Red wire in engine burned and disconnected (Page 1/2)
green21135 JUL 24, 09:34 AM
Hello, I was driving the other day with my AC on in my 87 GT and suddenly everything shut off and I was at first getting like 8v on the battery gauge and now no power at all. When I tried to jump it this wire was melting at the bottom and then it fell off of wherever it goes. I was wondering if someone could tell me what this wire does and where it goes? I cut the end where it was melting. Thanks a lot

https://imgur.com/8372Of8
88Fingers JUL 24, 10:07 AM
Hey Green, I just took a look at mine and there is a wire like that that connects into the red battery terminal connector. The negative has a similar one in black colour.
green21135 JUL 24, 10:11 AM
So does that mean there are 3 wires going to the positive battery terminal? I already have two others on there that are still intact and this wire seems to go towards the front of the car if you follow it into the bundle it goes into on the side.
fierofool JUL 24, 10:12 AM
There is only the main battery cable and the one satellite wire on the positive terminal. That small wire runs directly to the C500 to supply power for distribution.

Its been over 15 years since I had a similar problem but as I recall, it goes from the lower terminal on the C500 and is a main power supply for power accessories. The only thing that worked on mine was the dome lights, as I recall. I was running my AC at the time, too. My problem was caused by a shorted radiator cooling fan motor because it runs when the AC is on. It shut down the car and all the power equipment. Windows and the like wouldn't operate. I thought it had a fusible link in it, but by the appearance of yours, maybe not.

We were both lucky that it didn't get into the main harness alongside the battery. It could have ignited that sheathing and burned our cars to cinders.

[This message has been edited by fierofool (edited 07-24-2019).]

green21135 JUL 24, 10:18 AM
Any chance you could send a picture of where it attaches to? Thanks for the help and that sounds like that is probably the issue
fierofool JUL 24, 10:27 AM
After enlarging your picture, it looks like there was a fusible link there and it maybe has already been replaced once. I would suggest that you replace your cooling fan motor just as a precaution. Cheap insurance since it looks like it's happened before.

If you lean over and look underneath that box where all the wires are going, you will see two screw posts. There are wires attached to it. The small one that comes from the battery terminal should be attached to the lower one. There should also be the terminal end and some wire on one of them that came from your burned wire.
fierofool JUL 24, 11:57 AM


In this picture I pulled from the internet, your wire connects to the top screw post. I think it's the one that goes down and curves back up. You can see the fusible link down in the background. I remember that the club member who repaired mine had to solder in a new fusible link into that wire.

When you have a short, the wire starts to burn at the source of the positive voltage, that's why the fusible link is close to the battery or the source of the voltage. You can see all the other links right there in the same general area.
green21135 JUL 24, 12:02 PM
Any idea what the value of the fusable link is? I guess I need to figure out what to buy to replace it.
cvxjet JUL 24, 03:12 PM
That wire appears to A) Been Spliced (Possible fusible link, and B) To head forward- which means it is supplying power to the front of the car- The only two things up front that need a lot of Amps is the headlights and the radiator fan.......
fierofool JUL 24, 03:27 PM
I don't know, but if you check a Clymers or Haynes manual, it should tell you. Maybe some here will speak up.