Waldo53,
I agreed with you when I put the new harness in and the new ammeter and I used the correct connection. But one thing is certain, that ammeter (and of course the new one is an exact replacement as they are all from one place) grounded out and caused quite a meltdown of surrounding insulation and other wires touching it as it is a pretty heavy wire.
I am sure it would have cause a fire as the wire was red hot and started to cook thru the firewall pad etc when I saw the smoke in the driveway. I want to think it was my fault as opposed to the "new" ammeter failing but it happened after the truck was off for over 30 minutes. I did not have the speedo cable hooked up on the back of the instument panel and want to think the metal cable must of made contact with the post on the ammeter but it sure does not look like it.
I have double checked the harness and everything else looks correct. I just hate the thought that I have a slow cook going on that wire due to something I have fouled up and not have it fused. I also am not convinced that this replacement ammeter is of the same quality that a GM engineer had in mind. My guess is this comes from ASIA like a lot of the parts we can afford to get and will not be produced here.
If I knew what I was doing, I would leave the new gauge in for original appearance and hook in a quality small volt/amp type gauge. The fuse seems like a safe way to at least see if I have a repeat smoke check.
Thanks Ralph
