what a nightmare!

[Anonymous]

Mate, although it may not sound right, I reckon you have had a VERY lucky escape there. Your motor could have been complete toast . To put a positive spin on it, you have identified a potentially very serious defect but not at the expense of the whole car. Methinks a rewire is on the horizon. Get some extra circuit protection in there too.

[JohnR]

Bulkhead connector or ammeter connections dont forget that all your power goes through these two items always suspect on a 30 or 40 year old car !!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

That IS a lucky escape! One of the main drivers for me getting my car restored was reliability. You only have to pick up a piece of the wiring to see and feel how old and age hardened its become. I got all new looms from Year One. They came with all the right connectors or bulb holders or whatever on so it was nice and simple to install. Well worth doing mate.

But your right, just looking at the car on your driveway is great motivation!!!

[DAVE POWELL]

Hi Darren

Sorry to hear about your problems!

I had the same thing happen to me in my 68 charger with the dashboard lighting up like the starship enterprise and smoke coming from under the dash. Had the whole wiring loom checked out and finally found that it was the voltage regulator deciding not to play ball. Changed that two weeks ago and so far so good so fingers crossed.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Good luck.

By the way, your charger looks awsome.

[Anonymous]

If you have the old radio in the car, it is worth checking.

When we bought the Monaco from Ted in Grand Rapids on our test drive before driving it 1400 miles back to Princeton, it filled with smoke. We were naturally concerned, but Ted pulled the radio fuse and, years later when the car was in the U.K. I pulled the radio out and found that some components had failed and burned through the circuit board.

It is alarming and dramatic to see smoke pouring out from the dash and the vents.

Glad it didn't get worse for you.

[Guy]

Sounds like you had a lucky escape Darren, I had asimular thing happen a few years back on the cuda and it was traced back to the bulkhead connector and the amp meter connections I had to rewire it all, the car ran much better afterwards.

[Dave-R]

If the lights got brighter then that probably means the voltage went up much higher than normal. So chances are the voltage regulator has gone.

But after the regulator went, and gave you max output from the alternator, the extra voltage and current will have damaged some of the wiring and perhaps also the in-dash regulator that send a low voltage to the fuel gauge and sender.

A warning to everyone out there reading this.
If you suspect you have an electrical problem causing, or likely to cause, a fire;
Stop the car as quickly as possible.
Switch off as you come to a stop.
Get it into park or put the brake on.
Get out ASAP after that.
If possible disconnect one side of the battery. As long as it is safe to get to the battery.
Be very careful when lifting a bonnet as any strong fire under there could burn your hands or blow into your face.

[Ivor]

I had the whole of the inside of the Road Runner fill up with steam when the heater matrix went and that was scary enough!

Glad you and the car are okay

[latil]

Close one. I know my main feed to the ignition switch gets warm. Can't find the fault that gives me 10 volts at the ballast resistor and 6.8 at the coil either.I've never had a problem with UK wiring of the same era.

[Dave-R]

whilst waiting for the AA who were great I tried ignition again so interior light still worked and as soon as put key in to switch and turned it smoke returned stupid I know but must be something to do with ignition switch?

No. Probably not something to do with the switch. All you are doing is re-connecting the now melted wires to the battery when you turn the switch.