Smoke coming from steering column

[Mark1972]

For the love of God, I can't seem to buy a break this driving season. I finally get home from out of town work, fix my leaking power steering box, and go for a Sunday night cruise, and I start getting smoke coming from my steering column. It's not constant, it came and went, and there was nothing consistent. Didn't matter in drive, park, reverse, or neutral. Signals on or off. So 10 minutes in driving 30 miles an hour and a puff of smoke. Then nothing for 2 minutes, then another puff. It looked like if you lit a match, then put it out right away, and that's the amount of smoke that would come out. I don't even know where to start. All I know is everything works, and I can't find a burnt wire under the dash or in the engine bay. Anyone have an idea where I would start? Electrical is not my strong point. The dash wiring is the original in my 1970 Plymouth Satellite. Thanks guys.

 

[slimt]

You have a bare wire exposed I bet. And it arc’d Does everything work in the column? It may not be a wire. But a brass tab , check the horn ***. As well as the signal lite switch

 

[Potts]

Horn.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Start pulling fuses, one by one...I agree first one I would pull is the horn. Amp gauge you could bypass if the fuses don't do the trick.

 

[Don Frelier]

On the 66 there is a breaker inside the kick panel on the driver's side. It feeds the wiper motor.
I don't know if a 70 is setup that way.
But that would trip and reset automatically.

 

[Mark1972]

I'll start digging in to it first thing in the morning. I'll report what I find. It just sucks more than most issues because the car goes in to storage in a week and the weather is beautiful right now.

 

[Billccm]

If the revits on the turn signal switch can get corrison and cause intermittent smoke through the brake lights or a turn signal. Observed this on two of my three B Body mopars.
One fix is to scrape the revits with a X Acto blade and flow solder with lots of flux.
The other fix is to replace the switch. @Slantsixdan has great replacement switches.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

Horn.

Horn wire on column handles negative... if shorts to chasis, will keep horns blowing, but not burn.

By 70 the ign key warning buzzer sensor handles positive coming from the light wiring system. Since 71 it was changed to negative.

All the rest of wires also handles positive, so it could be ANY wire, but the horn wire. Time to dissasemble and check every wire

 

[MoparLeo]

Always when working on any electrical system, common sense, Disconnect the battery before you start.
Lots of it could be this or that. Find out for sure. Every car/situation is different. Not like a flat tire and just have to find the nail.
If it comes from the column and you want to be sure you find everything you will need to access or remove the column wiring.
If you had a short and got smoke it could come from a different wire because the insulation can now be melted on more than 1 wire.
Don't just check the obvious stuff. Electricity travels through the wiring inside the insulation. Once the insulation is compromised by either being melted, pinched or frayed you need to do the work or have someone else who does auto electric wiring to do it for you.
Next time could be more than just a little smoke. These cars are over 50 years old now !
No matter what you do it is always a good idea to carry the proper type of fire extinguisher in your car at all times.

 

[Mopar Hunter]

Disconnect your battery.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

Horn wire on column handles negative... if shorts to chasis, will keep horns blowing, but not burn.

By 70 the ign key warning buzzer sensor handles positive coming from the light wiring system. Since 71 it was changed to negative.

All the rest of wires also handles positive, so it could be ANY wire, but the horn wire. Time to dissasemble and check every wire

it could be even the truning switch cracked and some terminal making an ocassional contact to ground around

 

[gkent]

If you greased the horn contact plate and wheel then that's the smoke source.

 

[Sahara]

Yeah, I was just going to ask what the smoke smelled like. Burning oil? Then Stanton nailed it. Plastic? Wiring.
Get a good, NOT CHEMICAL fire extinguisher. If you do have to use it that powder gets everywhere. It wrecks electronics, ie: all of your switches, gauges, everything.

 

[Mark1972]

This is the connector for the wiring harness that goes to the ignition. It ties in to the other connector at the base of the steering column. As you can see, it got hot and melted the plastic. Now I'm not sure if that's where the smoke is coming from, so I'm digging the steering column apart. I did remove the signal switch wires and tested them. All good, no issues. I replaced the signal wire harness and switch assembly a couple years ago. I pulled all the fuses to start with, and all are fine, and the proper size as per the cars wiring manual. Regarding the smell, there wasn't any that my wife or I could detect. She has an acute sense of smell, and still couldn't smell anything. Still digging. I'm getting way past my comfort zone here, lol.

 

[gkent]

First determine what that connector feeds - work from there

 

[Mark1972]

Right now, from what I've found, there were two wires with issues. One is battery feed J1-12R, which is the one that is burnt in the picture, and next to it in the 8 wire connector, is E2B-18O, which was actually not connected as the male and female had come completely apart. J1-12R, had also come apart but not all the way. Considering the burn and melted plastic, and the fact that the smoke would puff a bit, then not at all for a while, then again, I figure the battery feed wire was heating up because it wasn't making a solid connection at all times, which created resistance and a possible arc. I've cut those two wires from the connector, and will connect them separately, and then heat shrink them. In another hour or two I should have my answer.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

I have seen worst melts on that plug and still no smoke... If you are saying the smoke comes from inside the colum, that plug is outside.

Yes they use to come loose with time creating resistance, hence heating and melting/burning the plug

the orange wire is for column shifter lettering light. Not wired into the column if floor shifter, but allways present on underdash harness.


some example of worst conditions ignition switch plugs

https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/ignition-1-“run”-shorted.166345/

the most tipical terminals able to melt down the plugs are red which input from "batt" source" and black acc output to fuse box. Quite often also the blue one ( RUN circuit ).

New Molex standard terminals are avaliable, not the plastic plugs thought ( the female new when getting a new ign switch ).

an aftermarket and nice solution find by a member here ( 72RoadRunnerGTX ) is the Anderson powerpoles terminals and plugs which can be stacked on and make them look somehow original if getting them on white.

72RoadRunner post a pic of his car mod for these conectors

 

[72RoadrunnerGTX]

The ’70 and up ignition switch Molex connector have been melting down since the very early on. Under-rated for that use, red and black wires typically melt first, highest current loads. As mentioned, have been using Anderson Power poles for that disconnect for some time, current ratings up to 45amps.

BTW, there is no way the 500ma or so the horn relay draws, will smoke slip ring lube. If the relay has been bypassed for some reason, the full horn current, maybe.

 

[Mark1972]

I continued to pull apart the steering column. I could not find another burnt wire or any sign of melted or overheated wire or plug. I tested the wires back to the 8 wire connection, and there was no shorts and good continuity between each wire. I reassembled the steering column, connected the battery, and with fire extinguisher handy, turned the key forward. I watched for smoke. Nothing. I checked all my lights, signals, accessories, horn, etc. All good. I started the car and let it run for 10 minutes, and still, everything worked and no smoke. Tomorrow I'll go for a ride and watch very closely for any smoke again. I know that burnt wire wasn't like that a few weeks ago because I had the connector apart, along with a few other wires under the dash. Who knows. Maybe it's fixed. Full time quick disconnect battery clamp and fire extinguisher in the back seat now though.

 

[Mark1972]

Just a final update. Was able to get out for a drive yesterday, and had no more issues of smoke. So let's hope that problem is solved. I bought this car in 2013. I spent 7 years in my poorly lit, unheated garage with a good friend getting this car from rotten to where it is now. I would definitely do a few things different if given the chance. One big mistake I made with this car was that because electrically, everything worked, I didn't bother replacing the wiring. I could, and should have just ordered a whole new harness for the car. Now, I'm considering doing it next year. It would have been a lot easier to do it while the car was stripped. Anyway, another lesson learned.