Smoking Audi

[Mark J. Besso]

Hello fellow listers,

Car in question 1986 5000 Turbo Quattro Avant with @ 238K miles.

As of this morning I'm getting a small waft of white smoke from under the left side of the dashboard whenever the key is in the "run" position.  It is accompanied by that pungent aroma of insulation melting away from a wire somewhere.  Obviously I am not driving the car now!

This car only has two electrical items that weren't delivered as "stock" and that's the factory accessory Bosch fog lights and an aftermarket stereo.  Both were installed long ago and have given 100's of 1000's of trouble-free miles so I don't suspect them.

The only thing that had been done differently than any other day in the life of this car is I accidentally hit the hazard lights when turning on the wipers this morning.  I can't say that's what triggered the smoke since the smoke seems to build up very gradually.  I've since turned the car on twice to see if I can find the source......without success.  All fuses are intact.  All relays & control units appear fine and none felt noticeably warm when I opened the cover to investigate.

I don't expect anyone can diagnose an electrical problem over e-mail, but I'm looking for suggestions as to the next logical thing to check.  I still haven't found the source of the smoke.

Perplexed,
Mark