elec fire is this bad?, smoke under the fuse box Options

[nycchef]

o.k. it's been 2 weeks without a problem so i guess i was do. small wisp of smoke from around the fuse box only when i start the car for the first time. pull over leave the car running and its gone before i can find it. nothing hot or melting, all obvious elec working. probably not goin to fix itself. any ideas guys .P.S. the fuel pump is hot wired to the coil but its been that way since the po and i am going to try and fix it

[ptravnic]

Eectrical gremlins can be madening to track down. Drop the fuse box, start the car and poke your nose in there to see if you can spot the smokey area. Other than that, replace the box w/Engman's kit & hope the problem goes away...

[Sammy]

Inspect every wire. If it got hot enough to let the magic smoke out, the insulation will be melted on at least part of a wire. It might have been from a fuse with a bad contact but prolly not. you can tell by inspecting the ends of every fuse one at a time.

After you find the culprit you can track it down and find out why.
I would be very careful about starting it again until you know what is going on, these cars do funny things once you let the magic smoke out. Little problems have a habit of going away and then coming back as a vey big problem. keep a fire extinguisher handy.

After you get it fixed you may want to consider getting your wires recharged, I saw some cans of electrical smoke on e-bay a while ago but they were made by Lucas. not sure if that is compatible with the smoke in 914 wiring or not. make sure you check the expiration date as electrical smoke has a limited shelf life (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
I cracked me up again.

[bondo]

Sure it's electrical? I've had smoke from oil on the heat exchangers come in the cabin through the heater vents. If the heater is off it still comes in, but it just sort of wafts in. You'll know from the smell, electrical smoke smells VERY bad, oil smoke just smells like.. a 914. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Sammy]

Here's a very usefull website that details Lucas replacement smoke as well as some troubleshooting tips for British wiring problems. Worth reading. just make sure you don't try to recharge your wiures with synthetic smoke, we all know how easily that synthetic stuff causes leaks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

http://www.mez.co.uk/lucas.html

[ClayPerrine]

Positive ground depends upon proper circuit functioning, the transmission of negative ions by retention of the visible spectral manifestation known as "smoke". Smoke is the thing that makes electrical circuits work; we know this to be true because every time one lets the smoke out of the electrical system, it stops working. This can be verified repeatedly through empirical testing.

When, for example, the smoke escapes from an electrical component (i.e., say, a Lucas voltage regulator), it will be observed that the component stops working. The function of the wire harness is to carry the smoke from one device to another; when the wire harness "springs a leak", and lets all the smoke out of the system, nothing works afterwards. Starter motors were frowned upon in British Automobiles for some time, largely because they consume large quantities of smoke, requiring very large wires.

It has been noted that Lucas components are possibly more prone to electrical leakage than Bosch or generic Japanese electrics. Experts point out that this is because Lucas is British and all things British leak. British engines leak oil, shock absorbers, hydraulic forks and disk brakes leak fluid, British tires leak air and the British defense establishment leaks secrets...so, naturally, British electronics leak smoke.

[nycchef]

definately electrical know that smell. will check it out. any laymans (read childlessly simple) explainations of the lucas smoke thing?

[ClayPerrine]

Bell Labs Proves Existence of Dark Suckers

For years it has been believed that electric bulbs emitted light. However, recent information from Bell Labs has proven otherwise. Electric bulbs don't emit light, they suck dark. Thus they now call these bulbs dark suckers. The dark sucker theory, according to a Bell Labs spokesperson, proves the existence of dark, that dark has mass heavier than that of light, and that dark is faster than light.

The basis of the dark sucker theory is that electric bulbs suck dark. Take for example, the dark suckers in the room where you are. There is less dark right next to them than there is elsewhere. The larger the dark sucker, the greater its capacity to suck dark. Dark suckers in a parking lot have a much greater capacity than the ones in this room. As with all things, dark suckers don't last forever. Once they are full of dark, they can no longer suck. This is proven by the black spot on a full dark sucker. A candle is a primitive dark sucker. lA new candle has a white wick. You will notice that after the first use, the wick turns black, representing all the dark which has been sucked into it. If you hold a pencil next to the wick of an operating candle, the tip will turn black because it got in the path of the dark flowing into the candle.

Unfortunately, these primitive dark suckers have a very limited range. There are also portable dark suckers. The bulbs in these can't handle all of the dark by themselves, and must be aided by a dark storage unit. When the dark storage unit is full, it must be either emptied or replaced before the portable dark sucker can operate again.

Dark has mass. When dark goes into a dark sucker, friction from this mass generates heat. Thus it is not wise to touch an operating dark sucker. Candles present a special problem, as the dark must travel in the solid wick instead of through glass. This generates a great amount of heat. Thus it can be very dangerous to touch an operating candle. Dark is also heavier than light. If you swim deeper and deeper, you notice it gets slowly darker and darker. When you reach a depth of approximately fifty feet, you are in
total darkness. This is because the heavier dark sinks to the bottom of the lake and the lighter light floats to the top. The immense power of dark can be utilized to mans advantage. We can collect the dark that has settled to the bottom of lakes and push it through turbines, which generate electricity and help push it to the ocean where it may be safely stored. Prior to turbines, it was much more difficult to get dark from the rivers and lakes to the ocean. The Indians recognized this problem, and tried to solve it. When on a river in a canoe traveling in the same direction as the flow of the dark, they paddled slowly, so as not to stop the flow of dark, but when they traveled against the flow of dark, they paddled quickly so as to help push the dark along its way.

Finally, we must prove that dark is faster than light. If you were to stand in an illuminated room in front of a closed, dark closet, then slowly open the closet door, you would see the light slowly enter the closet, but since the dark is so fast, you would not be able to see the dark leave the closet.

In conclusion, Bell Labs stated that dark suckers make all our lives much easier. So the next time you look at an electric bulb remember that it is indeed a dark sucker.

[Sammy]

Nycchef, please don't take any of this lucas smoke theory seriously, we jumped on a chance to have some fun. there is a great deal of humor about Lucas electronics which were installed in british cars. The junk was so bad that every time you turned a key or flipped a switch you would wait for a second and look for smoke escaping (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Sammy]

Q. If, as you say, light bulbs suck up darkness and convert it to smoke which is transmitted (via wire) to a power source for recycling...why do car batteries go dead when lights are left on? Do car batteries (and flashlight batteries for that matter) have a limited amount of storage capability? Is it like a hard drive that gets so full that you have to double-space and then lose all data?

A. Of course the battery stores the smoke. In fact it can store so much smoke that if you open the top and light a match, the resulting explosion can do serious damage. I'm sure you are aware that usually where there's smoke there's fire. If you connect the battery to a charger, the smoke is then returned to the wire (Remember, a light bulb wont work unless it is connected to a wire system) for the utility companies to use. Your hard drive analogy is a very good example.

[nycchef]

thanks for letting me in on the joke. i wasn't sure if i was really dumb or you guys were really nuts. now i know it's a little of both. this is the best non-club a non member could ever hope for.

[JoeSharp]

thanks for letting me in on the joke. i wasn't sure if i was really dumb or you guys were really nuts. now i know it's a little of both. this is the best non-club a non member could ever hope for.

Probly a lot of both.
:PERMAGRIN:JHoe

[ClayPerrine]

Remember how they label the light switch in a british car.........

Off

Dim

Flicker.


(IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

[ejm]

small wisp of smoke from around the fuse box only when i start the car for the first time. pull over leave the car running and its gone before i can find it.

Could the smoke be coming from the back of the igntion housing? The ignition switch has a little grease inside, if the switch is heating up or arcing when cranking you may get a bit of smoke

[Spoke]

As a safety precaution, I always disconnect the battery when moving the fuse panel or dashboard gauges. These cars have many bare wire connectors and do not have fusable links like today's cars. Once I've moved the panel or gauges and want to test, then I reconnect the battery and test.

Spoke

[drewvw]

why do british car owners drink warm beer....



































because they own Lucas refridgerators...... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drunk.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Dr. Roger]

that quick whisp could be the fuse block but it could also be from the ignition switch/wiring. the fat wire going to the starter solenoid is not fused and can bea source of concern if it grounds.

next time you start her up look closely underneath the dash.

yes, there are many wires that are un-fused and dropping the fuse block is risky if you dont disconnect the battery first.

good luck.