Hey guys, I'm new/old to the forum. Many years ago I drove my 66 from California to Virginia to Florida back to California the to Alaska. In 4 months. Now 15 years later I bought another one. I'm retired, and that's what I wanted. But alas it's got some issues, runs and drives great, but tonight I took it out for a spin and smelled burning. I looked under the dash and the windshield wiper switch was on fire literally. Never dealt with this, is it a bad switch? Need to replace the pigtail? I'm at a loss. Any advice is welcome, I'm about to take a 15 hour drive back to missouri. Thank you in advance.

 

The connector to be sure. If the motor was “on fire”it’s gotta be replaced. Then a fuse i would think.

 

The motor was not buring it was the connection on the switch under the dash next to the headlight switch. I was wondering why a fuse didn't pop. I have not looked at them yet. It's damn near midnight here. Once I disconnected the truck still runs fine. Just no wipers.

 

The burning is a direct-to-ground short in that wire or circuit. Test any the remaining hardware (motor, switch) as well as the connector and harness that you're holding for any continuity-to-ground. It should be easy to discover if you kow how to use an ohm-meter. To my knowledge, there is no fuse in the wiper switch circuit but, without getting under my dash to check, I can't be sure. There are other members here who have first-hand and accurate knowledge of the circuits. They should be along shortly.

 

I am familiar with 80's and 90's Fords and they have a similar problem with the headlight switch.
It usually isn't because of a short to ground, it often has to do with a high current draw through the connections that may have corrosion or other problems causing resistance, which in turn overheats the wires and if it gets hot enough, will melt the wire jackets, connections and the switch itself. The fuse will not open until the overheated and melted wire contacts a ground source.