Cable melted!?

Dk440 · Mar 28, 2012

Hi,

Took my 62 Fury 440 out for its first 2012 spin and everything was fine - although i noticed the volt gauge fluctuate a few times at one point, nothing was out of the ordinary! Drove around for ½ hour and returned to the garage happy. A couple of hours later, I wanted to go again. I turned the key and cranked the engine............and smoke began to rise from under the hood. The jacket on the cable between the ballast resistor and voltage regulator was completely melted - the bare copper wires were showing. What just happened???

Any ideas......dead voltage regulator/ballast resistor maybe???

All thougts are much appreciated.

Satellite65 · Mar 28, 2012

Well, you got a short somewhere!!!

My guess is the regulator smoked and took the wire with it. Could also be the electronic ignition box, if you have one.

Points or electronic ignition? Old style points type regulator or solid state?

Hemicbx · Mar 28, 2012

Satellite65, interesting. What is the failure mode of the old voltage regulator? Welded points or burned coil?

Satellite65 · Mar 28, 2012

Usually welded points. I'm pretty sure it's a bi-metal spring in there, no coil.

383man · Mar 28, 2012

First off what voltage regulator are you using ? The old mechanical or a newer electronic with 2 field wires ? Ron

Dk440 · Mar 29, 2012

383man said:
First off what voltage regulator are you using ? The old mechanical or a newer electronic with 2 field wires ? Ron

Original lookingElectronic VR - see picture..........and I also have a MSD-box mounted, if of importance..

Hemicbx · Mar 29, 2012

So that does not have the points inside? Where did you find that?

Dk440 · Mar 30, 2012

Hemicbx said:
So that does not have the points inside? Where did you find that?

Has a small circuit bord inside ( found it on my fire wall :hello2: ) - actual picture is stolen from e-bay, but is identical to the one in my car.

Hemicbx · Mar 30, 2012

That's awesome. I'm gonna have to keep my eyes open for one of those up @ Carlisle.

Dk440 · May 25, 2012

Back to square one...........!?

Dk440 said:
Hi,

Took my 62 Fury 440 out for its first 2012 spin and everything was fine - although i noticed the volt gauge fluctuate a few times at one point, nothing was out of the ordinary! Drove around for ½ hour and returned to the garage happy. A couple of hours later, I wanted to go again. I turned the key and cranked the engine............and smoke began to rise from under the hood. The jacket on the cable between the ballast resistor and voltage regulator was completely melted - the bare copper wires were showing. What just happened???

Any ideas......dead voltage regulator/ballast resistor maybe???

All thougts are much appreciated.

Changed the cable, and has driven the car several times vithout any problems......untill yesterday, only this time it happened while driving, result= cable completely melted from voltage regulator all the way to the plug on the back of the ignition switch inside the car!?:angryfire: My best guess is a periodically malfunktion of the VR, but before replacing the damaged wire(s), I would like to hear your ideas on the subject.

All thougts are much appreciated.

bigmanjbmopar · May 25, 2012

I would suspect a short to ground somewhere. Is it possible that a cable / wire has been rubbing on a sharp edge to the point to were it is touching metal? How does the fuse box look? Any burnt connections there?

Some times a cable will melt when the fused link has been bypassed or the fuse in the holder has melted or fused together, basically voltage is being allowed to go to ground for so long with out blowing a fuse that the wire is heating up and melting, you need to find out were he short is.

Not to panic, do you have the stock alternator ballast resistor coil etc.? anything modded on your car? after market gauges radio etc.? When you have a short like that some times it is best to remove the added items first and start from the Beginning.

Do you have a wiring diagram for your car?

Check this one out and see if it looks like yours.
http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1962/62PlymouthV8.JPG

bigmanjbmopar · May 25, 2012

Looking at your wiring diagram and what you said the wire melted all the way to the ignition switch, that would be the dark brown wire from the coil to the switch via the ballast resistor. Make sure those are replaced along with the wire. If the ballast was fried and the VR was sending voltage to the ballast and the coil was amping it up I could see the back feed to the switch via the dark blue wire then to the dark brown. I suspect VR now and or a combo of all three vr coil ballast.

But I would go over the harness closely

Dk440 · May 25, 2012

bigmanjbmopar said:
Looking at your wiring diagram and what you said the wire melted all the way to the ignition switch, that would be the dark brown wire from the coil to the switch via the ballast resistor. Make sure those are replaced along with the wire. If the ballast was fried and the VR was sending voltage to the ballast and the coil was amping it up I could see the back feed to the switch via the dark blue wire then to the dark brown. I suspect VR now and or a combo of all three vr coil ballast.

But I would go over the harness closely

Yep, that is identical to my wiring diagram ( I have the original service manual, with wiring diagram and all ), and it is the dark blue wire that is fried all the way from the VR thru the ballast resistor to the ign.switch - no damage to the dark brown one or the blue one from the coil tol the resistor....see pictures. Note - the last time, I replaced the wire between the Resistor and the VR with a light blue one, hence the colour.
Would a bad VR or ballast resistor or both cause this to happen? On both occassions it was very hot outside - approx 85F, so the engine was 200F for a long period...........I am thinking, maybe the heat was a factor if one or more components were weak?

hendo0601 · May 25, 2012

Classic Industries sells an all electronic voltage regulator that looks pretty close to the OEM mechanical style regulator. The case doesnt have the IGN and FLD on it, but they are indentical in size so if you are looking for the OE look with the modern internals you could always just swap the case over.

http://www.classicindustries.com/mopar/parts/md2439.html

bigmanjbmopar · May 25, 2012

Not likely heat from outside temps, these parts especially the factory parts were made to handle high heats due to being inside the engine bay. I would suspect a bad replacement part.

If it were me I would look at replacing the VR and ballast resistor after the harness is fixed.
Please go through the entire harness carefully to make sure other wires did not get meted together. It may have happened were you can not see it. Painfully time consuming I know but worth it.

HEMI-ITIS · May 25, 2012

Does the car have an AMP gauge??What was it reading during any of these meltdowns?AMP gauges have been the root of many an electrical gremlin:icon_bounce:

Red63440 · May 25, 2012

Dk440 said:
Has a small circuit bord inside ( found it on my fire wall :hello2: ) - actual picture is stolen from e-bay, but is identical to the one in my car.

If you check this VR is only good for up to a 75 amp alternator so if you have a larger unit ..there is your problem.

coloradodave · May 25, 2012

Not a solution for you but you might also check your MSD instructions. Most of the time you can eliminate the ballast resistor, thereby taking one electrical item out of the equation.

Dk440 · May 26, 2012

Red63440 said:
If you check this VR is only good for up to a 75 amp alternator so if you have a larger unit ..there is your problem.

Makes sence - only at this point, I have no clue if the alternator generates more than 75 amps - that also anwers the question about amp gauge - dont have one, only Volts. I drove the car all of last summer without any problems...........if the VR/Alternator combo was wrong, would it not have fried the wire then? But if I were to replace my VR with one that can handle more than 75 amps ( solid state ), and play it safe, should I then choose one from mopar performance ( not the blue racing one, though! ) or do you have any other suggestions??? If you have a link to where i can source it from, that would be great.

I have gone thru the wiring last night, and all other wires but the dark blue one are intact - pretty impressive considering!

Forgot to mention, that I stopped for gas, cranked the engine for approx 10 seconds because it did not fire straight away, and drove off.....after 200m fried wire and dead engine..........maybe an issue???

bigmanjbmopar · May 26, 2012

How is your battery voltage was it good at the time or more than 14? Did not see the post about the MSD box.
Do you still have the instructions for it? Most MSD boxes will tell you to get rid of the ballast or use a 4 post one.
If you have the instruction review them and see which diagram fits your set up. This could be the problem as it was building up of last summer and has just finally snapped with a fresh battery charge or a new VR etc.

If you don't we can get it for you online by searching.

Cable melted!?

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