[DeTomaso] Dead on the Road

[Will Kooiman]

I had a weird one a week or so ago.

 

I was leaving work.  I hit the starter.  It didn't start right away, but the
starter kept going.  I even removed the key, and the starter kept on
cranking.  That's weird.

 

I put the key back in, turned it to the start position, and back to off.
That made it stop.  I figured I had a sticking starter relay.

 

I started it up, and it ran like normal.

 

About half way home, I smelled melting insulation.  Most of us know that
smell.  I kept looking for smoke, but I didn't see any.  This went on for
about 20 seconds.  I wasn't going to let my wiring melt while I watched.  I
finally turned the key off and coasted.  Once I got to 30mph or so, I tried
to restart the car, but it was dead.  The dash was dead.  There was no power
whatsoever.

 

I coasted to the side of the road.  I was only 3-4 miles from my house.  I
opened the fuse panel, and started looking for blown fuses.  I didn't see
anything weird.

 

I opened the hood, and saw the problem.  There are 2 wires to the positive
side of the battery.  There's a big fat wire, and a smaller wire.  The
smaller wire had broken.  It was probably hanging on by 2 or 3 strands.  I
imagine the increased resistance was causing those wires to overheat which
was causing the insulation to melt.

 

I clamped it on with a vice grip (standard in the P-car toolkit).  It
started right up.  I removed the vice grip, and made sure the wire wasn't
touching anything.  It ran great on the way home.  The next day, I took the
cable apart, and mounted it securely.

 

I haven't looked at the wiring diagrams, but I imagine the big fat wire
feeds the starter, and that's it.  The smaller wire probably clamps to the
amp gauge, and feeds the rest of the car.  When it broke, there was no juice
to trip the starter relay.

 

That's just weird.

 

I -really- need to do a complete rebuild on my car.

 

Will.