smoke underdash, this sucks ass!

[Trinitys 134]

Well I was driving home tonight and I was on a fairly quiet stretch of road. Well I had my lights on, I stop at a stop light and no one around. So I gun it, only I loose my lights, they dim and flicker. So I pull over and when I open the door the under dash light comes on, I notice smoke in the area of the light switch. I jump out and unplug the battery. It’s too dark now, but I got it home and haven't had a chance to see what fried. its a new switch, I replaced it because it flickered a few weeks ago. So I guess this is pretty serious. Anyone have any ideas? I’ll give ya an up-date in the morning.

[Trinitys 134]

Well when I was lying in my bed last night thinking, where the hell am I gonna get an under dash harness, I started thinking about what could be causing my problem. The only thing I could think of was the old tach drive harness that I installed a couple years ago; it was for a Dixco hood tach. I recently put headers on the car, so it’s much hotter under hood then before.

 

First thing I went for when I opened the hood was that older harness for the tach, I was gonna put that Dixco back on, not now though, or at least with that harness. The power wire to the light on the tach fell, burnt through the tape and grounded to the driver’s side header. I also pulled the switch to check for toasting, there was nothing I could see. I guess I’ll find out………….now where did I put the fire extinguisher???????

[Purple Mach One 0]

Oh man, sorry to hear what happened to your Mustang. I am having some electrical problems myself. I still haven't gotten it off to an electrical shop yet but will this Thursday. Anyway, if you want sources to wire harnesses- try looking at Ron Francis Wiring or Centech. You can also get after market Ford reproduction from Auto Krafters or National Parts Depot. But I definitely don't recommend you get Haywire though.

[bnickel 10,004]

you may have gotten lucky and the smoke you saw was just coming in from the engine bay