what did I fry?

[dluyk]

In the process of rewiring the 53 - we made a mistake wiring the ignition switch. When we tried to start it we heard a pop and
a small puff of smoke. Fixed the ignition switch issue, and when we try to turn it over nothing happens. It's a 12V battery going to a 6V resistor. What should I check - Coil, starter solenoid, 6V resistor, or voltage Reg. Any insight would be appreciated.    

[bretto]

What region did you see smoke?  Dash or Engine bay.  And can you describe your erroneous ignition wiring.

[dluyk]

The puff of smoke was in the engine bay area near the firewall. The wire error - on the ignition switch we
had the battery tracer and coil tracer on the same post -

When we tried to turn it over the engine didn't do anything - nor did the starter.

[garage gnome]

I would dump the 6v resistor. I'm running a stock starter and solenoid on my '53 (key start) and it works jut fine on 12v. I'm going to wager that your resistor when pop though. I know some make a pop type noise when they go. Does the solenoid try to do anything, does it click?

[bretto]

Got a multimeter?

[p3ferris]

did you put a fuse in  it with the new wiring?  Check  power to the coil after you make sure there is power to the switch then go from there

[dluyk]

There is no fuse at all. What type of fuse would you recommend and where would you put it. This has
been a concern of mine. The old wiring didn't have any fuse's at all. As to the solenoid - it makes no clicking noise.
Thanks.

[gmcjr]

Fuses are good, originally jeeps didn't have very many. I used one of these under the dash, that way the branch circuits are fused separately. �

Of course, mines not a accurate restoration, by no means, and I had to build my own wiring harness.

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=SMEFS40740_0009851532

[Jesse]

Maybe you should try jumping across the terminals of the solenoid to see if it still starts, that way you would know if an ignition part got cooked or just something in the key circuit.  


-Jesse

[dluyk]

Here's what I did and I don't know why it worked. I jumped the solenoid - and it tried to start. Then removed the single black wire with one white tracer from the solenoid and the ignition switch and replaced it with a new wire. We turned the key and it the engine tried to start. To double check if the black wire with tracer was bad - we hooked it back up. And by gosh it also tried to start. So I'm not really sure why it didn't start the first time - but we seem to be back in business.

Did jumping the solenoid have some kind of effect and does this make sense?

[Macgraham]

Ain't  it wonderful to fix something and not know exactly what you did? Makes me want to go for a long drive out in the desert to see if it will actually make it back

[bretto]

As GMCJR said, I would get a weak link put in there (fuse). �When I wired my chassis, I bought one of those modern block that use the blade fuses also. �It's cheap insurance. �If anything get some inline ones.

[p3ferris]

I would check the wires fora melted or burned spot. If found..repair or replace it.  This is how car fires start, by ignoreing it.