Smoke from behind instruments. Engine stops.

Chalky

Active Member
Car sitting on driveway ticking over. Engine cuts out smoke coming from behind clock on dash. Any ideas?
 
Coil 12 Volt ballast wire wire giving up the ghost, pretty sure it runs into the cabin, just a guess.

Graeme
 
Coil 12 Volt ballast wire wire giving up the ghost, pretty sure it runs into the cabin, just a guess.

Graeme
I’m looking at the ammeter shunt at the moment. Smoke came from that area behind clock. Don’t know much about them I suppose they can fail.
 
Would this stop ignition coming on all I got is hazards and horn.

it would just kill power to the coil. All other systems should be fine. If you’re losing other systems it sounds much more serious and I would disconnect the battery to make sure you don’t end up with a fire.
 
it would just kill power to the coil. All other systems should be fine. If you’re losing other systems it sounds much more serious and I would disconnect the battery to make sure you don’t end up with a fire.
Just found the link between the battery side and the alternator side in the shunt has melted. Any ideas to cause
 
Could a bad connection overheated .
Spent the morning looking. Had the starter motor out. Checked all the wiring nothing. Spoke to another p6 owner he had one fail put in a replacement and hasn’t had a problem in six years. Never found a cause so perhaps they do fail without provocation.
 
Double check your alternator wiring, There are TWO leads from the alternator that are powered. The Elecs often only connect one and bury the other somewhere. The terminal is uninsulated so can short out - that is by the current running backward up the wire from the shunt which is live from the other cable.
Also you may find the wires go all the way across the dash and then back inside the harness.

Other possibility is the Tacho connections in its rear as the coil lead passes through it....From memory you can connect one to the other as they are M and F which will discount tacho issues
M
 
Quick update. Spoke to Mark Gray he has sold a few shunts over the last couple of years so they do blow. I’m thinking either it has failed through old age or alternator is putting out too much power. Got a replacement on the way so will put it on and check alternator output.
 
Good morning,
Just reading this thread and I wonder where I could find an electrical diagram of this car, 2000TC
One of the things I want to go through is the wiring connections to find potential issues. And it's always good to have some documentation in case a problem pops up.

Cheers,
Wilfred
 
The workshop manuals contain all the diagrams for various versions. Check it has yours before buying though.
Alternatively the glovebox manual for the car has a (1) wiring digram in the back specific to that car.
Main differences are engine type and instrument cluster + fuse box but the colours vary quite a bit across models.
 
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