Hi everyone! So the other day my Vette got broken into. They stole some stuff. I began to clean out my entire car since my window is busted so that they couldn't steal anything else and my lights were on for a little while, only about 15/20 minutes while my doors were open. When I went to start the car to move it she tried to turn over twice but she didn't officially turn over so I tried to jump it with my friend's car. I properly connected everything in the exact order necessary and ended up getting a big spark when connecting the final negative terminal with the jumper cables. The jumper cables then started to smoke and burn so we quickly stopped everything. After that, no lights at all, nothing. I freaked out and another friend of mine decided to use his portable battery jumper and while my lights started to come back on, all of a sudden there was smoke smoldering from the center console. I called AAA finally and the tech tried jumping it and it still did not turn over, this time smoke came from the center console again but the tech got to see it with his own eyes so I didn't seem crazy! (This has never happened to the car before.) He determined it's most likely an electrical issue and advised me not to drive it, of course. He also suggested I try to just sell it on Craigslist, which just made me want to punch him. Since "electrical" is such a broad topic I don't even know where to begin. If anyone out there knows anything about what this might be caused by please let me know because soon I have to get it towed to a electrical specialist and I want to make sure I know what I'm talking about when I walk in. Also, I probably should have known better but the multi-colored wires in my steering wheel have also smoked a bit when I turned on my windshield wipers but since they have never worked consistently since I bought the car, I thought there might be a short, but knowing that smoke is coming out, this has to be a serious problem. Sometimes the wipers worked but now they seem pretty fried altogether. Thank you so much!

Jennifer

 

Oh boy, that doesn't sound good at all...smoking is a very very bad sign. My guess is based on the location either CCM or PKE module have gone bad...hopefully PKE. I would basically pull every fuse, and grab a circuit tester or volt meter to see what circuit is drawing too much current.
https://www.harborfreight.com/30-amp...ter-67724.html

Also by any chance to you have an aftermarket stereo installed, can't tell you how many yahoo installs of aftermarket stereo's cause electrical gremlins.

You do need to get this fixed, fiberglass and fire do not mix very well and if you're seeing smoke it's a bad sign.

 

Sorry, electrical problems are the worse. As you have discovered, trying the same thing (multiple jumps) didn't solve the problem and probably made it worse.

Since your car was broken into, damage was done and you have visible shorting problems. You WILL need to sort through the ENTIRE electrical system. This can be done painlessly but it is tedious and there are not any short cuts.

The biggest question to answer is how handy are you or do you have access (funds) to have a competent shop go through the system? They will most likely start with pulling all the fuses and putting them in one at a time until the problem circuit is located, then fix the problem.

 

Jennifer, there's no clue where you are. There's always a chance that there is someone in your area that has Corvette experience that can help you! It's always a surprise when you discover a new friend on this Forum! Ask me how I know!

 

Were you insured? If there was 'smoke' it could maybe be considered comprehensive along with the vandalism - it's all related.

This car is a '91 I believe and you had issues with key to run etc previously. Were all of those repairs accomplished and you were driving it daily?

It's certainly going to be a challenge I'd think.

Being a '91 I believe I know how I'd start but a person needs to understand the electrical. Is it off the street now and safe? Can you move it to where safe? AAA hasn't towed yet or towed to home? Couldn't sort that from your post.

As mentioned MENTION YOUR WHEREABOUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I didn't think "whereabouts" had anything to do with my car smoking. It's physical location is in my driveway. I haven't gotten it towed yet. My thought was to just call the shop referred to me by the AAA tech to see if they can help me and go from there.

 

You mentioned please help!!

Whereabouts/location I'd think quite relevant - there could be a CF user right around the corner that might be willing to do an 'eyes on' of your circumstance and maybe better advise you.

Is it insured for comprehensive losses?

 

X2.

It's WAY easier to diagnose something when you can see it/touch it.

If it were MY car, I'd take teh console apart to where I could see the wiring, then hook up jumper cables and watch.

There really shouldn't be any wiring under the console that is affected by a jump start...unless you're using one of those plug-into-the-cigarette-lighter things.

 

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ies/iagree.gif

It's highly unlikely that anything was damaged by the attempted jump start - much more likely something was damaged during the break-in.

Unquestionably - the best thing to do is to take the console apart, and actually get a look at the wiring under there. You may be able to see the damaged wiring... You'll also be able to see where the smoke is actually coming from and when (is it when you turn the key to accessory, or when you turn the key to ignition on, or when you turn the key to start) if you can't see anything obvious and have to give it another shot....

I would suggest that before you begin any serious troubleshooting that you make sure that you have a fire extinguisher handy.... You never know...

I'm not sure about the 1991's and earlier - but on the 1992's and later there is an extra "hot wire" behind the shifter - near the storage portion of the front console - that wire was supposedly to provide power for a two way radio, or a car phone or whatever - it's possible (albeit not super likely) that that wire is damaged and is shorting to ground - although the fuse should blow if that was the case....

 

There's not much under the console itself, but there is in the tunnel under the console, a major wiring harness, including I believe battery cable to the starter transits from the engine department to the passenger side of the front of the tunnel exactly where the bellhousing forms a possible pinch point I'd look in that area; your problems may not be related to the breakin...it has to be some circuit that's unprotected by a fuse or fusible link, and a battery cable falls right into that description,

Sorry about your breakin...I had a side window blown out, surprisingly, replacing it with a used window wasn't all that costly.

 

Sounds like you didn't connect everything properly. It sounds like you connected things backwards.
As far as smoke from the center console, I don't remember with one hundred percent certainty, but it seems like the neutral safety switch is in there, and if that's the case then it would be the first thing I would look at. It would also make sense with the smoke occurring while trying to crank the engine over. Anyway, if it is the neutral safety switch then it wont be all that difficult to fix. So that's good. This would only apply to a car with an automatic transmission.