The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Smoke testing new wire harness 57 3100 V8

Well I smoked something. I could smell it but had a hard time figuring out what it was.

I first attached the battery and there was no sparks when hooking it up so that was good (I think) at least no immedate shorts.

I popped the headlights on for a second or 2 and off and looked OK but I noticed the right turn signal indicator was on but I did not have my lever in place as steering wheel is still off and stuff.

I looked for the lever and then smelt smoke! Ran and diconnected battery.


I could smell something smoked in cab. heavy smell around ignition switch which was OFF the whole time.


I had to try it a few more times to try to isolate it after looking around and not figuring it out.


*** I ended up taking out the light switch. Looks like the new light switch must of had some grease or something on the spring wire resister that dims the dash lights? There is fried dark brown stuff on the ceramic on the first/top 1/3 of the spring wire that I assume glows as it is resisting and varying the dash light intensity.


I took the switch out because while I was trying to figure out what was smelling I managed to see that the heater light and the radio right which connect to the accessory fuse block did not light. I had them going through a fuse on the accessory fuse block and then patched to the gray dash light wire to the light switch. I guess the fuse blew and I went and connected the gray wire up higher by-passing the fuse like the accessory manual shows as there is a fuse on the light switch. That light switch fuse then blew and all dash lights went out!

I was trying to figure out why the dash no longer worked and back traced and checked connectivity through the fuse on the fuse block and it was blown and so was the light switch fuse.

So I took the switch out and saw the burnt stuff on and around the resister.


***Does anyone know if they come with grease or lube on them that burns off when used? ***

I bought it from Classic Parks in Kansas City.


I checked out the switch and everything is still functional and I verified again that I had wired it properly. The new switch does not have the PK S D T H GRN PL lettering on it but is laid out the same and they have the same functions.

PK - Park Lights
S - Stop
D - Dome Light Power
T - Tail light
H - Head Lamps
GRN - Ground for Dome Lamp Switch
PL - Panel/Dash Lights and Fuse block connector for accesory dash lights

I guess I have an issue with either the Heater Light wire or the radio light wire as one had to blow both these fuses.

The Radio is a new rebuilt I may have switched the wires on it I suppose as they are color coded wrong. I will check. The Heater light seems harmless but will check it too.

While it was working the High and Low beams worked and the Park lamps worked and the break lamps and license plate light worked!

I did not check the TURN signals yet as they run off the ACC on the Ignition switch and have not Turned it ON yet.

I found out that the Turn indicator on the Dash that I saw initially was a result of poor ground at the park lamp and resolved that.



Trying not to smoke too much at once!

FUN FUN FUN!

Well I separatedly tested the two circuits for the radio light and the heater light that had blown a fuse. They both worked separately when tested with a 9V battery. Then I put the light switch back in and wired up and tried the heater light through the accessory Fuse block and it worked. Then tried the radio light and it worked.

Hooked the rest up and most everything was working. The horn is not working yet. I either do not have the horn plate and button secure enough or maybe the horn relay is bad. It is real old and was not being used in the old setup so it may be bad. I will have to debug that.

The Heater fan is not working either. I had it setup like I used it before. Without the rheostat since I have a 3 speed replacement fan in it. I wired it like before with 2 of the speeds to come on at half and full positions. But for some reason niether is working. I will have to debug that. I must have put the power supply wire onto the wrong leg.

The Radio comes on but is not getting a signal. Either the antenna not being up or being in the garage it is not getting anything. Also needs some capacitors installed as the generator and regulator are missing their capacitors. Have one on the coil. But lots of Buzz.

I do not have gas in the tank yet as it has a new fuel tank, new lines and new rubber fuel lines in two spots (where flek link goes and then where hard line goes to fuel pump, from chassis to pump and a new bent line from the fuel pump to the fuel filter to carb. About 8 different places it may leak fuel so I did not want to mess with it yet in the garage and have to deal with fuel drips in garage.

But I did put some fuel in the carb and turned it over and it fires and ran a second or two so at least there is some power going to the starter and coil and to the plugs. All new wires everywhere.

All the lights work, head lights, parking, tial and license and the turn signals are functional too however I think I could use a new FLASHER as this one requires a leg flasher with X and L. My old after market setup had a 3 way flasher X P l 3 Tabs on flasher so I tried the old 2 leg one and at first it did not work. Then later it started working but is random on the flashing. big pause and then two fast ones a pause and a flash or two and a pause. Just not real consistent. So I think I will try a new flasher.


Even the cigarette lighter is working and the new old electric wipers work on two speeds, and the key OFF ON START plate lights up!

Got to put the front tires back on to try starting it and rolling it out of the garage. Hope all the 3 on tree is working after pulling that all apart and replacing the steering column to the correct shorter style for the correct type of deeper steering wheel.

But before I do that I need to get the seat recovered in the next couple days and get it back in so I can sit in it to drive it out of the garage!

That will be the first time in about a year! As I have been rewiring everything with a new harness and repainting the interior and engine bay.


So I have to debug the Horn wiring or Horn relay.
Check over the Heater Fan wiring.
put the front tires on.
Add fuel and check for gas leaks.

But in all a very good 4Th of July!
The engine fired up and the new wiring harness did not go up in smoke!

Hy svwilbur, congratulations on your progress, and on Independance day.

got the horn working. It was having contact issues with the horn contact button and the insulated contact plate.

Have not figured out the Heater Fan issue. It has power to the leads. that go into the fan housing. It use to work before the interior refinish job I did. The fan is a replacement type that supported 3 speeds and I am using only 2 of them.

It has 3 wires and I think it expects a good ground. It maybe a ground issue but I did try forcing a ground against a bare piece of metal on the blower and also tried against the hole in the motor housing that the wires go through, but that may be insulated to help prevent a short.

It was all painted and the firewall both sides was painted so it may still not be getting a good ground to complete the circuit.

Got to play with it more. I hate taking it out as it is a pain to get back in with those rubber bands that go around the vents.

Sounds like you are solving your own problems.

Got a new heater motor installed and that fixed the heater issue other than the new heater switch I bought from Classic Parts fell apart so I had to use the internal switch parts to fix my old one.

I guess the old heater motor blew out between the removal or install or got too much metal dust in it from sanding the cab interior or something.

But the heater works as does all the rest of the electrical now with the new harness in place and new plug wires and all.

Did not have to smoke too much. Seems to only have had issues with the goop around the variable light switch. Everything else seems fine. Have to resolve some radio issue. It has power but no reception. I will try some tube swaps with my old radio.

Two very productive days. Finished applying the vibration dampener inside the door cavities, installed both door latches and outside door handles, bolted the door hinge access panels on,did the final adjustment to the Lokar shifter, discovered what was causing the brake lights not to work and fixed it, and finished wiring the headlights (got high and low beams, yahoo).

I think you posted your progress in the wrong place Big. But good job.

I'm typing this from the nuthouse...