he went and spent the money on a non-RH!

[Longboarder]

its okay and tell you all about wires being tubes for smoke it only release's when theres a break.

Fuses are meant to blow and block the wires so the smoke can't get out like this. I would keep looking for wires that may be cooked. Rewire and fit a fuse in the supply to the fog light switch.

 

Nigel

[Guest lansledj]

Fuses are meant to blow and block the wires so the smoke can't get out like this. I would keep looking for wires that may be cooked. Rewire and fit a fuse in the supply to the fog light switch.

 

Nigel

 

Thanks guys, was going to leave as it all seems ok at the moment !! any ideas how i can trace back the wiring as its in the loom, surely i should be able to see evidence of burning ?

 

David

[Guest lansledj]

Anyoneknow a good auto electrician in ESSEX who could check my wiring and also wire up a new wiper motor when I fit it.

[Guest lansledj]

Anyoneknow a good auto electrician in ESSEX who could check my wiring and also wire up a new wiper motor when I fit it.

 

Guys had a look today and did find a wire burnt back to the main loom !! it came from a spare multiplug so I have cut it back and taped it off ? I assume thats ok ? everything seems to be working, need to take the car on a run to check elec fan and temp gauge yet

[Guest lansledj]

Just been out to check and now temp guage isn't working not sure if it was me looking at the loom or due to wiring being burnt , now got a auto electrician comming on tuesday. He doesn't seem too keen !! as its not a normal car but not sure what else to do.

[Guest lansledj]

Just been out to check and now temp guage isn't working not sure if it was me looking at the loom or due to wiring being burnt , now got a auto electrician comming on tuesday. He doesn't seem too keen !! as its not a normal car but not sure what else to do.

think the temp gauge was just the wire off the sender !! can anyone confirm what colour wire is on the plug to the sender ? i think its brown/white

David

[Longboarder]

Brown/White sounds right. Brown/Green is oil.

 

Nigel

[Guest lansledj]

Thanks Longboarder, will take car out tomorrow to check, also fitted some wiper/washer gear today so will get electrician to wire on tuesday.

[Guest fozzy2007]

I have a burnt wire going to my rear fogs at the mo which my brother is changing (he is also an auto electrician) and while chasing the wire back up the loom, we found that it had burnt through %80 of the rear loom casing and a few other wires next to the offeding one.

 

We have opened up the complete loom all through the car now and have removed 2 thirds of the wiring as it was not used and some of it was live and just flapping about (and i wandered why i was blowing fuses all the time). Will try to add some pics if i can but i recomend that you have a proper look just to be on the safe side. Just that one burnt wire has caused us to replace nearly all the wires to the back end.

 

I have no picture of the back sorry, will try to upload some soon.

The wire hanging out and down the side of the car in the first pic is the wire that is being removed and that is about half if not a little less than the total wire we took out. The total amount of wire took out filled a tesco shopping bag and there was still a small pile on the floor.

 

[Guest lansledj]

I have a burnt wire going to my rear fogs at the mo which my brother is changing (he is also an auto electrician) and while chasing the wire back up the loom, we found that it had burnt through %80 of the rear loom casing and a few other wires next to the offeding one.

 

We have opened up the complete loom all through the car now and have removed 2 thirds of the wiring as it was not used and some of it was live and just flapping about (and i wandered why i was blowing fuses all the time). Will try to add some pics if i can but i recomend that you have a proper look just to be on the safe side. Just that one burnt wire has caused us to replace nearly all the wires to the back end.

 

I have no picture of the back sorry, will try to upload some soon.

The wire hanging out and down the side of the car in the first pic is the wire that is being removed and that is about half if not a little less than the total wire we took out. The total amount of wire took out filled a tesco shopping bag and there was still a small pile on the floor.

 

 

Oh sh!t was hoping that it was going to be easy to fix, as I could only find 1 wire burnt !! looks like the auto electrician is going to earn well tomorrow !!

[Guest erichetherington]

Explanation of how electricity actually works (doubt it helps but may relieve anxiety) :

A Treatise on the Importance of Smoke

by Joseph Lucas

 

All electrical components and wiring harnesses depend on proper circuit functioning, which is the transmission of charged ions by retention of the visible spectral manifestation known as "smoke". Smoke is the thing that makes electrical circuits work. Don't be fooled by scientists and engineers talking about excited electrons and the like. Smoke is the key to all things electrical

 

We know this to be true because every time one lets the smoke out of an electrical circuit, it stops working. This can be verified repeatedly through empirical testing. For example, if one places a large copper bar across the terminals of a battery, prodigious quantities of smoke are liberated and the battery shortly ceases to function. In addition, if one observes smoke escaping from an electrical component such as a Lucas voltage regulator, it will also be observed that the component no longer functions.

 

The logic is elementary and inescapable! The function of the wiring harness is to conduct the smoke from one device to another. When the wiring harness springs a leak and lets all the smoke out of the system, nothing works right afterward.

 

Starter motors were considered unsuitable for British motorcycles for some time largely because they regularly released large quantities of smoke from the electrical system.

 

It has been reported that Lucas electrical components are possibly more prone to electrical leakage than their Bosch or Japanese counterparts. Experts point out that this is because Lucas is British, and all things British leak. British engines leak oil, British shock absorbers, hydraulic forks, and disk brake systems leak fluid, British tyres leak air and British Intelligence leaks national defence secrets.

 

Therefore, it follows that British electrical systems must leak smoke. Once again, the logic is clear and inescapable.

 

Sometimes you may miss the component releasing the smoke that makes your electrical system function correctly, but if you sniff around you can often find the faulty component by the undeniable and telltale smoke smell. Sometimes this is a better indicator than standard electrical tests performed with a volt-ohm meter.

 

In conclusion, the basic concept of transmission of electrical energy in the form of smoke provides a clear and logical explanation of the mysteries of electrical components and why they fail.

 

"A gentleman does not motor about after dark." - Joseph Lucas, 1842-

1903

[Guest crimewade]

i shall add mr lucas to my list of heros.