Today I reinstalled the distributor on my 79 vette to set the timing, while the vehicle was running, suddenly it shut off and i saw the dreaded white plume of smoke accompanied by a burnt electrical smell. The wire was a small gauge light green wire that was soldered into the pink wire that goes to the BAT terminal on the distributor.

Someone had cut the pink BAT terminal wire to solder this light green wire in place. I cannot tell where the other end of this light green wire connects to. There is not too much insulation left of the light green wire. I cut the remaining wire where it was soldered to the pink wire. Looking at the wiring diagram, there is no light green wire spliced into the pink wire. It appears to be part of the instrument harness. I do know the pink wire that connects to the BAT terminal on the distributor runs to the fuse box. I wonder if I will need a new instrument panel harness because nothing works on the car now.

The drivers side window was down and I could not get it up because the power windows are not working now. To get the window up, I used a jumper wire to the window motor get it up. I wonder what shorted to cause the car to die along with the power accessories. Glad I got that done because I had a half hour to get to work and I could not leave the window down in the vette.

This soldered area had no electrical tape or any other protection to cover up the "splice".

Based upon this information, could someone give me an idea of what this wire was connected to. I will keep looking over the wiring diagram to see what I can find. I will try to take some pictures over the weekend and post them so everyone can take a look at it. I will also take pics of the fuse panel so everyone can look at it and I'm sure everyone will agree that bubba got a hold of it. I am glad the car quit on me at this time instead of me being on the road somewhere.

 

if i recall the pink wire is the power as you said and goes up into the top of distributor,and a brown wire should be right next to that in the harness for the tach
are those the wires you are talking about? the green wires is powering something switched in the dash i bet. something such as memory for the stereo or even hooked up to a sending unit for the oil pressure gauge

 

Correct, pink wire to the BAT terminal and brown wire to the TACH terminal on the dizzy. There was a light green wire soldered into the pink wire to the dizzy. The light green wire insulation had burnt the length of the wire, but I cannot tell where this wire ends. It appears it is part of the instrument panel harness. I will look at the original wiring diagram tomorrow (I'm at work not now) I think that bubba made this "splice".

 

There is a light green for the backup lights.Do you have headlights? What do you have power to?

 

I am getting off work in 2 minutes. It is 10:58 pm in Va. At this moment, I will assume I have power to nothing. Power windows are inop, did not check the headlights. I will tomorrow morning. My question is why was this wire spliced into the pink wire to the BAT terminal.

 

No idea why Bubba does what does.We'll know more as to why when you trace where it goes.
The 12 gauge pink going to the dist. should not have any wires spliced onto it.

 

Yup, I looked at the wiring diagram and there is no light green wire that is splice into it. Everything to the vehicle is dead. I did bump the engine after this happened but I did not attempt to crank it. The entire care is dead nothing works in it. I have not checked any fuses or anything yet. I'm at work now and I am looking at the picture. I believe the vehicle stopped running because where the light green wire was spliced into the pink wire was the location of the short. I will repair the pink wire. But I must find out where the light green wire goes to and what it controls. I'm pretty frustrated at this point.

 

When you say you bumped the engine....does that mean you were able to get the starter to engage?
As far as the green wire.....maybe IT wasnt being powered from the pink...maybe it was supplying power TO the pink. Check and see if the green goes inside and is plugged in one of the "IGN" taps at the fuse block.

 

Yes the starter engaged. That light green wire could have been supplying power to the pink wire. At this stage, I'm not ruling out anything. The light green wire was a smaller gauge wire couldn't handle the current flow. I will check it out tomorrow morning. At least I got someone talking. I have over 100 views and no replies. Thanx.

 

Since the starter bumped that should rule out fusible link A being blown providing bubba didnt wire around it.Fusible link B supplys your headlights...yep you guessed it another question...do your headlights work?

 

The headlights do not work as well along with the other power accessories in the vehicle. When you put the key into the on position the gen indicator light does not come on, nor do the power windows work.

 

Well, the fusible link at the starter is not blown. There are others in the engine area and...hopefully...one or more of them is blown. Their purpose is to fail during a catastrophic event so that the car doesn't, well, burn up. It didn't...so I guess it worked as designed. Good luck on your problem search. Hopefully, only the fuse link(s) failed.

 

i would think you blew you fusible link A. if you have no accessories, but of course the starter probably wouldnt engage. thats confusing.!
http://www.corvetteforum.net/c3/tune...l/index8.shtml

 

Sounds like you could have several problems.You have 2 fusible links at the starter,one is for the headlights and the other is for everything else.Your getting "some" power to the inside so both cant be blown.First I would check the 4 wire connector at the back of the passenger head just below the hood alarm switch.Pull it apart and see if it is burnt.The next place I would look is the bulkhead connector...I would wiggle it and see if you get some things to come on.Next I would check the connectors on the ignition switch.

 

That is a very good diagram, component location, etc. and it's IN COLOR! Where did you get this info?

 

Yeah, it did I suppose. Yes I understand the concept and purpose of fuseable links But there should not have been a light green wire spliced into the pink wire to the dizzy.