Need advice from the electrical gurus on this board please

[wolfturbo]

As some of you know, I had a fire in my RS about 3 weeks ago. The fire was located in the steering column where the directional/hi/lo switch mounts. Needless to say, the switch is toasted (figuratively & literally).

I was in the process of removing it today. I noticed that there are two bunched cables of wires and a ground wire that go back under the dash and over towards the headlight switch. I'm pretty sure the one wire that goes under the dash is a ground wire because it is brown with a yellow stripe with a female flat connector on the end.

Here's my question: this brown and yellow wire wasn't connected to anything under my dash. Is this what could have caused my fire? BTW, my fire happened at night, with my headlights on. More specifically, I believe it happened when I turned on my high beams.

Any words of advice for a novice? Anybody also know what this wire is supposed to connect to?

As always, all advice is appreciated! Thanks!

[bell]

could that wire be the high beam wire? if it was touching ground it would've shorted possible causing the fire......do you have a schematic for the car? that will probably be your best bet to know what it is for sure.

[RoninLB]

I'm not to sure where you found this female,
but there is a connector between the parking brake sw and the dash "parking brake" lite that connects 2 brown/y wires

[Bob's Flat-Six]

Hi Wolf,
I just replaced my switch on my 80 SC but the only brown/ white stripe (not yellow) wire I had connected at or near the steering column. I replaced the wires one at a time so I was sure were they went.
I also removed the headlight switch so I would be able to see where they plugged in.

I'm not sure if this is like your switch but here's a pic

[wolfturbo]

Bob,

My switch is similar, but not quite the same.

Like yours, my switch also had 2 brown/yellow wires inside the steering column. One had a female connector that attached to the back of the horn ring. The other had an o connector that anchored to the bottom right screw that holds the plastic housing to the steering column.

I'm hoping that the replacement switch that I order from pelican may actually include a wiring diagram. Wishful thinking, perhaps.

Otherwise, I have lots of local buddies with '73 911's and I can have one of them take a look.

Thanks for taking the time to post your pic. Best regards.