I'm in need of some tips here...

The other day driving down the road my speedometer shut off and I immediately started smelling an electrical fire smell. I pulled off the road and searched as best I could under the dash but didn't see any visible damage.

My best guess is that there is a bad short or something as the fuse was also blown. I went ahead and drove back to the house and tested my luck by putting in another fuse to see what would happen... same thing.. electric smell and blown fuse.

I wont try that again... but any ideas on what might be going on? While the smell was still there I tried to track down where it was coming from and only pinpointed it as strongest under the dash by the large group of wires leaving the fuse block headed up to the instrument panel. I started taking off the instrument panel and smelled inside and didn't get a strong odor there, but it could have dissipated by the time i took enough of the dash apart to get to it.

Thanks for any suggestions...

 

Do you have a Bronco? What fuse number blew?

Troubleshooting would start with disconnecting the electrical devices served by the fuse, replace fuse. Does the fuse blow again? Then the wiring is suspect. If not then plug the electrical device back in one by one until the fuse blows. Replace as needed.

That's all I got, good luck.

Ya know who might help the most? Ford.

Nuff Said.

 

As a follow up for people that may be searching...

As the previous poster suggested I went through the truck and disconnected each item relating to the fuse to see what the culprit might be. After going around the whole truck (it was #18, which covers many items) it turned out to be the airbag control module up under the dash. Its a green box with two plugs on one end.

Ford doesn't carry the part anymore, so until I find one locally unplugging it will have to do.

 

My story
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-pictures.html

 

wow.. mine didn't go quite so dramatically! Looks to be some damage on that round black part and some burnt areas down circled in orange. I'll see if I can also get lucky at the junk yard.