Melted wire coat on the AMPmeter wiring

[LukeSkywalker]

The wire that goes from the relay next to the battery and onto the ampmeter inside, via the circuitbox, has a melted coat on both the red and black wire.. It's badly melted all the way
I'm considering cutting the harness open and replacing these wires.

Anyone have/had this problem?
Anyone know what causes it and how to avoid it happening again?

[ShelbyDogg]

The wire that goes from the relay next to the battery and onto the ampmeter inside, via the circuitbox, has a melted coat on both the red and black wire.. It's badly melted all the way
I'm considering cutting the harness open and replacing these wires.

Anyone have/had this problem?
Anyone know what causes it and how to avoid it happening again?

High current draw such as pulling too much current when tapped into the brack wire. This isn't fused besides the fusible link. You still have a fusible link right? It would've smoked before the wires started melting. Yours probably melted when one of the ammeter posts touched ground. Check these when you have a chance.
 
You can change out the whole wire with a 10 gauge wire. Did the inside wire melt too?

[LukeSkywalker]

High current draw such as pulling too much current when tapped into the brack wire. This isn't fused besides the fusible link. You still have a fusible link right? It would've smoked before the wires started melting. Yours probably melted when one of the ammeter posts touched ground. Check these when you have a chance.
 
You can change out the whole wire with a 10 gauge wire. Did the inside wire melt too?

Yes, the inside wire melted too.. Big gaping wound on the black wire near the relay by the battery, and several open wounds inside the cockpit by the ampmeter on both the black and the red wire. It was like that when I got the car, and I have since replaced the old standard speedo with a new rallye speedo. so there should be no ground problems there now. Should I put a fuse on it by the relay when I replace the wire?  And if so, what Amp size fuse would you recommend?

Also, what is wrong when the dome light is constantly on but lights up even brighter whenever you shut the door..?
 

[Chryco Psycho]

you would have to use a realively heavy guage fusable link to fuse that wire , you must have had a short or high resistance through a connector near the end of where it melted under the dash , I recommend cleaning the contact at the plugs & coating them with di-electric grease to prevent corrosion in the future

[Strawdawg]

wait til the fire starts under there and then you will understand why so many have bypassed the ammeter

[ShelbyDogg]

Rallye dash has an ammeter too. Make sure that the posts are tight and the insulator is in good shape. The dome light circuit has one side at 12V and the other leg gets grounded when the door is open and the yellow wire gets grounded. The dash dimmer can also ground the yellow wire. Is the dome light on all the time now?  (door closed, key out?)

[LukeSkywalker]

Is the dome light on all the time now?  (door closed, key out?)

Dome light is on all the time with the ignition off key out also. The light gets even brighter when I close the door..

[LukeSkywalker]

You can change out the whole wire with a 10 gauge wire.

I read somewhere in here that one should use minimum 8 gauge wire for ammeter..?
The one that's there now is a 10 gauge?

[Chryco Psycho]

I have used 8 guage wire , over kill cannot hurt especially with high draw electric fans etc

[burdar]

Clean all of the bulkhead connections and use dielectric grease when you put them back together.  Bypass the amp meter by bolting the red and black wires together.  Tape up the connection heavily to prevent accidental grouding. 

When your budget allows, have the amp meter converted to a volt meter.

[Chryco Psycho]

the dome light is a ground switched circuit , so power is always at the bulb but the yellow wire from the dome light is grounding somewhere in the car , I assume you have adjusted the dimmer switch as at the end of the travel it grounds the dome light , if it is not there it grounds at the 2 door switches start tracing the wire to find the short once you elimnate the dimmer switch