Brother rang today saying his Hilux was hard to start and there was smoke from under bonnet. There was a burnt earth lead. The one from firewall to block. Went and had a look and could not see any cause for that happening at that time and lead was still sort of ok, with mostly insulation burnt. Started it and he drove to my place so I could investigate more. I figured that the lead may have been drawing excess power to get that hot so did some checking. Found the cause. Someone who shall remain nameless had forgotten to reconnect the earth lead from battery to block last time he was working on it. A lot of current was flowing through the other earth lead to inner guard and then through this lead to the block for the starter. Surprised it did not end up more serious as that small cable would have been well and truly working beyond it's capacity. New earth lead for firewall to block and reconnect the battery/block earth and all is good now.


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