Topic: It was Smoking


Dream38v8    -- 08-25-2026 @ 1:11 PM
  I know I connected something incorrectly. My question is what did I do wrong?
I got the car running a few weeks ago. I noticed the gauges would work intermittently. On my last drive I noticed the amp gauge was not charging, but if I turned on the lights it would discharge. I ran a test. I disconnected the positive battery cable and the engine stopped. Hence a bad generator. I replaced the generator brushes and reconnected the cut-off and battery. As I was attempting to start the car the amp gauge was negatively pegged. I turned the car off and the gauge returned to 0. I tried to start the car again. This time smoke came from under the dash and hood. I tuned the car off and disconnected the battery. The cut-off was smoking and the plus the ignition wire to the solenoid. Smoke under the dash appeared to be coming from the back of the gauges. After the smoke cleared I crawled under the dash. The wire from the wiring harness to the amp gauge was disconnected. I looked as if the connector had burned or melted off. Also the yellow plastic wire covering was melting through the wiring harness. I know the car will require a new cutoff, solenoid and under dash wiring harness. What else? As I stated earlier what did I do incorrectly? The first pic is from under the dash and the second is at the solenoid,

Ray


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