mauiwilly

Last night while reinstalling my 81's hood prop arm I "accidentally" crimped the red wire going to the under hood lamp.
Immediately it sparked and some smoke came up from somewhere near the fire wall and I heard a "pop" After a few minutes of cursing I checked to see if I still had power. Everything appeared to be OK. I looked in my shop manual for my fuse breaker panel layout. it showed that the fuse for that lamp is also used for the side marker lights. I turned them on to check and they were ok ??
Anyone out there know what I F'd up ???

Thanks !

MelWff

are you saying the fuse is good, the side markers work, and the hood lamp no longer works? Did you trace the wire from the lamp back to the engine side of the fuse box?

FireballXL5

Could've gotten hot and melted the plastic wire casing on a wire, but not completely blown a fusible link or blown a fuse... I'd definitely try to trace it back as far as you can... The 'puff of magic electrical smoke' typically doesn't lead to good results.... Lol. Although I have seen some wires still hold some integrity after melting down the exterior coating... But typically, that'll leave an exposed hot wire to grounding out on other things later on... If that's what happened...

mauiwilly

Yes, the side markers work, so I'm "assuming" the fuse is still good. i don't have a bulb in the lamp holder and wasn't in the mood last nite to "contort" my body into unusual positions to check the fuse box... I'll check the lamp holder with a meter tonite and trace the wire. And I'll check the fuse box as well....

Thanks !

mauiwilly

Will do......Thanks !

mauiwilly

So I did this and traced all the way back to the fire wall and the wire is fine.....

FireballXL5

So, from everything you checked... All is well, but you don't get an under hood light?

mauiwilly

I do still have power to the under hood light holder/socket ??
I never did have a bulb in there but checked with a volt meter

I'm wondering that if the wiring appears to be all intact, did the wire just heat up and burn off some some grease and grime and made the smoke ??
The wires that go done close to the firewall are greasy....
There is a "fuseable" link in the wire line as well....and it appears to be fine

Thanks for your help Fireball !

FireballXL5

Yea... Perhaps you came away unscathed...

The only other way I can think of to test if any wire has deteriorated would be a resistance test through the wires... But that would be quite the undertaking... And if you're not blowing fuses or having any components fail... It's hard to say whether or not it's worth investing that time...

Absolute worse case scenario; one of the wires has lost it's integrity in the bundle... Would generate excessive heat... Could eventually melt other wires... And spark/short/ flame up... But, like I said, worse case scenario...

For the most part, on mine, if it ain't broke... I look elsewhere to find/fix other things that are... Lol.

mauiwilly

I sure hope so !
And I have done all I can so I'm going to stop worrying about it.....for now...lol Everything is working and fuses aren't blowing....
I did however go out and buy a fire extinguisher that I put in the car....just in case !!!

Thanks again !