I have a part # that doesn't exist?

[Katya4me]

The past couple of weeks, my car has randomly been giving me issues w/ starting and I couldn't figure out why. Then on Sunday, it did it again, popped the hood and noticed a bit of white smoke coming out from this white box.

I wrote down the numbers listed on it, did a search and can't find it. I've looked thru the Mazda Motorsports catalog, Ugly, and I have no clue exactly what it is. It connects to the negative terminal off of the battery and then connects down in the hook. Any suggestions? I'm sure it's going to be something really stupid and blatantly obvious. If it helps at all, I don't have ABS and my P5 is manual.

 

[xelderx]

I think it's just a ground for the engine harness. It looks like some of the wires are frayed, If part of the harness isn't getting a good ground it can cause some problems.

 

[goldstar]

It is the engine harness ground. For example the coil ground wires are connected to ground at that location, for one.

 

[Katya4me]

OK, so it looks like it it is the engine harness ground. Now my next question- the far wire insulation is melted/burned, not frayed and it extends down the wire. Suggestions on what may be causing this and how to prevent from recurring?

 

[Katya4me]

I took some better pictures of it.
The problem is that the insulation is burned off the wire and it is a bare wire sitting in the engine bay now.

It is the leftmost wire in the little harness all the way over to the drivers side right by the dianostic connector.

Based on this being the only other wire I see burned off in the engine bay now I think this is the other end.

Based on those I think this is the path it is following inside the black wirewrap.

 

[bazooka joe]

what are the other issues problems...you've got some bad connections to say the least...you also have heavy load somewhere/and some bad grounds that's causing the over heating....

 

[Katya4me]

what are the other issues problems...you've got some bad connections to say the least...you also have heavy load somewhere/and some bad grounds that's causing the over heating....

I'd initially thought it was just heat that was causing the car not to start. It's removed right now, but the battery is a Optima Yellowtop that I bought in March '04. I had a carputer installed at the time and the stock battery was too weak to run the power accessories without causing the carputer to reboot. I took it out this past January after having it mostly disconnected since last July. I also had a ground wire kit in the car, but took out most of it except for the wires that replaced the stock grounds, those are the larger bright blue cables.

 

[bazooka joe]

re check all your connections...you've got mad resisitance causing the overheating and melting of the insulation

 

[ezekiel]

that's NOT the engine harness ground that is a connector called X-01, on any Mazda wiring diagram, It is a junction for the horn, wipers, and rear defroster, and a few other systems. You should replace it as soon as possible.