[urq] '83 A/C, burnt wiring smell

[djdawson2 at aol.com]

Yes, I got a reply from Tony... apparently the metal relay activates the fan, and is likely the culprit.  Two of the relays had already melted their sockets (the grey ones), and someone had replaced and mounted them outside of the panel.  However, the metal relay (fan) and the red relay (compressor clutch) still remain in the original panel.  I will look into those first.
Thanks for the help,
Dave
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: i.rautenberg at waratap.com
To: djdawson2 at aol.com
Cc: urq at audifans.com
Sent: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 9:25 PM
Subject: Re: [urq] '83 A/C, burnt wiring smell


Yes. There is a relay behind the fusebox that gets really, really hot. Can't say exactly which, but I seem to recall it's the 2nd or 3rd from the left with the glovebox removed. Not sure whether the relay in my case was defective, but I DO KNOW it was melting its socket. In my case when I slowed down the whole interior of the car filled with smoke and I quickly removed the relay (which was useless in a car with AC system removed). Don't have the IST documents in front of me, so I'll let someone else chime in... 
 
Ingo 
 
On Jul 17, 2006, at 7:34 PM, djdawson2 at aol.com wrote: 
 
> Again, on my "new" '83... 
> 
> After a few hours of chasing wire routing, and after evacuating and > recharging the system (R406a, BTW), I now have an excellent > performing A/C system in this '83. However, now that the A/C is > working well, I am getting the familiar early car stink of hot/> burning plastic wire insulation inside the car after the A/C has > been on for about a half hour. Turn the A/C off, and the stink > quickly goes away. 
> 
> My thoughts... 
> 
> When the A/C is on, the cooling fan on this car runs at a moderate > speed... full time. This is the only additional electrical > accessory that operates when the A/C is on, except for power to the > compressor clutch itself, which is a fairly low current. My > thought is that the source of the hot wires must be something > linked to the cooling fan system, but as yet, have been unable to > actually locate the hot wires. My other thought is that maybe the > fan itself is drawing too much current due to its age, even though > it spins pretty freely by hand. 
> 
> Any '83 gurus have any suggestions on where to start looking? 
> Thanks, 
> Dave 
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