I have a 69 Delta 88. Last year I started having issues with the wiring in my baby. It would crank and start smoking...in two places that I know of. there is a small ground wire running from the neg terminal, grounding next to the radiator, a 6 to 8 inch wire. The insulation has smoked itself off of that wire; again, only when cranking the motor. The other oddity, is that at one point smoke was rolling out (while cranking) from under the drivers side floor pan. When I looked the emergency brake was near on fire. I thought I had a bad battery--which I did and replaced it. I tried to start it again and got maybe a 1/8 crank and boom!!!!!!! What the...? I got out and looked, but didn't see anything. Turned the key and nothing! I played with the neg cable and heard a "click" in the voltage regulator. got back in the car and she turned over and started. It was not until this morning that I looked under the car and the emergency brake cable had snapped, hence the Boom. I would not have though that these two issues were related if I had not seen smoke running of the e-brake cable. And now that it snapped, I wonder if the snap point was were there was a hot-spot where the cable was heated and snapped. The cable (in that spot) does not looked over corroded or anything unusual. What is going on???? Where am I supposed to look for a short? The e-brake cable goes from the firewall into the frame and from the frame, to where its plainly visible and I don't see anything sitting against it. HELP!!!!!!!!

 

And a little more about the battery--there was corrosion on the negative terminal and terminal wire (enough to block a strong connection, I think). I cleaned it all off and then coated both with anti-corrosion goop and connected. It was then that I tried to start and got the boom!!! and then nothing. And it was then that I played with the neg cable and then heard the click from the voltage regulator and then I could start it up. Could this whole thing have been due to the bad connection on the negative battery side? If so, why the emergency brake cable. Sorry to go on with this, but I just got inside from doing a little more searching and still have nothing.

 

My first thought is that the Ebrake cable was touching the positive cable, near the starter. It's possible you have a bad ground connection on the neg side at the block?, and maybe the Ebrake cable was touching the block enough to carry all the voltage from the ground side?

 

Not even close to the block. The brake cable goes down through the firewall and right into its housing through the frame. From there, it goes out to the rear wheels...and not really close to the positive cable, either. I did check and its not touching anything I can see. I did check the ground to the block today--took it off and inspected; nothing. There are also two small groundstraps from the block, to the frame--those are well intact too.

 

Sounds like maybe the negative battery cable is loose at the block, or has a broken contact in the battery terminal ends.
The starter may be pulling HIGH current through places it shouldnt.
A new negative cable might be a good idea.

Now going through the e-brake cable is odd though. Have you pulled the left kick panel and looked to see if there might be any wiring shorting to the e-brake mechanism? If you have power windows, there is a power source behind that panel.
However, since it is just during cranking, this odd looks low.

 

I agree with Rob. Check the wiring to the door switch that activates the dome/courtesy lamp. That is the nearest hot wire to the E brake cable. Next to that, check any wiring under the dash near the cable, there could be some wires place there by a previous owner. Look for burnt insulation, bare wires, loose wires with exposed connectors on them.

 

I checked over the brake mechanism pretty thoroughly and didn't notice anything odd. I do know the battery didn't have good contact at the battery, which I took care of. I will check the wiring to the door switch and return and report. The wiring under the dash looks very clean and fresh. The other issue too, is that it did not happen all the time. AND...the cable generally got hot and smoked only where the cable was then gounding out against bare metal.

 

I think you have a grounding problem, and what's happening is ALL the ground load was trying to go thru the (-) to radiator support wire, or the e-brake cable. Buddy had a 69 Camaro that lost the body ground from block to firewall and it grounded thru the heater control cables and seized them up, and it's not at all uncommon to hear of a fried shifter cable from car trying to ground itself thru it.

Double check the battery (-) cable to block connection and clean it, and if cable looks questionable at all REPLACE IT. It may be so corroded internally that it can't pass enough ground load for starter to function, and the electrical system is trying to ground thru any available ground path- in your case, the (-) to core support cable, and the e-brake cable.

Then make sure the small ground strap from the back of the block to the firewall is in place. You may also find some more of those small copper ground straps between the frame and body components.

It's difficult to explain in words, but what happened was the (-) cable didn't pass enough ground current, either due to corrosion or a break. The sheetmetal ground to the core support took all the starter ground load (and fried). That load transferred to the car body thru the core support, front sheetmetal and the fender mounting bolts. The e-brake cable being metal and attached to the car body, completed the ground circuit and took the ground load until it couldn't.

You're damn lucky that car didn't go up.

 

I had a ground strap corode and break once and it grounded through the A/T shift cable and welded it shut.

 

I have also heard of driveshaft yokes being welded into the tranny during long cranking when the negative cable was installed to the frame and no body to block straps were in place.
There is a reason for correct grounding...

 

Thanks Rocketraider...and everyone else. I am feeling better, and not to mention more confident in what the problem is.

I haven't seen any straps connecting the block, to the firewall. There are two straps--one on each side, connecting the block to the frame. I suppose I could take those off and do a little sanding...just in case. I took the ground cable off the block. It looked okay, but I have a sneaky suspicion that if I tore open the great looking insulation I might find a problem between the (-) battery side and ground (block) side of the cable. We shall see.

This just narrows it down for me--instead of putting hours into finding a short (torn insulation shorting against something else), which I have yet to find, I can focus on grounds.

Thanks again guys!

 

Thanks everyone for your input!!!! I think I found the problem. I checked all the groundstraps, but one. The one I couldn't see. I was working on a sheared off exhaust flange bolt and had to hang my work light. I hung it on something and thought, "Dern, that looks like a ground strap..." Well, that it was. It went from the firewall, to the block. At the block, the bolt was backed out a least a quarter inch. So that with a bad neg bat. cable, would do it. And also, I found out exactly where the cable broke--it shorted against the transmission and, SNAP! So, hopefully that should be it--with the exception of drlling out the flange bolt that is driving me absolutely insane!!!!

 

I think the problem all along was what you finally determined. The bad engine block-to-firewall ground strap was causing the electrical system to try to find some other way to connect the two, and the e-brake cable became the new ground strap.

I'm glad to hear you got it cleared up, and it's another electrical problem that can be chalked up to a bad ground. I've had my share of electrical issues with my two old cars, and it's amazing how many times the problem has turned out to be a bad or missing ground.

 

Electrons do crazy things - glad you are on the road to getting it on the road again!

 

happiness is clean, tight, and proper electrical connections.


bill