Melt Down? (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Jul 29, 2019
Threads
58
Messages
248
Location
Coeur D Alene, Idaho
I have this melt down that occurred from the ignition switch to the connector. Two wires, I can't tell what color they were. The female connector wires were Black with a green stripe and black with a blue stripe. Any ideas why the melt down happened between the switch and the connector?
IMG_20230904_190333050.jpg
 
Seems like you sent unfused power straight to ground. What is that harness for? Is this part of your LS swap stuff?
It's the ignition switch harness. The factory soldered joints at the switch down to the connector is the portion that had the two wires melt. They're pretty big wires. This is on my LS swap, yes. I haven't done anything in this area though. It's a heavily wrapped and protected section of wires. I can't see how it could have shorted to ground. I'll investigate based on your idea of unfused power, thanks for the response.
 
Wires melt their insulation when there’s a direct short to ground- with no fuse
Since the wires were only burnt between the switch and the first black connector is it safe to say the short to ground has to be between those two points? These wires in this ignition switch "harness" are the biggest wires in the circuit as far as I can tell. Does that tell me that the short has to be in that vicinity? In other words if the smaller wires in the circuit are fine can I assume the short is near or at these large wires? I'm frustrated because a few years ago with the old motor and Toyota harness, I had a meltdown of a bunch of wires in the engine bay, mainly the wires to the battery, and back to the big round yellow connector, and also some of the fuel injector wires. Back then I stripped everything off and ran new wires and it ran great until I retired it to do the swap. Now with this burn wire problem I'm wondering if there's some hidden gremlin somewhere.
 
Last edited:
Are you 100% sure that’s the only point where you had a meltdown?
No I'm not. I will check. Is your theory that it could be burnt somewhere else and that area might be a worn wire grounding out to metal? What's strange is that these ignition wires are the biggest wires in the whole circuit, except the big Alternator wires.
 
Also- excessive current running through inadequate wire size will heat up the wire due to resistance to the point where the insulation can melt. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a direct short to ground.

Example- running 200 watts of headlights through dinky wires is enough current to heat up the wire — a lot.
 
Also- excessive current running through inadequate wire size will heat up the wire due to resistance to the point where the insulation can melt. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a direct short to ground.

Example- running 200 watts of headlights through dinky wires is enough current to heat up the wire — a lot.
I think I might have found the source but not sure yet. I dissected the two burnt wires, they were IG2 and AM2. I covered them with electricians tape and re installed the switch and the truck started right up. I monitored everything closely and nothing got hot. I turned the truck off and did some other things and was going to go get some fuel. The truck would not start, same symptoms. So I checked the switch for voltage as I turned the key across the contacts and had nothing. So I removed it and got it on the bench and checked for continuity across all the contacts and everything is good there, but.... the contact I have pointing the red probe to (IGN2) and the black probe which is pointing to AM1, both are wiggle loose. I disassembled the switch and can't see a way to get to the contacts. Maybe internally theses made contact?

Red Probe.jpg


Black Probe.jpg
 
I think I might have found the source but not sure yet. I dissected the two burnt wires, they were IG2 and AM2. I covered them with electricians tape and re installed the switch and the truck started right up. I monitored everything closely and nothing got hot. I turned the truck off and did some other things and was going to go get some fuel. The truck would not start, same symptoms. So I checked the switch for voltage as I turned the key across the contacts and had nothing. So I removed it and got it on the bench and checked for continuity across all the contacts and everything is good there, but.... the contact I have pointing the red probe to (IGN2) and the black probe which is pointing to AM1, both are wiggle loose. I disassembled the switch and can't see a way to get to the contacts. Maybe internally theses made contact?

View attachment 3421219

View attachment 3421220
Are you 100% sure that’s the only point where you had a meltdown?
Also- excessive current running through inadequate wire size will heat up the wire due to resistance to the point where the insulation can melt. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a direct short to ground.

Example- running 200 watts of headlights through dinky wires is enough current to heat up the wire — a lot.


-

- Are you actually going to mend this 10ga direct FULL ON battery voltage wires with electrical tape , re-install it and use it again after what occurred here ?

- i am going to guess say you have ...............humm........... over 177k on your FJ62 there ,.....a educated guess lets just say

- that's about the age , time , milage , and 9,999 stand alone rotary key switch , turns have occured before the internal copper contacts and steel check balls and springs turn into a Tom & Jerry Cartoon Clock exploding inside that round housing above ....

- mending wires here is not going to correct this internal mechanical and electrical clash of NEG- and POS+ voltage here that turned your 10ga wires into ashes in 4 seconds or less there


- these TOYOTA ignition key switches are NOT designed to take apart and repair inside ....fyi
- there is a safer , better way to go about this , that will not involve a TOYOTA TEq Fire Brigade FJ62 ?


.




.

1693978686352.png



.


 
Last edited:
-

- Are you actually going to mend this 10ga direct FULL ON battery voltage wires with electrical tape , re-install it and use it again after what occurred here ?

- i am going to guess say you have ...............humm........... over 177k on your FJ62 there ,.....a educated guess lets just say

- that's about the age , time , milage , and 9,999 stand alone rotary key switch , turns have occured before the internal copper contacts and steel check balls and springs turn into a Tom & Jerry Cartoon Clock exploding inside that round housing above ....

- mending wires here is not going to correct this internal mechanical and electrical clash of NEG- and POS+ voltage here that turned your 10ga wires into ashes in 4 seconds or less there


- these TOYOTA ignition key switches are NOT designed to take apart and repair inside ....fyi
- there is a safer , better way to go about this , that will not involve a TOYOTA TEq Fire Brigade FJ62 ?


.




.

View attachment 3421402


.



Answer is no, that was just to test. Test is done, can't fault me for taking it apart and looking inside. That switch looks nice Matt. I ordered one already. But I could return it.
 
Answer is no, that was just to test. Test is done, can't fault me for taking it apart and looking inside. That switch looks nice Matt. I ordered one already. But I could return it.


i was not giving you grief , only making sure you understood , that it is a fire hazard at this point ...

i did not get the impression you planned on removing it after you patched it back together ?


that's all :)
 
i was not giving you grief , only making sure you understood , that it is a fire hazard at this point ...

i did not get the impression you planned on removing it after you patched it back together ?


that's all :)
Thanks Matt, what I ultimately discovered is that two of my original wires to the battery, with fusible links were loose. I fixed those and installed a new ignition switch. No issues since and no other wires were affected. I don't understand enough about this circuit to figure out why the wires from the ign. switch to the first black connector are the ones that got hot. Why my fusible links didn't go? Anyway, I thank everyone who tried to help.
 
Thanks Matt, what I ultimately discovered is that two of my original wires to the battery, with fusible links were loose. I fixed those and installed a new ignition switch. No issues since and no other wires were affected. I don't understand enough about this circuit to figure out why the wires from the ign. switch to the first black connector are the ones that got hot. Why my fusible links didn't go? Anyway, I thank everyone who tried to help.


- the internals on the round rotary switch are past there life cycle

- this WILL happen again , if it's not replaced ...


- fire under a dash on any TOYOTA is Scary thing


- this below , scares me more ,,, 1/79 FJ55LG-KA usa spec.


- this could be you if that old switch was re-used ... :(

thanks for the reply

matt




dash 1.JPG
dash 2.jpg
dash 3.JPG
dash 8.JPG



.
 
- the internals on the round rotary switch are past there life cycle

- this WILL happen again , if it's not replaced ...


- fire under a dash on any TOYOTA is Scary thing


- this below , scares me more ,,, 1/79 FJ55LG-KA usa spec.


- this could be you if that old switch was re-used ... :(

thanks for the reply

matt




View attachment 3432997View attachment 3432998View attachment 3432999View attachment 3433000


.
Hi Matt,

Are you talking about also replacing the tumbler that the key inserts in? In addition to the switch?
 
Hi Matt,

Are you talking about also replacing the tumbler that the key inserts in? In addition to the switch?


ONLY if after you remove the electrical key switch its super sloppy or binding ?

then YES

is normal smooth operation ?

then your SOLID !



make sense :)


or ?

is this going on below ...:confused:


-

i would not show this , just fix it ..







Ignition.jpg
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom