I was coming back from lunch today and all the sudden The ammeter started to peg then about a minute passed and smoke filled my gauges, so I pulled over and turned off the truck.
Before I start my with what happened does anyone know what would cause amps from the alternator to jump up and stay high enough to burn up the wire harness?
(My truck is a 77’ Power Wagon cummins Conversion)
I popped the hood and checked the alternator wiring. The black charging wire that runs through the bulkhead connector to the ammeter was burnt up as well as the green wire that runs to the voltage regulator. However the red wire that runs that also runs to the voltage regulator Looked fine.
I continued looking around and the the red wire that comes from the ammeter and connects to the starter relay was burnt up very very badly and oddly the fusible link didn’t blow. Next I pulled the cluster and saw that the black wire that comes from the alternator to the ammeter was burnt and the red wire that goes from the ammeter to the starter relay had shorted to the black (that explains the smoke) but what cause it the heat up in the first place?.
What would cause the amperage to shoot up and stay there?