You can have it.
close call
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 978
Likes: 1
From: Scranton Pennsylvania
close call
Had a real close call last night in my garage. Wiring project is pretty much done. The car(63 vert) still won't start as I described in another thread. I still have some minor assembly work to do so while I wait for a few days for someone to diagnose my spark problem, I figured I'd re-install the kick panels and center dash components. I was having a problem with the courtesy light fixture on the rear deck. The base had a small crack in it. I planned to repair ir or replace it. A prior owner had cut the wires so until my re-wiring project, the fixture had no juice. I've got the door open and my head jammed in under the dash trying to put some screws in the front of the console. All of a sudden, I start to smell something strange. Not knowing what it was I continued to work on the console. In about 10 seconds it hit me like a ton of bricks. It was my wiring. I flew out of the car and hit the battery disconnect switch. I caught it just in time. Somehow, the two posts in the light fixture were touching. The fixture put a small scorch mark in my rear carpeting and the insulation near the fixture started to melt. I ended up cutting the whole piece off and capping and taping the ends. Another few minutes and my car would have been history.
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 3,596
Likes: 8
From: Grosse Ile MI
Ren,
I was reading your post and was thinking how lucky you were to be there when the short occurred. My next thought was, wait a minute, that rear compartment light is fused so why didn't the fuse blow when there was a dead short? Just something you might want to look into.
Make sure you use a #90 or equivalent bulbs in the courtesy lamps.
Dave
I was reading your post and was thinking how lucky you were to be there when the short occurred. My next thought was, wait a minute, that rear compartment light is fused so why didn't the fuse blow when there was a dead short? Just something you might want to look into.
Make sure you use a #90 or equivalent bulbs in the courtesy lamps.
Dave
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Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 978
Likes: 1
From: Scranton Pennsylvania
It did blow the fuse. That must have happened in the few seconds that it took me to get to the cut off switch. The whole thing took about a minute. I was on the drivers side so it took me a few seconds to scramble to the pass. side and trip the switch. The courtesy lights near the kick panels lit when I went for the switch. Glad the hood was already open.
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 3,596
Likes: 8
From: Grosse Ile MI
It did blow the fuse. That must have happened in the few seconds that it took me to get to the cut off switch. The whole thing took about a minute. I was on the drivers side so it took me a few seconds to scramble to the pass. side and trip the switch. The courtesy lights near the kick panels lit when I went for the switch. Glad the hood was already open.
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 751
Likes: 8
From: Escondido CA
With a dead short on the line, that fuse should have blown instantly; not 60 seconds, not 30 seconds, but like 2 seconds. 
Do you have any indications that a previous owner may have Bubba'd some wiring on the car? Tread cautiously..
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 789
Likes: 10
From: Las Vegas NV
Melting Slicks
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 3,050
Likes: 2
From: Orange Ct
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 199
Likes: 1
From: Illinois
Reminds of an incident I had quite a few years back in my 63 convertible. I had my car packed tight for a weekend at Road America @ Elkhart Lake, Wi. I had stopped for gas in Fontana and left the door open. Got back in and started tooling down I-43 towards Milwaukee. During this drive of about 45 minutes we could smell an odd odor. After a while our eyes started burning. We pulled off the interstate to investigate. My buddy who had been following in his '74 said he could smell smoke from my car from behind on the highway. I opened my rear deck lid, and pulled the top up and there was a beach towel that was packed against the rear courtesy light. Apparently it started smoldering from when I had stopped for gas and continued to smolder all the way down the highway. As soon as I pulled it out of the car it burst into flames as I threw it on the ground.
We were just astonished that this could happen. No damage was done to the car, I consider myself very lucky.
We were just astonished that this could happen. No damage was done to the car, I consider myself very lucky.