Burnt wiring smell from Front Right hood hinge area

Hello all,

My wife went to the garage today and smelled something burning. I went out and smelled it too. I finally found the source, the passenger side ditch light area of my truck (I have an antenna there, no lights). I opened the hood, and the smell was coming from the area where the hinge is, not further in board where they are vents going into the dash.

I have my second battery in that area. I turned the isolation switch off on that and removed it. No evidence of any issue with the battery or my wiring. It is definitely coming from the hinge area which is connected to the area behind the front passenger fender.

I have an appointment with the dealer on Monday, but anyone have an idea of what could have smoked in the area of that fender?

Thanks all, now I must leave this site before I purchase another mod for my truck. (actually, I have sliders on order, so I'm already guilty of another purchase)

-Chris.

 

Pic?

 

Me or the truck? I'm not that good looking, but ok.

...I'll go grab a photo of the truck.

 

I'm pointing to the area where the smell was coming from, right in the corner by the hinge. There is a big harness that runs from the engine behind my battery that had the super thin wrap worn through. I opened it up to check for damage there, but all wires are good. I'll just have to put some wrap in that area to protect it before I put the battery back in.

 

Four possibilities I see:
The split tube is hiding the short or is against something hot but not shorted.
Your second battery feed lines are aluminum fiber and might have a kink.
Your wiring in general looks in disarray, so look well beyond the upper area. You may have an overload vs short somewhere.
What are the ziplocks? I assume they are temporary. If not, a dude, that’s, well how do I say politely, a bit hack.

 

The second battery feed lines are 4awg stranded pure copper wiring with crimped connectors.

The ziplock bag is just covering everything up with the battery removed. I have a three way Blue Sea isolation switch on the cables coming to that system from the DC-DC charger over by the main battery (switch positions for DC-DC charger, OFF, and Jump Start). With that switch open, all those cables are de-powered.

The cables going down route to the canopy in the bed. Not a lot of securing options on those. Everything looks better when the battery is in place though.

 

Did the smell go away after removing the battery
Are any fuses blown
You mentioned rubbing wires, what was rubbing them
Is a leaf, mouse or acorn on your manifold or exhaust
Do you smell it in the cab
Is you AC line plugged

 

Blower motor work?

 

Something going on with this big rub area? Wires shorting here can burn up further down the harness.

 

Let's pour one out for the tech that gets this one. A bunch of electrical mods, screams go home sick after being dispatched this one.

 

AC works, blower included. All fuses are good. The smell faded before removing the battery.

That rub area is from the side of the second battery. It wasn't too bad, mist just the tape wrap that had signs of rubbing. I opened it up more looking for damage inside.

 

I'm wondering is there is something installed inside the fender. But yeah, it won't be easy to find the source.