I need help! I picked up an 86 ranger for a few hundred bucks and I'm trying to get it ready for hunting season. I bought it from a friend so I already had an idea of what all needed to be done, but now when I tried to jump it off a fusible link that leads from the starter solenoid and goes around the truck and into the firewall near the steering column started to melt. Any advice about this fusible link, why it is melting, and where it goes would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

If it's feeding a yellow wire, that is the main power feed wire for the ignition switch and the fuse box. The fusible link is there to protect the wiring from burning the truck down. If it wasn't there and that wire is shorted under the dash somewhere to the body, that wire can get red hot and start a fire.

You best solution right now is to take the battery cables off the battery, and then get a small 10 amp battery charger and hook it to the battery cables to feed the truck. Do not hook the battery back up.

With the battery charger feeding 12v to the truck's electrical system, see if you can find the problem. The battery charger has a circuit breaker in it. So if you have a serious problem the circuit breaker will trip and not burn the truck down till you get it figured out. The small battery charger doesn't have enough power behind it to damage the wiring. It should have enough power to run everything except the starter.

 

Thanks for the quick response. I had to leave town but as soon as I get back I will hook my charger to the cables and see if I can hunt down the problem. I'll post my findings