Red Hot Wire!
 

I took my car out Saturday night for it's first real drive since I have had the car. I started it up, turned the lights on, and drove out of my driveway.

I didn't get 50 feet before I saw smoke and I looked down. The wire that powers the little light for the defroster on/off indicator between the front seats was bright red like a toaster filament!

I immediately pulled into my yard and turned off the lights and the key. Like a fool I reached down and tried to yank the wire away from the light(I haven't installed carpet in my car yet thank God). I burned 2 fingers on the melted insulation. Nothing else was hurt though.

I replaced the wire going to this light and I found that one of the screws that holds the light casing was running through the wire! Very bad! The previous owner must have screwed this up, as I have never messed with it.

Anyways, I found that this light ties into 4 other lights in my car(1 for the ashtray light, and 3 other lights for the heater controls on the dash). I replaced all of the bulbs and everything seems to working now.

2 things that I learned from the incident:

1. Use small fuses so they blow!
2. Always have a fire extinguisher on hand!

Bill