Smoky wiring! On Turning over (no earth?)

[ollieamb]

I have recently replaced my dash with a new aluminium kit as mine had seen better days. Took hours! Carefully labelled every wire when taking it apart. All back together and looks stunning!

Problem.... When I went to start it, turned over as lively as ever (not stated for several weeks) so took a few attempts it went to fire and now it sounds like I have a flat battery (checked this and all ok) then worringly a steady stream of smoke from under the bonnet, after a bit of diagnosis it seems to be the earth cable to the washer bottle was smoking!! Obviously a wiring fault but can anyone assist? Was fine before... Just strange how it just gave up half way through firing the car!

[Heuer]

There are some excellent downloadable wiring diagrams in the Forum Knowledge Base which would be a good place to start along with rechecking all the wires you disconnected.

[christopher storey]

This sounds like a sneak current problem, which arises when the proper earth path to the engine is disrupted, and the current earths ( or more properly returns to the neutral) via whatever wire is available. The choke cable often becomes the earth in this way, and glows red hot ! You need to check all the earth connections, particularly from engine/gearbox to frame, and also from the various switches and instruments on the dash panel. You also need to ensure that the panel itself is still earthed - there should be continuity between the copper backing panel of the let down flap, and earth on the rest of the car

[ollieamb]

Christopher, very helpful thank you. I'm back with the car tomorrow so will double check the rear of the panel as not touched anything else. The first time I went to start it, it was completely normal, just about to fire then caput!!

These things are here to test us !

[PeterCrespin]

Don't be tempted to crank the car again until you have at least got a fat jump lead between a chunky engine part and the battery earth terminal. If you have seen a steady stream of smoke you have probably toasted several earth wires (highly unlikely to be just one). Many earths run in sections of your harness and have probably interfered with adjacent wires - hopefully not to the point of shorting out - yet...

Harness replacement is a much bigger job than earth replacement or finding a jump lead temporarily...