fried wire from the cigarette lighter going to harness

[Da Flash]

It maybe a little difficult explaining just where the wire is but here's my best attempt. There is a white/red stripe wire that connects to the bottom of the fuse box, then it goes into a harness on the passengers side where it is wrapped with the cigarette lighter wire and another white/red stripe, the 2 white/red wires both connect into a single white/red wire that continues on up into the dash harness, now the other white/red wire (Not the one that goes to the fuse box!) once it comes out of the 1 to 2 white/red wire it curls up and goes into a little plastic connection (which is now melted!). This is where the problem is, not only is the insulation on this wire melted, the wire from the cigarette lighter is fried!!! (I think it's the ground wire because it just goes to the mounting screw for the lighter, If there is a good thing about this short it's that the car still ran!! I know that I need to fix this but, electrical isn't my strong point [it's not even my weak point ;-)] I'm pretty sure that I could replace a few wires but, how do I know if I stopped the cause of the short?? How far do I cut the bad wire back? Is this something I should try to tackle or leave it up to the pro's??

Any and all reponses are appreciated!!

[EScanlon]

Tracing down the reason a wire shorted out can be a real spaghetti pull festival.

The White / Red wire you mention is the main feed for the fuse box as well as the Ameter in the dash. These are critical as they run the rest of the options attached to the car.

While you may still be able to run the car, (the ignition circuit has it's own separate feed from the White /Red coming from the battery) you are in definite need of repairing this.

First of all, determine if the cigar lighter wire was the one to short. To determine this, look at the condition of the wire itself. If it is just melted, as you describe the W/R; as opposed to Fried i.e. crispy burnt; then it may have just overheated due to proximity to a wire that overheated. A crispy burnt wire is a prime indication of a short. Since this was to the cigar lighter, it isn't inconceivable that either a piece of metal or something fell into contact with the inside of the holder. This would definitely cause what you've mentioned.

By the way, although the end of the cigar lighter has a screw for it's connection, that is not the mounting screw. The cigar lighter typically is held onto the bracket (if by the fuse box) or to the dash (if above the hazard switch) by the two parts of the barrel.

There is an outer barrel, with ridges, typically the yellow zinc plated color, that slides over the inner silver holder. The silver holder will usually have a chromed or polished outer rim. The outer barrel holds onto the inner via either a nut at it's back end or by screwing onto the inner. The ground for the assembly is usually soldered / riveted onto the side of the outer barrel. The electrical connection at the center of the inner barrel is for the hot wire, or positive. Sometimes, there will be a small housing on the outside of the outer barrel to hold a light bulb. This bulb is to illuminate the holder when the lighter is out of the housing and the lights are on.

To short out a lighter all you have to do is drop something that will make contact between the clip at the bottom which grabs the head of the lighter itself, and the outer wall. This can also happen if someone forces the lighter in and bends the tabs on the clip until they contact the outer wall.

To repair what you've already encountered, I would replace the melted and fried wires as far back as they are damaged. Make sure you use wiring of the same type and gauge. Don't substitute solid strand for stranded,don't step down from 16 to 18. The opposite of these aren't as bad, as a general rule, you can sub stranded for solid and go from 18 to 16 gage but you need to be aware that you CAN change the dynamics of the system.

The ~IDEAL~ solution is to find a complete wiring harness from a donor car, as this way you can correct many problems. Just be aware that there ARE subtle differences between the years as well as automatic and standard harnesses.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask further questions.

Enrique

[Da Flash]

First off, Enrique thanks for the guidance, I would be totally lost without it! Now I'm at least heading in the right direction, but I do have a few more questions. As you stated the cigarette lighter lead is the one that's fried (well actually burnt up, gone, dissolved...) and the W/R wire only has the insulation melted in a few spots. As I said before the W/R wire isn't the one that goes to the back of the fuse box, it does however "T" out of the "one that comes out of the fusebox" and curls up to a plastic connection(which is melted to the point that I have to cut it out) within a few inches of the "T". I'm almost cetain that something went wrong with the lighter because it worked fine until about 4 months ago, when my son was trying to use it to power his computer and it burnt the adapter. (I know this should've been a hint!!) but where I'm puzzled at is why would the W/R wire be so melted? proximaty of the black wire(lighter wire) and would that cause the connection to melt? Do you know the purpose of this W/R wire? I've already gotten a different lghter to check but, I want to see if I can find the problem before I install it. Is there some way I can check to make sure that that was the culprit, maybe a multimeter?

Your imput will be greatly appreciated!!

[EScanlon]

I went to an old harness I have in the garage. Sorry it took me so long to post back.

Ok, the white / red wire has another wire connected to it about 9" up from the fuse box. This wire rounds out the connection to the ammeter and ignition. I guess, technically, it's superfluous but in my opinion you should restore it as well.

The wire that connects to it connects to the other half of the wiring harness that connects to the fuse box.

Let me explain, as that may seem muddled.

The back of the dash actually has 2 complete wiring harnesses that connect everything together.

They interconnect at several places, most notably the ignition switch and the fuse box area. The white / red wire connects to the engine harness at two points via each of the two harnesses. One with a stand alone single wire connection and another on the other harness as part of a 6 wire connector. The T connection at the fuse box area connects the two harnesses together.

Hope this explains it.

[Da Flash]

After further inspection I noticed that one of the 3 prongs inside the socket was bent and touching the side of the socket (and I wondered why I had a short!) so I replaced the socket and rewrapped some insulation and now I'm good to go!! EScanlon, thanks for the help!!! Here's to hopefully no more electrical problems!!

[EScanlon]

Best part of helping other Z owners out is when they come back and post that they found the problem and were able to fix it.

Thanks for the feedback.

Enrique