Smoke from the dash

[Cary911]

Wife and I started to smell vanilla incense after driving our 84 911 for about an hour. The smell started about a quarter of a mile from our house as we were coming home. I stopped at the mailbox so she could get the mail and noticed some smoke coming up from just left of the steering column. Would appreciate any ideas on where to start.

[mlfox]

I suggest getting on your back and looking under the dash at the wiring to the ignition switch. Or carefully pull the oil level / pressure gauge from the dash and look into there. If you see any wires that have insulation melted, note their color(s), take some pictures and post them here.

Good luck,
mlfox

[Jim75911S]

Disconnect the battery. Some circuits are not fused. Heat causes smoke, smoke leads to fire.

[ShakinJoe]

I would suggest looking at the blower motor in the fresh air duct.

[Peter Zimmermann]

You have a fresh air/defrost control immediately to the right of the steering column. That switch unit, containing a variety of sliding knobs (usually 3 or 4), is normally illuminated when the car's lights are on. If the switch no longer has back lighting, the chance of a bulb coming loose, and shorting to metal (that harness is not fused), is pretty good. If a short occurs, the harness for the bulbs will go through melt down.

It's been at least twenty years since I've fixed one, so I can't remember how much collateral damage will occur. Start your diagnosis by looking under the dash at that switch's location, and check for bulbs/bulb holders, hanging from burned wires. If all looks good, turn on the car's lights. If illumination for the switch is normal, the problem lies elsewhere.

Good luck with it!

[Bobboloo]

As suggested above first thing you do is disconnect the battery before you do anything else.

Then start looking for the melted wires. The gauges are the best place to start. Pull them and report back what you find. More than likely some brown wires will be involved (ground). Other wires that could be involved are red/black stripe or black/blue stripe. Both carry 12v.

[al lkosmal]

Most of the dash, ash tray, glove compartment lights are daisy chained and not fused. Bobby has it right...........sget a good flashlight and stick your head under the dash to check out the wiring that connects the dash lights....you will probably find some burnt wiring, due to the a short of power to ground. you can replace the burnt wiring and....add an inline fuse to the circuit, under the dash to make the smoke go away.......ask me how i know.

Regards,
al

[Cary911]

I'll be getting back to the car next weekend. I really appreciate all of your responses. I sure hope it is just a short to ground and I can get to it easily.