I replaced my front oxygen sensor this morning. I put the battery terminal back on and it started and ran great. I drove about 10 miles guy gas, then drove back home. As I pulled into my driveway I smelled smoke then it shut off and lost all electrical power. I coasted to a stope and looked underneath. After a few
seconds I saw smoke on my rear e brake cable. I ran and grabbed an extinguisher. Sprayed the area then opened the hood and removed the positive cable again.
What underneath there would ground out and have enough current to melt the housing on the ebrake cable?
too hot outside for me to slide underneath this afternoon so I’ll have to wait till this evening.
I loooked at the fuses under the hood and nothing was blown.
except for a couple of extra ground wires installed trying to repair my dashboard the electrics are all stock. I have a second fuse panel under the dash for accessories but I have that disconnected at the moment.
I presume the fuel pump wire must run under there. And I think the taillights go across the roofline?
I did hit a puddle ( >2”) while driving but didn’t think anything of that.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

It's always a good idea to check the last thing you worked on before looking for other causes for this new issue. You say that you lost all power, that sounds like a blown fuse. Check the main fuse on the PDC. If you tap power from the PDC it should be on the fused side not the battery side.

The transmission wiring is under the body and near the e brake mechanism. This would be an area to look.

 

Thanks for that. I wasn’t even thinking of the transmission wires.
my auxiliary fuse box connects to the battery directly. But it’s disconnected. Planning on running exterior lighting with relays off of that. Nothing anywhere near the undercarriage.
I thought the transmission ran under the dash to the transmission tunnel.

 

Got outside before rain came.
traced part of this to battery cable touching the frame.
still don’t know why e brake cable took the brunt of that ????

 

the short story is your E brake cable probably became part of the main circuit...