Thanks Carl! I’ll start practicing now…! 
I’ll report back when done!
Thing is, the vampires are not great, but they are not the cause of the smoke. I’d do as little as possible, taping them up will suffice for now.
Here’s diagnostic help…
http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/colourcodes.htm
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Andreas,
supporting what Aristides and David remarked: the open wires are almost certainly leftovers of similar clamps to the pink ones and unlikely to have caused the fumes. For the moment I’d simply insulate with electric tape and let be. Soldering is nice as long as you’ve got your parts on a bench, have clamps to fix two wires and then do the text book soldering. I’m not a solder hero and wouldn’t be happy either about soldering right in the middle of a nest of insulated wires.
Still, you need to locate the source of the original fumes. If they originated from a real electric wire fire there will be black traces and typical smells. More difficult to locate if they came from inside an electric component. Try to use all bits of equipment, check respective fuses and measure amperage (excessive amperage may indicate excessive resistance and heat!). Try to remember: what did you do when the smoke developed the first time?
Ahhh … and - if that black box indeed is a car alarm, immobiliser etc.: just pull it out! Carefully, but thoroughly and chances are you’ve exorcised a dozen electric gremlins at the same time. Frankly, I’ve never seen a “harmless” after market car alarm and from draining batteries to mysterious “Christine” appearances they have been responsible for just about anything that can go wrong with car electrics.
Good luck
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)
Soldering is easy as long as the tip is tinned (sand it off to bare metal, use flux to tin the tip) and you use flux on the wiring. Heat from below and flow the solder into the hot wire without touching the iron. Shouldn’t be so hard.
The chinese shrink-solder joiners are not that bad and easy to use. Lighter will do. But tape will do well enough!
hmmm… it’s easier said than done.
There is a lot of butchery involved to install those bloody things and a lot of circuits that are possibly intercepted.
- Turn signals, so they flash when the alarm is activated,
- Door locks, if the system has a remote lock option,
- Ignition, if it has an immobilizer option.
And with all these connectors it seems that Andreas’s one has all of the above options.
My 1990 Mercedes has one of them, and even though I’m quite adept with electrics, never use it and badly wanted it out, I let it be…
What the master electricians did when they installed it was to feed the electric windows main relay directly from the battery, so the could feed the alarm with a constant +12v, meaning that the relay was energised all the time and draining the battery… took me for ever to find the problem, and still haven’t figured out how and where they messed with the main relay…
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No risks Andreas.
Do a couple of practice tries and you will be fine, and if you do a mess, cut the cables again and retry.
The key is that the copper is sparkly clean, and tinned properly.
Lots of tutorials on the web.
I would strongly suggest though that you remove all these connectors, even though they are pretty in Pink, and do solder and shrink wrap all the connections
Cut the main cable at the joint, twist the two together, insert the shrink wrap and connect the double with the single cables with the hook system.
The advantages of the hook system are multiple:
You have no sharp points sticking out, and easy to pierce the shrink wrap.
The double strand will have more or less the same diameter with the insulated cable, so when you put the shrink wrap you have something with more or less the same thickness, i.e. you don’t have a thin / week part that’s easier to bend and possibly brake.
It’s much easier to hold everything together when you solder.
(A lesson an Aviation Electric Engineer gave me once)
I would strongly suggest to leave everything in place for now and narrow down what wire or part has started to leak the smoke out. Then fix that problem.
If you start messing with possibly (likely!) unrelated wiring and create another issue by merely looking at a few wires the wrong way, you’ll have even more trouble finding the dangerous problem you already have - fire - and in the end, you will end up rewiring the car. I assume you don’t want to tear it apart completely. Tape up what shouldn’t be exposed on your way into the dashboard, but don’t disturb the alarm for now. First, you have to understand what it does and how everything fits together. I’d hate to see you give up due to more and more complications.
Find the leak first and then make it pretty.
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Indeed.
Some more characters…
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Thanks. I’ll follow that advise. I’ll tape up those connections for now, leave the alarm as-is, and completely remove the dashboard to get a clear view on order to find the origin of the smoke.
If I cannot find the origin, then I’ll carefully try to replicate the situation…
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Andreas,
Quite a chore ahead of you. I do have a couple of questions:
- How long have you owned the car?
- Had you done any work in that area before the smoke appeared? If so, what did you do?
I’d recommend disconnecting the battery negative lead while working on the wiring. Better safe than sorry! Once your taping (or soldering) is complete, along with investigating other wire(s) then re-connect the negative Bat lead.
Lucas smoke can be quite concerning. That’s why most Jag owners carry a small fire extinguisher on-board in the cabin.
Do you have the original wiring diagram that came with the car papers? IF not I’d highly recommend obtaining a copy for future reference (aka smoke chasing)…
Stay Well and Happy Trails,
Dick
Here’s a real-time update: find the source of the fire/smoke!
I am right in assuming this is a alarm relay?
certainly appears to be, at the very least it is not factory. Looks like you get to remove the source of the smoke and remove all those crappy scotch-lok connectors at the same time. Also, think of the weight savings!
Eureka !!! AKA "I found it "
Safe bet it is an infamous after market alarm.
Rouse mit das s…en…
Victory is in sight.
Carl
And the story continues after some more research: although connected to the alarm this black box with the blown/burnt fuse seems to be for a relay circuit for permanent low beam (used to be Swedish regulations for this).
The black box is: a Mixon Electronic 78-02165-6 circuit connected to a Hella 3526-00 and Hella 8JA 007 024-0 (fuse holder).
My idea: remove this circuit and restore original wiring.
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**
It was the compulsory ‘driving light’ regulation, Andreas - and if still in effect; you’ll need it?
Or in other words, does the ‘low beam’ come on with ignition ‘on’ - as the regulation intended? If not; the source of the smoke seems found, and the question is whether removing the feature would be legal?
If the relay is indeed also used as an appendix to the alarm system, flashing lights when activated, or separate for one function only; just removing the relay is a bit iffy. As for restoring the original wiring; you need to know what that was - and what colors/connections were used for the alarm…or confusion will reign…
Almost certainly, the smoke was caused by the relay socket burning due to a bad connection overheating. If possible; restore as was - to remove an alarm system successfully really requires its wiring diagram. If there are no malfunctions; leave things as they are until you know ‘how’. The faulty insulation shown in other pictures just needs insulation tape…
Frank
xj6 85 Sov Europe (UK/NZ)
Andreas,
-
If I see correctly from this photo the fuse is on the primary circuit of the relay (the coil), that’s fine but the fuse (yellow) is rated at 20A…(!!) The coil would fry long before the fuse blows… it should be a 2A fuse.
-
What does this relay do ?
You should see when it gets energised (pins 85 & 86)
What is connected when Off (pins 30 & 87a)
What is connected when On (pins 30 & 87) -
Why did the fuse melt and not blow?
-
The relay is almost certainly kaput.
Simple partial fixes:
- I used to have a small can of liquid tape. probably rubber dissolved in acetone. A dab at the former vampire sites would make them sound again. Easier than solder in close quarters.
Unless you need the low beams auto lit, leave it so.
I abandoned the idea of constructing a circuit to
light the low beams from the ignition switch.
A best path. Remove the Hella relay and receptacle. replace with healthy parts.
Mulling Aristides comment on the inadequate fuse protection… How to best include in the repair.
- Remove the doubled up relay. that will disable the Note: alarm and ignition trigered low beam circuit
Notes: Canadian market similar cars are wired in that manner. Seek a schematic manual for an 81 Canadian market car.
Did you get paper work that might Id the alarm maker? With a huge dab of luck, a google search might find the schematic.
My son asked me to check the source of the six cylinder engine in his Odd old fork lift. He gave me the engine number from the block. Amazing, I did. 51 Plymouth. Probably a salvage yard source. A bit tired and loose. But runs great and the lift is amazing… Sourced from an M37 dodge WWII weapons carrier…
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