What the heck has burned under my dash??

[JAR0023]

86 Carrera. I'm investigating no running lights on the right side of the car. Original thread is here. No tail lamp/marker lamp right side

Found this last night connected to 58R on the headlamp switch. Grey wire with Red trace. This is the right side running light circuit. The white tag is the porsche part number. I've dug around and found the supercede number as 911.612.010.03. It simply listed as headlamp wiring. Looked at a ton of pictures and none of this have this part attached. Part number is for harness but I don't believe this was originally included.

My first thought was inline fuse or fusable link. But maybe not. There is an a/m Alpine alarm in the car. PPO and PO both simply ignored the alarm.

Piece is about 3 inches long. Retangular. Appears it pulled apart at one time. Inside the burned out section appears to be a small wire than could have been a fuse. Doesn't look like a regular fuse I would know. Anyone know what this is? Simple flasher for alarm?

I don't have any way to arm the alarm. Can I replace this with an inline fuse until I can pull all of the alarm? What rate for a fuse? Same as rest of circuit?

Thanks
-J

How I found it.



Close ups.

[Justin@Athens]

Well, something caused this, but I don't know what. Try an inline fuse, see if you can figure out what is causing the short--if you are lucky something else will start to smolder and let you know where the real culprit lies. I don't think this was a fuse to be honest, I've seen this kind of junction between the switches and ancillaries in my old car, but don't recall it being a fuse.

[Joe Bob]

Alarms are the source of many electrical nightmares. I must have pulled 10lbs of crap out of my cab when I junked the Alpine stereo and alarm combo.

I would have a buddy and a weekend, a wire diagram, a couple pairs of Dykes aka Diagonal cutters and have a cutting party. Have a good supply of Zip ties.

That looks like a connector that got grounded and fried. Does one end still have 12v when you pull out the switch?

[JAR0023]

JB, you keep helping me out and I'm going to have to put you on my Xmas list.

Plan to check 58r for 12v when I get home. Out now picking up inline fuses. Need to take care of gauges, footwell blowers, condenser blower as well.

J

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[timchar]

Looks like a diode, was it very close to ignition? My lights were acting crazy, I took diode out, no problems since. Tim

[Joe Bob]

Don't worry, I'll come up with something stoopid soon.

If you are handy with a meter....you can determine if the dead end is grounded somewhere between the disconnected burnt end and the fuse box. If the meter doesn't show a ground short hook it up to the dash switch with a temp inline fuse....as a precaution.

IF it does show a short..... try to find where it's grounded by visually tracing the wire. If no joy, or run a temp wire. I'd still install a temporary inline (no more than 8amp) fuse as mentioned above....I'm paranoid about letting the smoke out......I'm a former English car owner.

Hook it to the switch and input on the fuse box, fire it up and see if the right side lamps work. Clean up whatever needs to be done.......but best to use the original color coded wire if it can be salvaged.

Good luck.

[JAR0023]

Originally Posted by timchar

Looks like a diode, was it very close to ignition? My lights were acting crazy, I took diode out, no problems since. Tim

Diode? So power goes from switch to lights but can't backflow to switch from downstream source? Like alarm system flashing the lights?

This was basically right off the light switch.

J
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[timchar]

When my lights were acting bizzare, a few on here told me to take diode out. In their opinion it served no purpose. It couldn't be found in any wiring schematics. Took mine out 9 months ago and no problems. I am by no means an expert when it comes to wiring and electrical, so please excuse my inability to explain in anymore detail.. Good luck, Tim

[McLovin]

That's a diode, it is in line on the running lights on the right side of the car.

It's an odd thing, only used on the '86 model year.

Not sure what would cause it to blow up like that.

Here's some info on it:

1986 911 Diode for Running Lights, help!

[86 911 Targa]

Originally Posted by Justin@Athens

Well, something caused this, but I don't know what. Try an inline fuse, see if you can figure out what is causing the short--if you are lucky something else will start to smolder and let you know where the real culprit lies. I don't think this was a fuse to be honest, I've seen this kind of junction between the switches and ancillaries in my old car, but don't recall it being a fuse.

Hope this helps.





Good luck,

pm me as needed.

Gerry

[JAR0023]

Originally Posted by McLovin

That's a diode, it is in line on the running lights on the right side of the car.

It's an odd thing, only used on the '86 model year.

Not sure what would cause it to blow up like that.

Here's some info on it:

1986 911 Diode for Running Lights, help!

Excellent thread. Just what happened to mine. I didn't find it during my search. Noticed J Walker says, cut it out wire it up and forget about it.

Tested 58r on the light switch and found 12v. Tested circuit down stream and no shorts. Wired it back with inline fuse. 7.5a. Everything is working as it should.

Managed to get the D/S window frame adjuated, membranes on the doors, and speakers mounted as they should be. Rain has moved out, so it's time to clean up and go for a drive.

Thanks again for all the input.

J

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[Joe Bob]

Glad you were successful.