Ok.. Remeber.. I am a female.. LOL.. where do I get a "schematic"??

Schematic is a sophisticated word for "wiring diagram."

I'm in Ocean Isle Beach, Brunswick County, NC, probably no more than a half an hour from Myrtle Beach. If 87-330E comes by to help you out and needs any tools or help, let me know. I'd be happy to loan him whatever he needs. I've got a reasonable supply of metric tools.

Len

The very first thing I would do is be absolutely sure yhe battery is good. Everyone takes a battery for granted, and they are really quite simple things, but most shops don't even know how to test them properly. Just for starters, you need to do a voltade test with a DVM, a load test, and a hydrometer test. Low specific gravity in one cell can cause the problems you describe.

300E in NC,
Since you are taking a DVM with you, I suggest you stop by Radio Shack and pick up a one ohm ten watt resistor. You disconnect the battery negative, connect this resister in between, and read the voltage drop across the resistor. Doing the math you should not read more than .05 volts across the resistor. If you read more, start pulling fuses til the reading drops to less than .05 volts. If the affected circuit inclures the dome light over the windshield, unplug it. She said she saw smoke and smelled an acrid smell. About a year ago I picked up a new client whose 560SEL needed a new tranny. She complained of the same thing, and that's what the problem turned out to be. Also just for s*its and giggles, I'd check the ground strap on the bell housing.

Peter

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Auto Zentral Ltd.

I had the coil in the starter solenoid short out somewhere in the middle. It worked just fine but drained the battery after several days. I drove the car every day so it was a non-problem.

One thing that consistently killed my battery and shorted out a fuse on my car was a short on the lights on the bottom of the doors. If the light itself is missing then the contacts may be touching the metal of the door causing a short. I know the same fuse in my car powered my stereo. That was just in my experience. I dont know how your car is, but on the panel covering my fuse box there is a description of what each fuse does. Go one by one with each fuse that may be drawing power and then go to each electrical element that it supports and see if the connections are good or if anything is touching a ground. As far the smoke/smell problem i have no idea.