hi gun, i have the same feeling as you. sparks flying at engine and that thing not grounded properly ... i'd bet a pint :-)

 

I read a book once "God is my copilot" about the AVG (American volunteer group) in WWII they were flying p40 Warhawks and some poor sap had to scramble a battle damaged p40 it had some type of ignition leak that found its way to the flight stick the pilot managed to warp some cloth around the stick which worked until it became soaked with sweat...Poor bastard.

So hopefully this is an easy find...the spray bottle trick should point to the leak. It can only be generated at a few easy to access points.

-Gun

 

I had a friend who worked in the body shop of a Chevrolet dealership back in the 80's. He had himself a 1953 Chevy pickup, and a pretty smart mouth.

A couple of mechanics decided to run a wire from the big coil wire to his seat springs (they were kind of threadbare). Well, when he tried to start his truck after work one day, he got what you might call an "awakening"....


IDK, he didn't think it was as funny as everyone else...

 

I dug into the shifter assembly tonight. The light in there has some badly spliced (read electrical tape) wires that are shorting to ground when you move the handle. I capped off the both wires and am no longer getting the shock, maybe shock was too strong a word...it was the sensation of putting a 9v battery on your tongue.

The fuse didn't blow oddly enough. Would having these wires disconnected cause my dash lights not to work like old school christmas lights?

Also I was trying to pull the gauge cluster out to check the bulbs but there seems to be something holding it from the inside. I've read the speedo cable needs to be unplugged, does that sound right? Do I reach it from underneath?

Thanks for all the help and patience!

Joe

 

What shocks me is that you provided a better ground than your shifter.....

That is kind of strange.....

No lights should be wired "in series" on your car, so no lights are like a string of Christmas lights.

Yea the speedo cable is usually too short to get the dash out very far, you should be able to reach it from the bottom and unscrew the cable from the back of the speedo head. There will be a ring around the cable that will unscrew.

Might be worth pulling the drivers seat for better access, provided the nuts aren't rusted up the seat comes out in about 5 min, this saves me lots of anger and bad words when I have to work under the dash...

 

Well there is absolutely no way a 12v source could have enough voltage potential to create any noticeable sensation across skin. Even though the battery can generate a current load that approaches infinity (theoretically speaking) place a wrench across the + and - terminal (okay dont really do this but you get the idea) it does not have enough voltage to pass through skin... water analogy wise there is not enough pressure to overcome the resistance of the skin...Go ahead grab both battery terminals with wet hands...hell use salt water it doesn't matter you wont feel a thing....nothing.

So the concern here is how is a high voltage running inside that wire???

I **** you not a static shock generated by say scuffing along a carpet that you can hear and see and makes you shake your hand is probably upwards of 20,000 volts. So even a tingle would be several thousand volts I would think. certainly not 12.

You should attempt to locate the source which is not hard...somehow coil voltage is jumping to accessory loom wires...Solve the root cause + ground engine to frame with ground strap.

happy hunting

-Gun

PS the fuse would not blow because they are rated at 12v at 15A for example The shock you feel might be 5 thousand volts but amps are approaching zero (fricken micro amps) and can not generate enough energy to even warm up a fuse...although having thousands of volts on a 12v circuit can damage stuff over time do to arcing and simply just sounds like a bad idea

 

I betcha it can....

On a good hot day when the perspiration is heavy, a good 12V source from a car can BORDER on mild pain, I was "burned" by my batterys on several occasions this summer while working across (leaning on) the positive posts.



I can lean across one of these posts when DRY and I can feel it.

 

I have grabbed onto the post directly many times with sweaty salty hands and never once felt a damn thing. I have worked on the 12v system hot for say gauges and stuff while holding onto the + and chassis many many times..I have even tried purposely shocking myself...no luck I have never heard of it until just now...Humm

-Gun

 

Okay so using my super analytical mind and drive for knowledge and basic understanding of electricity I was able to prove that you two need to eat way less salt.

I took warm water and ground salt into my hands for like 30 seconds then touched both terminals and felt about like what was described...I was impressed that you could actually feel anything.

I stand corrected.
So apparently its true that if you are salty enough that you could indeed feel that 12v from those wires.

I had figured that the wire was picking up high voltage and it was jumping to the shifter... So if that's not the case its strange that the fuse didnt blow perhaps its not fused...which should have caused the wire to burn. Anyhow good catch...

I guess kalli owes ya a pint

-Gun

PS for what its worth:
dry(ish) skin produces 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 ohms
Wet with tap water is 200,000 ohms
wet with salt and tap water is 32,000 ohms which apparently is now low enough for 12v to flow through

Pretty cool stuff I think

 

same here. with 12V i don't feel crap anything. that's why I was the same opinion, it might have been related to ignition. Oddly though I have a laptop at home and I have a USB extension cable on that and when I lean with my wrist just touching on it I can actually feel something of it. Less than 9V battery on tongue but it's enough to annoy. odd

JMD: What shocks me is that you provided a better ground than your shifter.....
the shifter is isolated with the boot, so it only attaches to gearbox, that to engine. so if there is no ground on the engine, then this doesn't surprise me at all.

Joe65: I'd still check if the engine is peperly grounded. if it were whatever happened to you shouldn't have happened, no matter what cables you attach to the shifter