shorting out??!!?

[Rhett]

I am no electical genius, but tell me if something is wrong here.

I had the battery out, doing some misc. work, and when I went to hook it back up, I got a spark show and smoke... it was almost a bad scene. Anyway, I immediately disconnected and pulled the batt back out. And I saw this:

Notice what looks to be chafed wires coming into contact there...
and what is the gooey looking brown substance? Some sort of melted resin?

Anyway my question is, should I wait for it too cool down, then re-wrap (with electrical tape) the chafed wires, then hope for the best, or is there more to it than that. I want to avoid burning up my truck if at all possible...

 

[Blee1099]

Damn.. What I'd do is either replace the entire length of wires from the starter relay to the starter or cut them and solder and heatshrink them.

 

[Rhett]

Do you see that in the close-up picture? It looks like those two tan wires were chafed thru...and contacting. I am pretty worried about this.

 

[EMG7895]

Replace them, it will only get worse. Once mositure gets in there they are ruined, I had this same problem a few months ago except that every time I hit a bump it would short out and If I wasnt accelerating it would kill the motor too.

 

[Rhett]

I'm more worried about it burning up once I wrap them, and re-connect the batt.

My immediate need is to know if I can simply re-wrap the chafed wires to nurse it along until I can replace.

 

[Rhett]

Ok, I think I have this figured out.

The tan shrink-wrapped wire, is chafed and shorted the h*ll out. That runs to the alternator. As a result, I'm getting no charging from the alt. Bad.

I just hope the shorting didn't damage the alternator or the battery. I guess I'll find out once a new wire is in there.

 

[EMG7895]

You can wrap them, just triple check everything and get new cables as soon as possible. If you have a multimeter you can check for any shorts.

 

[Dopler174]

It wouldn't hurt the battery or alt. I've grounded out a battery terminal for over a minute before. Got real real real hot in my hand. The pic you showed look like it was no more than 15-20 seconds. No wories mate! Replace and roll!

 

[Rhett]

It wouldn't hurt the battery or alt. I've grounded out a battery terminal for over a minute before. Got real real real hot in my hand. The pic you showed look like it was no more than 15-20 seconds. No wories mate! Replace and roll!

It was not even 15-20 seconds, more like 5 seconds, then I realized how stupid I was.

That's good to know! It would be bad if the alternator got fried because I just replaced it about 6 months ago.

Once the wire is replaced, I will know...

Right now the wire is toast--it is not conducting any current.

 

[Dopler174]

It was not even 15-20 seconds, more like 5 seconds, then I realized how stupid I was.

That's good to know! It would be bad if the alternator got fried because I just replaced it about 6 months ago.

Once the wire is replaced, I will know...

Right now the wire is toast--it is not conducting any current.

That stinks. the wires shouldn't cost you more than about $20 to make at advance. You know, cut the wire to your prefered length, and buy the eyelts.