z/28cwby

Bad news fellas. It seems from the time I left the car at my freinds house to the time I went back to get it, a small fire started in my engine bay. I was too sick to really look at it but, so far the box behind the A/C condensor is melted, plug wires on passenger side are toast, wires against firewall between melted box and heater hoses are melted, washer hose melted. I'm hoping it is only A/C type stuff. I didn't have the guts to dig in today. The wires coming from the ECM (I think) are fine. It just seems to be concentrated in a 6in. radius centered on the A/C condensor. What are your fellas thoughts on this? It doesn't look major but like I said, I didn't dig too deep today. Any and all help would be a blessing. Thanks fellas.

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1984 Z/28
GoodWrench 350, Edlebrock Performer intake, MSD 6AL Super HEI kit, Crane CompuCam 2040, Edelbrock headers, Catco cat, Flowmaster aftercat, K&N, Custom 700R4, B&M Megashifter, Eibach springs, KYB GR-2 struts/shocks, Jegster adj LCA's, Lakewood adj panhard bar, BFG Comp T/A's, 160* stat, AutoMeter Pro-Comp COOLANT GUAGE.

RB83L69

Sounds like all that stuff is back there around where the ground straps are that hook the motor to the firewall in the immediate vicinity of the A/C evaporator (the condenser is in front of the radiator). Sounds to me like your negative battery cable still is not hooked up to the engine like it needs to be.

Basic Electricity 101:

Starting current from the battery has to leave the + terminal, & travel down the red batt cable to the solenoid; then when you turn the key to start, it gets to go through the solenoid, into the motor via the little copper lead sticking up out of the body of the starter motor, and to the motor windings; the other end of the windings is hooked to the motor frame. So where is all that current going to go from there? That is the source of your problem. The answer would be through the block (which the starter is supposedly well-connected to), to the neg batt cable, and back to the - terminal of the batt.

Now, what happens if the neg batt cable isn't hooked to the engine? Well, then the current has to take a detour. It might go through the block & heads to that ground strap behind the pass side head, to the firewall, through the rest of the car chassis, through that tiny little wire that hangs off the neg batt cable, and to the - batt terminal. IIRC from your earlier post you burned up the weenie little wire at the - batt terminal and replaced it with a #4. OK, now the smallest wire left in your circuit is the ground strap behind the head. There lies your problem: you're trying to force 200 amps through about 50 amps worth of wire, which probably glowed cherry red and dripped blobs of mplten copper as it commended its spirit into the hands of its father.

Hook the negative battery cable up to the engine!!!! The factory stuck it to the alternator bracket, which works fine. You can put it under any bolt that goes into a part that is securely fastened to cast iron and it will work fine. DO NOT attempt to hook the end of the big neg batt cable to the frame, the fender, or any other thing besides the ENGINE. Further destruction will result. You will need to replace that ground strap too, so that the proper lowest possible resistance connection between the cabin and the - batt terminal will be re-established.

Your car will probably be OK when you fix the damage you caused by either not hooking it up at all, or hooking it to the wrng place, or by the cable being bad at the end where it is supposed to be going to the engine.

The ECM wires are probably OK, they go over the opposite side of the evaporator. The blower motor wiring is probably toasted.

Good luck!! Please don't forget, hook the negative battery cable to the engine, and nothing else.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."

[This message has been edited by RB83L69 (edited July 24, 2000).]