fire = melted quick disconnect

Ok.. Its a 67 Lincoln

The Temp gauge has a copper wire running from the motor into the cab with a little metal wrap keeping the wire from touching anything or getting kinks -- or thats my understanding at least.

My temp wire was pulled a little tight and i believe the copper was touching the fire wall. resulting in the copper wire turning a "magma" looking orange and a little mini fire breaking out in the area neer the fire wall--

I was able to get the fire out using a drink I had in the car at the time..
(now i have a fire extinguisher in the car)

*towed the car home

now I have a problem

first i fixed the temp wire -- replaced the temp gauge/wire in the summit 3 gauge set -- got coolant all over my motor in the process!!

went to fire the car up and the ignition solenoid busts -- large poof of white smoke from the ignition solenoid.

I replaced the solenoid and as soon as I placed the cable to the positive side of the battery the car fired up (no keys in the car)

now i crawl under the dash -- guess i should have done that first seeing how there was a fire in the car!!! but i though i got it out fast enough! i was wrong!

The wires running from the ignition through the fire wall at a quick disconnect melted (just slightly) in this mini fire where the quick disconnect was touching the temp wire

now it is like the car is in a hot wire set up -- if the battery is connected the car wants to start. --

I have tryed every junk yard that i can find with in reason to see if they have a similar car / motor with no luck -- so getting a new quick disconnect is out of the question..

so i guess the question is...

can / should i just solder the wires together and use shrink wrap on the wires??

The temp gauge cable shorted on a hot wire under the dash, you will need to find where the short started and find which wires are melted together.

I would do as tired iron said and then replace the melted portions going to the switch.

Sounds like you have a mechanical water temp gauge. If so, that is a capillary tube, and they are charged with ether. The wrap is the armor to protect the tube and keep it from being damaged, crushed, kinked, etc. TiredironGRB could be right on the money with a hot wire shorted up against the cap tube. But if you don't find a short, you might want to look at your grounds. If you have a bad ground, the cap tube might be the next thing that the system "see's" as a ground. Can't support the current, gets hot, melts, and the escaping ether catches fire. Bad grounds can cause some real weird symptoms that can look totally unrelated at first.

You did get the solenoid put on properly? Take the small wire off solenoid that should stop it from trying to start, back trace that wire to where it has shorted to a hot wire probably at the melted spot by firewall.

im trying to figure out how to post photos.. can someone give me some advise on how to upload photos. thanks

Im going to have to remove the quick disconnect... it has a perfectly melted imprint of the temp cable! -- but it is in a very bad spot-- well pain in the neck spot!!! the quick disconnect is right at the fire wall!

Is there any way to put in a new quick disconnect?? cut this one out and put in a new one?? -- it has 8 wires coming from each side (2 rows of 4)

also if i just remove the quick disconnect and solder the wires together -- is it as simple as -- the wires that are across from each other??


and there also is a red wire that has melted some of the insulation off -- im going to have to remove that area of wire as well

BoomerLV said:

Is there any way to put in a new quick disconnect?? cut this one out and put in a new one?? -- it has 8 wires coming from each side (2 rows of 4)

also if i just remove the quick disconnect and solder the wires together -- is it as simple as -- the wires that are across from each other??

Click to expand...

How about a couple of the flat 4 wire trailer light connectors. Cheap and readily available. That way you can still take it apart if you need to.

I like that idea for the trailer connectors! thanks! i knew some one would have a better idea than just soldering them together!!

im going to give that a shot and ill let you know how it goes! Thanks again guys!