Smoking Ground Wire

[454_SquarED]

My 87 running like a top after a new Coolant Temp Sensor and TV cable adjustment. Just when I say to myself, Self...this thing is running goooooood, I put my left blinker on, get into the left turn lane, after sitting for about 10 seconds waiting for traffic to clear the truck dies. Try to restart and there is barely enough power to turn the starter...smoke coming from the hood and i see this (Pic attached).

What in the holy name of Square Body demons caused this? Some funky ground thing? I've only had the truck for a couple weeks but its been fine up to this point.

The only thing on was the blinker trying to make the left. Every time i tried to start it that wire would start burning. Tried again and started and ran fine...ONLY THING DIFFERENT is I turned off the blinker. Drove it home like a BMW owner (Not using the blinker) and no problems. I suspect some short with the blinker circuit. I noticed the voltage gauge clocks back and forth while the blinker is on. I am assuming when the blinker is on that small wire is carrying the load of the starter but I'll be damned if I can figure out why when its got a big 2 guage wire sitting right next to it grounded nicely.

Ohm meter shows little to no resistance across the burnt wire to its grounding point.

Any ideas?

 

[AuroraGirl]

My 87 running like a top after a new Coolant Temp Sensor and TV cable adjustment. Just when I say to myself, Self...this thing is running goooooood, I put my left blinker on, get into the left turn lane, after sitting for about 10 seconds waiting for traffic to clear the truck dies. Try to restart and there is barely enough power to turn the starter...smoke coming from the hood and i see this (Pic attached).

What in the holy name of Square Body demons caused this? Some funky ground thing? I've only had the truck for a couple weeks but its been fine up to this point.

The only thing on was the blinker trying to make the left. Every time i tried to start it that wire would start burning. Tried again and started and ran fine...ONLY THING DIFFERENT is I turned off the blinker. Drove it home like a BMW owner (Not using the blinker) and no problems. I suspect some short with the blinker circuit. I noticed the voltage gauge clocks back and forth while the blinker is on. I am assuming when the blinker is on that small wire is carrying the load of the starter but I'll be damned if I can figure out why when its got a big 2 guage wire sitting right next to it grounded nicely.

Ohm meter shows little to no resistance across the burnt wire to its grounding point.

Any ideas?

you need to shore up the grounds. Heads to the firewall. frame to core support. Engine to battery. core support to battery.

 

[Scott91370]

And a new one from the battery to everything.

 

[TotalyHucked]

Don't forget each place the harness grounds. The front lights ground to the core support on each side.

 

[Truck82]

My 87 running like a top after a new Coolant Temp Sensor and TV cable adjustment. Just when I say to myself, Self...this thing is running goooooood, I put my left blinker on, get into the left turn lane, after sitting for about 10 seconds waiting for traffic to clear the truck dies. Try to restart and there is barely enough power to turn the starter...smoke coming from the hood and i see this (Pic attached).

What in the holy name of Square Body demons caused this? Some funky ground thing? I've only had the truck for a couple weeks but its been fine up to this point.

The only thing on was the blinker trying to make the left. Every time i tried to start it that wire would start burning. Tried again and started and ran fine...ONLY THING DIFFERENT is I turned off the blinker. Drove it home like a BMW owner (Not using the blinker) and no problems. I suspect some short with the blinker circuit. I noticed the voltage gauge clocks back and forth while the blinker is on. I am assuming when the blinker is on that small wire is carrying the load of the starter but I'll be damned if I can figure out why when its got a big 2 guage wire sitting right next to it grounded nicely.

Ohm meter shows little to no resistance across the burnt wire to its grounding point.

Any ideas?

What does the ohm meter show exactly? There should be about 0.1 ohms of resistance with absolutely no current running through the circuit. Isolate the wire when reading ohms.