'67 Coupe dash ground wire melted

Timmer72

New Member
Jun 25, 2021
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Oshkosh, WI
New to the forum. Learned a few things from reading old threads though. Time to join. Sorry for the long read but wanted to cover what info I can. Hoping for some insight by those smarter than myself.

I previously replaced dome light and door switches. It did not work when I bought the car. Confirmed continuity between them. But it still didn't work.

Also the gauge cluster was rebuilt with new wire harness. Cluster worked ok after with exception of driving at night with headlights turned on, the cluster lights flickered. Turning headlight switch to engage dome light didn't work either. Thus thought I'd replace the headlight switch.

Well, after replacing it the headlights and gauge lights worked fine. When I turned the dimmer switch smoke poured out of the dash. Quickly disconnect battery and pulled the cluster. Ground wire is melted where it attaches to dash and also going into the white plastic connector (believe this is for turn signal). Fortunately no other wires shorted or melted in the dash. Thus I don't think I pinched a wire when reassembling. Could the power wires for the dome light or switches be shorted? New to this stuff.

Replacing the ground wire is easy enough, but if I don't fix the problem it's likely going to happen again. Also considering a whole new under dash harness if needed but afraid I'll melt that too.

I'm just not understanding why the ground wire shorted.
 

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