wierd engine harness wiring problem

[emot]

ok so here's the deal, i bought a little red automatic festy, im driving it around, it chuggs a little but not a problem. one day im driving it and it dies, i wait 5 mins and then it starts up again, ok wierd, then this happens a few more times and then wont start again. i park it and come back the next day with all new ignition parts, (new distributer, cap, rotor, igniter, coil, spark plugs, wires, everything that can be changed i did) ok car starts, i drive it maybe 5 blocks and it dies, damn i cant figure it out, spent all day with the haynes manual checking everything, finally find out that the wiring harness for the igniter, the actual plug on the harness is what is giving me trouble, if i wiggle it the car shuts off, if i wiggle it again, i can start it, but the fuse in the engine bay ( you know those 3 wires that act as fuses on the drivers side shock tower) the one fuse maked MAIN, keeps getting hot and burning, so i assume theres a short in the wiring harness, except the main fuse is attached to so many things, im in the process of ripping out the wiring harness and tracing the igniter harness back to where it connects to the main harness.


anyone have any ideas of why this happened or had similar experience?

Thanks, Emerson.

[mechanicaldj]

use the process of elimination:

go to the inside fuse panel and pull all of the fuses

turn on the key, does it still get hot?

do you have any aftermarket stereo equipment?

[emot]

i am going to unravel the tape holding the wires from igniter harness all the way to where it connects to the main harness, and check all the wires, i would assume the short is in there considering the car starts/stops when i wiggle those particular wires,

yes the car previously had some crazy moron wire in the stereo, that is all fixed now, but i am concerned about the interior map light (on the cieling) not working, that could be my problem with another short or contributing to the whole mess.

thats a good idea to take all the fuses out, and see if the MAIN wire fuse still pops, i guess i would have to leave the one engine fuse or a few atleast for the car to run