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1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks 1987 - 1996 Ford F-150, F-250, F-350 and larger pickups - including the 1997 heavy-duty F250/F350+ trucks

Electrical smoke from dash, died while driving

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Old Jun 22, 2019 | 08:51 AM
  #1  
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Electrical smoke from dash, died while driving

Hi -

I'm new to the forum and I'm a stumped (I've poked around the existed forums to see if anyone's had this problem, but nothing seemed to come up). I've got a '92 F150 with a 4.9, 5 speed with a billion miles on it. I started it up the yesterday, started down the road and then it suddenly died. It rolled to a stop and I noticed smoke coming from the driver's side of the dash and the smell of electrical wires. Tried starting it again, it turns, but won't start. The only thing I'd noticed about it recently was that my blinkers stopped clicking - the turn signals turned on the lights, but they didn't blink. Didn't worry much about it as it's basically a back country road truck that doesn't have much need of blinkers. I pulled the dash cover, but I can't find any obvious signs of melted wires, etc. Any ideas of what I should look for and begin to diagnosis this? It would be great to get this thing solved as the truck's sitting in a buddies driveway. Thanks!!
 
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Old Jun 22, 2019 | 10:29 AM
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https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum28/

Try your question on that Forum.
 
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Old Jun 25, 2019 | 03:50 PM
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Moved since this isn't engine related, and you'll get better answers here.

Good luck!
 
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Old Jun 25, 2019 | 06:01 PM
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I'd start by inspecting all the wires under the dash where they come into the cab through the firewall.

Follow those to the back of the fuse block. If you haven't found anything by then, follow the main harness up behind the gauge cluster by pulling the cluster out and continue to inspect the harness from that point to under the dash heading toward the passenger side.

I'm surprised you didn't mention checking all the fuses in the fuse block. That's the first thing I would have done.
 
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