What would cause my front light wiring to melt in a matter of seconds? Right down to bare wires for about 2 feet from the headlight and also the side marker light? Key was in the on position. Car would not start in the start position only making a buz at the starter relay. I removed the front harness and bought a new one, b ut do not think I should install the new one until I sort this out? How do I proceed to test this issue?
OK folks who have been following this thread. I have been trying hard to solve this issue. I checked and replaced my starter with a new mini starter. I replaced my starter solenoid switch. I checked all the connections and made sure they were all clean and tight. It was then mentioned on here to check my negative battery cable. I checked it as stated and everything looked fine. Now I know way up front looking for help I also said that electrical was not my strong area. I also had one or two fellow members tell me to change my negative battery cable. I do not want anyone to ever think I am not listening. And I did order a brand new made in the USA correct negative battery cable as I had on this car since it was totally restored in 2007. Car has always been in a heated garage and never out in the weather. Only took it for Sunday drives and car shows. I did receive the new negative cable today. Installed it in place and to my surprise, the new mini starter jumped to life. I could not believe that the cable was the problem. Because I had my steering wheel apart, I was assuming it was something I did, but again, I am pretty by the book guy. So my next step was to take the old cable and cut away the area in which I feel the problem was actually located. The battery lug where the two ground wires were molded into the end. I am now attaching pictures for good info and really wanted to know WHY? Looking at the cutaway you can see that these wires were twisted into 7 little bunches. They then appear to be just packed together and inserted into the lead terminal and then probably pressed in by machine. If you look at the smaller ground wire that attaches to the radiator/body support, you will also see it is twisted and also inerted into it's hole and crimped. So there also seems to be almost like a solder coating some of wraps and not all of them the same?? Which presents a question. I don't think these individual wraps would have been soldered and I think the solder you see on those wires is actually melted away from the battery lug due to corrosion and lots of resistance heat. So I am now concluding that when I tried to start my car, the power because of an incomplete circuit was trying hard to complete the circuit at the battery lug and could not get there, but it seeked a source of ground which was the other two small headlight ground wires that also go to and under the same fastener on the radiator support as the one coming off the battery lug. So those beacame the path of least resistance rather than being able to get back to the negative side of the battery, just followed the wires right to the end and melted those two headlight ground wires. Now, my question so I can really understand what took place is this? Were those 7 individual twisted sets soldered before the cable was built at the factory, or is the silver you see just the lead melted into them due to high resistance at this point which sent the power down the thinner ground wires as opposed to back to the battery right there at that junction. In the end, I would never have thought this cable would fail so badly and am just posting this for all to read and try and understand what happened. And I have to thank the members who told me to change that cable. You were correct, by now I want to know how and why so that in the future others can undersatand this as well. Thanks to all who helped.
OK folks who have been following this thread. I have been trying hard to solve this issue. I checked and replaced my starter with a new mini starter. I replaced my starter solenoid switch. I checked all the connections and made sure they were all clean and tight. It was then mentioned on here to check my negative battery cable. I checked it as stated and everything looked fine. Now I know way up front looking for help I also said that electrical was not my strong area. I also had one or two fellow members tell me to change my negative battery cable. I do not want anyone to ever think I am not listening. And I did order a brand new made in the USA correct negative battery cable as I had on this car since it was totally restored in 2007. Car has always been in a heated garage and never out in the weather. Only took it for Sunday drives and car shows. I did receive the new negative cable today. Installed it in place and to my surprise, the new mini starter jumped to life. I could not believe that the cable was the problem. Because I had my steering wheel apart, I was assuming it was something I did, but again, I am pretty by the book guy. So my next step was to take the old cable and cut away the area in which I feel the problem was actually located. The battery lug where the two ground wires were molded into the end. I am now attaching pictures for good info and really wanted to know WHY? Looking at the cutaway you can see that these wires were twisted into 7 little bunches. They then appear to be just packed together and inserted into the lead terminal and then probably pressed in by machine. If you look at the smaller ground wire that attaches to the radiator/body support, you will also see it is twisted and also inerted into it's hole and crimped. So there also seems to be almost like a solder coating some of wraps and not all of them the same?? Which presents a question. I don't think these individual wraps would have been soldered and I think the solder you see on those wires is actually melted away from the battery lug due to corrosion and lots of resistance heat. So I am now concluding that when I tried to start my car, the power because of an incomplete circuit was trying hard to complete the circuit at the battery lug and could not get there, but it seeked a source of ground which was the other two small headlight ground wires that also go to and under the same fastener on the radiator support as the one coming off the battery lug. So those beacame the path of least resistance rather than being able to get back to the negative side of the battery, just followed the wires right to the end and melted those two headlight ground wires. Now, my question so I can really understand what took place is this? Were those 7 individual twisted sets soldered before the cable was built at the factory, or is the silver you see just the lead melted into them due to high resistance at this point which sent the power down the thinner ground wires as opposed to back to the battery right there at that junction. In the end, I would never have thought this cable would fail so badly and am just posting this for all to read and try and understand what happened. And I have to thank the members who told me to change that cable. You were correct, by now I want to know how and why so that in the future others can undersatand this as well. Thanks to all who helped.
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