So i was driving over to a friends to work on her 96 dakota and my 95 started to smoke under the hood. Its 100 outside, ac on, nothing else happening with the truck, I pulled over and got the wire put out, well, whats left of the wire. Its the one under the washer fluid tank. 8 Gauge i think. No codes, no warning lights, so i taped it up and limped the ten blocks home, noticed my voltage was dropping and lights were dimming. Im guessing this wire leads from the alt? I havent had time to tear into the harness yet. (to F ing hot and dark). Any ideas? ill try and post pics later.

 

My guess it is a wire from the relay box or like you said the alt. Anything could be damaged at this point. I would say completely remove the harness. Take it apart and replace, fix, cover up anything that is needed.

 

Thats the plan, I just got off work and its 99 so tonight is looking better for inspecting. Im still trying to figure out why it decided to fry. The ends of the wires look like they were spot welded.

 

got it all cleaned up, couldnt find a short anywhere in the system so im a bit scared to drive it long distance now. guess its time for a new wiring job.

 

You were lucky. Could have been much, much worse.