headlight problem

[scottbott]

had no main beam last week just after fitting new stereo and thicker speaker cables,thought I would pull out stereo and check I had not 'caught' anything when threading new seaker cable through.could not see any thing obvious but a while later thought I could smell burning and disconnected battery sharpish,saw that white wire to relay for headlight upgrade had 'bubbled up' by the relay,followed the wire back to the steering coloumn/indicator stalk and noticed it has burnt a bit at the connector for the indicator,the stalk does not 'click' when I pull it back to use the flasher.any ideas? do I have to replace all the wires from the indicator switch to the fuse box?,hope that makes sense,electrics are not my favourite thing,thanks

[kevtherev]

Check out the the other wires to the stalk for discolour you might have been lucky and they are still copper colour and not black

Replace the stalk though.

Hey and find that loose live.... It might come back and burn your van to the ground

[AdrianC]

saw that white wire to relay for headlight upgrade

This bit is the likely cause, and the likely extent of damage. Sounds like whoever did it left something not quite as well insulated as they should've - and nowhere near as well fused as they should've. Start by looking very carefully everywhere around the live feed to the relay - and fit an in-line fuse as near in that wiring to the battery as possible.