RE: Smoking 5KCSTQ

[Henry Harper <hah@srv.net>]

Colin said:
>Everyone,
>	My 87 5KTQ came to a smoldering halt on the interstate the other day. 
>Electrical smoke from the right engine compartment and right passenger
>dash.  Turns out the wire harness ( red harness ??? ) to the O2
>frequency valve, O2 sensor, etc is all melted and ruined.  Any ideas on
>how this could happen and where I can get a replacement harness would be
>appreciated.

I know that on CIS VWs with heated (three-wire) oxygen sensors, the wire supplying power to the heater in the oxygen sensor is _not_ fused. If that wire gets out of its insulation and touches any handy ground-potential surface, there is a similar tendency to make smoky messes out of a portion of the harness. That's how, sorry I can't help with fixing the aftereffects other than suggesting the usual suspects of wrecking yards/parts recyclers.

HTH,
Henry Harper
http://www.srv.net/~hah
1991 200 quattro, 87k, probably doesn't have a fuse in that wire either
1988 GTI 16v, 178k, had the sensor wire bare-nekkid jumping around grounding intermittently once, that was a close one