I am still trying to get my 64 convertible running. I did some work on the gas tank, ran a new fuel line and the engine turns over easily by hand. I put a new battery in and as soon as I touched the positive battery cable to it sparked and one of the wires started to melt. I have attached some pictures showing the wires. I replaced the regulator and the relay, neither of which were the problem. It occurs to me I can replace almost everything until I find it. I am good at household wiring but am a little lost here. I have the 63 and 64 factory service manuals but am still lost. Any help will sure be appreciated, I really want to save this car.
Thank, Vince

 

You need to follow that wire that's melting and see what it's connected to first. Then you need to disconnect it and see if it's still shorted. If not, then it is probably whatever it's supplying current to that is at fault. Or maybe the wire itself somehow got pinched and is shorted to ground somewhere along its path.

 

I hate it when that happens! An easy way for me was to connect a 12 volt test light between the battery and the red cable to the starter, disconnect the smaller 12v wire there at the solenoid and see if the light goes out. only unfused 12v wire through the firewall goes to the ignition switch, unhook that if you like and see if any differance. check the 12v terminal on the fuse block inside the car,see if anything is plugged into it. The only thing left in the engine bay unfused should be the alternator and relays. If you need to disconnect everything till the light goes out or dims might be what you can do to isolate the problem. Yes follow the red wire that is the clue.

 

Thank you Thomas. I have the negative battery cable connected and the positive cable disconnected while I do this, correct?

 

Yes, Hook the test light where the positive connection is on the battery and the other end of the test light hooks it to the red cable (going to the car starter.) It will light up with the short it has. It will stay bright until the short is ungrounded.

 

What about one of those volt meters shaped like a pen? I bought one for a couple bucks at Harbor Freight. They work well on my house.
Don't know about the car. It's cordless.

 

If you're talking about one of those that just detects whether there is voltage present or not, it might not work on 12 volts DC as I believe it relies on alternating current. But you could certainly try it if it's one that just detects voltage presence.

 

Vince's problem is he has a live high amp 12 positive wire going to direct ground for some odd reason, and sometimes they are not always easy to find. What I was telling him about was an old trick lots of people use to detect electrical draws using a 12 volt test light. Can be used on either terminal + or- pick one, one terminal needs to be connected to the battery. The unhooked terminal has the test light connected between the battery and battery cable. To do this correctly you should remove the courtesy light fuse or block the driver door open and block the door switch to the closed position. If your light between the cable and battery is lit up you have a 12 volt draw somewhere, the easy way from here is to pull fuses till the light goes out and that would be the draw circuit. Then you search from there. Vince can't get to that point with a direct short. Shark made the point you can replace the wiring harness, or you can disconnect or abandon that 12 volt wire and run a new wire in it's place and hope it hasn't welded other wires into it, and go from there. There are many ways to get around obstacles.

 

Another possibility is the wire shorted is connected to something that has an internal short.