Orange wire melted - Crank but no start?

1989 XJ. Got in to go to work - turned over, but no start. Kept trying and there was smoke coming out of the hood. Opened hood and tried again to see where the smoke was coming from...the orange wire on the starter relay was melted. Had no time to figure it out - my carpool buddy showed up in his car after I called him.

Does this wire go to the ignition coil or to the fuel pump ballast? WHY would it melt, what could have caused this?

Thanks in advance.

eace:

Fusable link? Probably melted due to a direct short. Have you done anything in the engine compartment lately that might have moved or pinched a wire?

I changed a radiator once and pinched the fuel pump wire on install, short developed a few days later and I finally figured out why I had several drivability issues when the fusable link went.

Hope this helps.

If it was melting it sounds like a major short to ground. I'd disconnect everything on the circuit and ohm test to chassis ground, if I found no short in the wiring, then start on the components. Like the ballast resistor, mine got so hot it cracked in the middle and melted the back side, possible it shorted to ground through the back if the resistor. It is also likely you melted a fusible link.

Gonna try a new "fusible link" starter relay. I'm pretty sure the pump is shot too - Autozone pump #6 or 7, fuel got too low (?), pump got hot and died. Ballast resistor looks good. Haven't done anything in the engine bay, except Seafoaming the intake. I changed out the fuel pump relay and the power latch relay. Ignition coil is good. The XJ tried to start after I put a new connector on the wire, but wouldn't stay started and the wire got hot. The pump doesn't even prime. I can't find anywhere else the circuit could be shorted.

Thanks for the suggestions.

sounds like an internally shorted pump.

that orange wire also powers the ECM injector circuits, so you might want to investigate that.

Pump primes now (and I have a NEW spare), it starts, but doesn't run, relay has resistance. Gotta find a store that actually has the relay...

I have 3 wieners and that same T-shirt!

Have you checked to see if the ballast resistor burned out? It would cause a starts, but does not stay running issue, and it it shorted to ground as it died may have started the problem.

Also check the orange wire to the O2 sensor, it is know to get hung up on the exhaust or drive shaft and short to ground causing your problem.

Ecomike said:

Have you checked to see if the ballast resistor burned out? It would cause a starts, but does not stay running issue, and it it shorted to ground as it died may have started the problem.

Also check the orange wire to the O2 sensor, it is know to get hung up on the exhaust or drive shaft and short to ground causing your problem.

Click to expand...

at the very least the resistor was not designed to handle the current of a shorted pump and may have burned up before the fusible link popped.

bypass it, you don't need it anyway and the pump will like having 12V.

Mine are named Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Edit: and if you're talking about the strange Renix starter relay Rockauto now has them at a not exorbitant price. Wen mine went bad they were unobtanium, so I just wired a regular relay in it's place. Been fine for years.

It was the relay. We'll see how long before the pump burns out. I'm only going to fill the tank half full for a while in case it does kick the bucket. Ballast resistor is fine after all these years, but I put electrician's tape on the body just in case. I think swapping the power latch relay helped the high idle that I've been pulling my hair out over, either that or the weather heating up did it.

87manche - I use to breed wieners. I have 2 minis - Gretta (mother) and Sweetpea (daughter), and got Dexter in November and he is 18 lbs and HUGE already. The breeders told me he was a miniature, but I told them the pups already looked like small standard or bigger.