Hi, I have a 1988 F-250 with a 460 gas motor in it. I am having a problem with what I believe is the coil solenoid (pictured below).
I was driving today and one of the 16 gauge wires caught fire and melted right through. The engine killed and I was getting no power to anything exept the hardwired plow controls and the dome light. I tried several times to rewire it thinking it might have a short inthe wire itself but it melted through each time. Does anyone have any advice or pics/wiring diagrams that might help me? I did a little more research and found out it might be the voltage regulator, let me know if I am wrong. Thanks in advance. *(Note, the wire that melted is not the one melted in the picture, it is one of the six black wires coming off the negative terminal)

 

Well, for 88 that should be your starter solenoid, but that isn't nearly heavy enough of a red wire to run down to the starter. Where does it go?

Also, the fat battery cable on the right post, does that go to the positive battery terminal.

What burned up is the fuse link actually. Looks like a wire, but they act like a fuse to protect all of the primary circuits.

Is the truck EFI still?

Adrianspeeder

 

The red small wire, I never bothered to trace it down because I wasn't having a problem with it. One those five or six thin black wires are what were giving me trouble but they go into one harness which runs across the front of the truck but then I lost it. Yes it is EFI and that fat red wire does go right to the positive battery terminal. And if they are fuse links, does that mean I have to just replace the fuse link or is there a short somewhere else?

 

If a fuse link burns out, there's a reason. Generally, that means there's a short in that circuit.

 

Thanks, next time I get to working on the truck again I'll check for shorts and then replace the fuse link. to adrianspeeder, to glc