smoke under the dash

[schnackj]

My deuce has been sitting in my yard for a while having not been run, I recently put new batteries in it and as I was holding the starter switch the engine was cranking and I noticed smoke started coming out from under the dash. I turned everything off and pulled the positive terminal of the battery to be safe and took a look. The two plugs (one round one square shaped) and bundle of wiring by the starter switch was all very hot. I haven't had a chance to get in there and start tinkering too much yet but I wanted to see if anyone else had a similar issue and fix. If it was just the starter switch shorting to ground I wouldn't expect the starter to come on and turn the engine. I wasn't holding the switch for a long time maybe around 10 seconds.

Any tips are appreciated.

 

[doghead]

Always disconnect the negative wire first.

Connect it last.

Any other order is dangerous.

 

[TGP (IL)]

I doubt it was a short, not impossible, but more likely bad connections due to corrosion
In the connectors.
I would check those while looking for bare wires to ground if any.
Tom

 

[dmetalmiki]

Any loose or insecure connections will create a lot of heat (or burning).

 

[rustystud]

I agree with "TGP" and corrosion issues. After all these years, those connections can get really cruddy !

 

[schnackj]

thanks for the tips, I'll examine the wires and connectors and make an update to help others that may see the same issue. Yes I know the safest thing is to disconnect the ground, I was rushing trying to avoid a fire and pulled the loosest connector I could find.

 

[Eliteweapons]

I put dielectric grease in all of mine when I put them back together.

 

[jbayer]

I put dielectric grease in all of mine when I put them back together.

 

[schnackj]

Turns out it was the starter switch, I was examining the wiring and it fell apart just from pulling lightly on the wiring, there was clearly some arcing damage inside. I was able to start the truck just fine jumping the wire to the starter relay without any overheating of the wire loom. Does anyone know a good source for the rotating starter switch? Most of the ones I see for sale are the push button switches.