Thanks Jeff!
Long post…. Don’t fall asleep…
I want to summarize the issue I had... I believe that I had a couple issues going on... incorrect wiring by a previous owner and a loose wire connection on my front right side park light.
Last week, within a few minutes of turning on my headlights, I noticed a burning smell coming from the dash area. I quickly turned off the headlights (luckily it was during the day) and the smell went away.
By removing all dash instruments, including the headlight switch, I found that a previous owner ran a small black “patch” wire from the Tach light directly to position "58" on the headlight switch (this by-passed fuse #7). The previous owner also ran the grey/blue wire that comes out from the same bundle of wires that connects to the headlight switch to position “58” on the switch. Also installed on position “58” was a solid grey colored wire.
To be safe, I installed a new headlight switch and only connected the solid grey colored wire to position “58”, as per the wiring diagram. I completely discarded the small black “patch” wire. I connected the grey/blue wire to the back of one of the Tach lights. Note: wiring diagram shows grey/blue colored wires for the dash lighting.
Now when I turned the headlight switch to the 1st position, #7 fuse popped (no burning smell). With some further investigation I found that my rheostat was toast. As I looked closer I found the source of the burning smell … it was the small grey/violet wire on the rheostat. Luckily, only burned a very small amount of the insulation. So, removed rheostat and connected the 3 small wires together on the back of the center cluster, by-passing the reo completely.
Now, # 7 fuse was still popping. This fuse, in addition to controlling the dash lights, also manages the front right and rear park lights. I then removed my front headlight and unplugged. Retested, and …. Fuse #7 no longer was popping…
In removal of my right headlight, I noticed that the wire that connects to my right side parking light had come loose (bad solder connection). I had installed 2 new wires, with billet connectors, recently as part of my new Euro headlight installation. I made these 2 new wires in order to keep all my plugs original so that a future owner could re-install the US lights utilizing the original plugs. One was not done right and came loose from the billet connector. Redid the solder connection, reinstalled, and #7 fuse held.
So, I surmise that when this wire connection point came loose it was shorting out. If the previous owner had not altered the wiring going to the headlight switch and to the Tach light, my #7 fuse would have blown in the beginning when the wire from the new Euro light to the right park light came loose. Fuse performing as designed. But, with the fact that the fuse was by-passed, the short tracked all the way to my rheostat and caused the wires on the rheo to heat up. Luckily I turned off my lights quickly and no other damage occurred.
Bob
