When cars were simpler than they are now
I used to do most of my own repairs and servicing. Nowadays cars bristle with ECUs and electrickery everywhere; you can't even disconnect the battery on my Land Rover Defender without the alarm springing into life courtesy of a back-up battery (apparently there is a way around this that involves inserting the ignition key and hopping on your left leg whilst reciting the Haynes manual backwards)

I currently tend to leave anything more complex than topping up the oil to a garage.

Anyway in 1988 some scrote stole the cassette/radio out of my Austin 1300 GT (it was ancient then and if it is still around it will be an antique). After replacing part of the dashboard with bits from the local scrapyard I fitted a new cassette radio and a rather posh graphic equaliser. Whilst I wired the radio in properly, the graphic equaliser wiring was temporary as I had run out of the proper connectors - when I say temporary it amounted to a live wire being connected direct to the battery without a fuse!

I bought all the right connectors and set off on the short drive home. Suddenly the inside of the car was lit up by a wire glowing like a 250 watt bulb, at the same time the car filled up with choking black smoke as the insulation on the wire fried and burned. I stopped and retired to a safe distance. The smoke died down and I assessed the damage: most of the instruments including temperature gauge and fuel gauge were not working, the new graphic equaliser had a nice burn mark on the casing.

The car did start though and as it burst into life my attention was attracted by a gurgling noise. I leaned forward with interest and was rewarded by a shower of warm oil in my face from the nylon oil pressure pipe that had been neatly severed. I tied a knot in the pipe and drove home.

Over the next few days I found out that so many wires behind the dash had been burned that the only real option was a replacement front loom. This was purchased from the scrappy and I spent the next week slowly rewiring the dash and also the entire ignition system!
( Vambo, Fri 11 Mar 2011, 12:42, 4 replies)

Sorry about that
Nice read BTW.
(Ymob is a kaburu, Fri 11 Mar 2011, 13:12, closed)

A fellow Defender driver! Good to see. I keep a roll of duck tape in it all the time now, ready for when the next thing falls off. I love it to bits mind.
( Admiral_Fubar, Fri 11 Mar 2011, 13:35, closed)

Duct tape doesn't always work
A welder is always useful. I've got through several rolls of wire on my crumbling rusty steed
(Sir Tainley Barking Ezekiel 23:20, Mon 14 Mar 2011, 1:42, closed)

Had something similar happen in a Land Rover Series 3 a while back.
For anyone who doesn't know, they only had about 3 fuses in them, and several things (like the sidelights) didn't even go through a fuse at all. So, when you get a short, you can tend to get a lot of smoke and then need to drive home with the lights off. At night. Down unlit country roads :-(
(Kyzia was here on, Fri 11 Mar 2011, 23:00, closed)