Fuel gauge melted wire

Just did some searching and read a few posts on proper grounding being a main issue. I hooked mine up today and the entire 12v wire melted. After the smoke cleared, removed wire and hooked battery back up- everything else was fine and she started right up. Phew. So would a bad ground cause a melt like that to happen too?
57 cj5
Thx!

 

No. A loss of ground would be an open circuit causing no current flow. What have you recently done to the dash?

 

"So would a bad ground cause a melt like that to happen too?"

A HOT wire or component grounding when it should NOT is the kind of "short" that causes meltdowns.

 

I reviewed this thread: http://www.earlycj5.net/forums/showthread.php?97665-Fuel-Gauge-Wiring
isnt the terminal labelled "I" the hot wire? That is the one that melted on me..

 

Yes the one "I" is the hot. I suspect your speedo cluster was not installed into the housing properly and the where the "I" terminal passes through the cluster housing it is tight up against the housing causing the direct short. There isn't anything inside the fuel gauge heavy enough to draw enough amps to melt the feed wire from the ignition.

 

Yep- you are correct. I tried to do the replacements fuel/temp into my original and they didn't quite match up correctly and are a little off- touching the housing. Back to the drawing board- at least i didn't burn any other wires. . Thanks again for advice!