Got someting to do.

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: Got someting to do.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Terry Horlick in Penn Valley, CA on Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 02:27 am:

Getting car ready to go on a tour next weekend. Took a ten mile ride into town. It was starting to get dark so I skedaddled (spelling?) towards home. Put the lights on and about 4 miles from home one headlight goes out. Ok, I can drive home on the other one.

At 2 miles from home it is getting dark and the other light dims to almost nothing and I smell molten insulation... hmm. Engine is ok as I'm running on mag. Looking around I see nothing special (still driving) and I put my hand on the light switch/ignition switch... HOT!

Look around again, still no lights but I see a bright glow through the floorboard pedal slots! I turn the light switch off and the glow stops.

Darn, one more mile to get home and it is only slightly dusky out. I've got lots of reflective tape on the tailgate so I boogie home.

Tomorrow I will have to do some re-wiring! This is a new one to me, I am still great at finding (causing?) unique failures in a T!

TH


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Keith Townsend ; ^ ) Gresham, Orygun on Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 11:24 am:

Terry-
I hid an in-line fuse in my headlight wiring to eliminate that nasty "bright glow through the floorboard pedal slots."

Your other option would be to get a set of "padal pants."

Happy Re-wiring.

: ^ )

Keith


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michael Mullis on Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 12:21 pm:

I just hate it when that happens!

Now it doesn't happen any more. Every thing fed off of my battery runs through a fuse. I always size my fuses for the next wire size smaller than the wire I am seeking to protect.

What did the early automotive fuses look like?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Timothy Kelly on Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 12:36 pm:

Try to keep the white smoke from escaping through the wires and connectors as it's impossible to replace. Once that happens, new hardware will be required.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Garnet on Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 03:43 pm:

Yup, sometimes it's a good idea just to sit in the garage for 15 minutes with the T running and the lights on! Hindsight, huh?

Garnet


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Terry Horlick in Penn Valley, CA on Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 11:04 pm:

I used to have all circuits fused. But the fuse block went bad so all the fuses kept getting loose (hard to round them up, chasing fuses is a bit akin to herding cats). So having never needed or blown a fuse in over 15 years I just put in a connector block like the car had when new.

I guess that melted wires are also "period correct" (but the globs of melted insulation aren't!). I guess Murphy's law applies here.

TH


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Terry Horlick in Penn Valley, CA on Sunday, September 23, 2012 - 11:37 am:

It gets better, when I got up this morning I looked out and saw smoke billowing out of the hood and passenger compartment. Fortunately I always have a battery kill switch on board. I flipped that and, sure enough, the smoke cleared in about five minutes.

It's easy to tell which circuit fried ... just look for the one with no insulation.

Well I guess I will be replacing all the wires on this car... I hope the battery has survived. Might even put fuses on the circuit and a fusiable link in the battery!

Fun!

TH


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Terry Horlick in Penn Valley, CA on Sunday, September 23, 2012 - 11:49 am:

Cool, the time stamp on my message would put me on New Zealand!

Well I guess I will do what they would in New Zealand, replace all the wires.

TH


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jared Buckert on Sunday, September 23, 2012 - 12:25 pm:

Make sure you find what's shorting out everything. If something is rubbing the wires bare or grounding something out that needs to be remedied before installing a new harness. I'd hate to hear the same thing happen twice.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dewey, N. California on Sunday, September 23, 2012 - 02:05 pm:

Terry, I shoulda let you buy that used harness I bought at Auburn! I got it mostly for the original fordalite sawdust/soybean terminal block!
T'
David D.
PS. Back in '75, when I lived in Eureka, my everyday driver was a '39 Che----t. A guy started following me home, and just wanted to look at the car. Well, I opened the hood to show him the engine and noticed a little smoke coming out of the wiring going through the firewall--the dome light circuit had started to short! Dodged a bullet that day, if I hadn't opened the hood, I likely would have had an interior fire that evening!
Sorta wish I still had that car, courted Linda in it, but she couldn't see over the dash to drive it, so we sold it. . . .
T'
David D.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Wayne Sheldon, Grass Valley, CA on Tuesday, September 25, 2012 - 07:30 pm:

I don't like much on my cars to be obviously modern, but one exception I make is a modern plastic spring loaded fuse holder hidden nearly out of sight (usually right at the battery under the car or hidden in some box). The modern spring loaded in-line holders are pretty reliable and somewhat resistant to internal corrosion. It may be inconvenient, but I cannot recall ever having one blow. I do have a chunk of wire hanging on the shop with insulation dripping off of it that shorted to ground on my current boat-tail on it's first Endurance Run a few years ago. I had thrown the car together in a hurry to make the run and didn't have a fuse holder handy to put in it. I usually use a 15 amp fuse because I have a bunch of them. A 10 amp might be better and should be adequate.
One fire in your car when you are not looking and you will wish you had.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Terry Horlick in Penn Valley, CA on Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - 12:43 am:

Hidden in a frame rail is a solenoid for the starter (I got tired of replacing worn out starter switches). Now the starter switch triggers the solenoid which does the starter. Well a wire rubbed against the hot contact on the solenoid and melted the headlight, taillight, and brake wires.

A 10 amp fuse probably would have saved the wires, but would have hidden the problem. I lost wires but had no collateral damage... COOL!

TH


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