I have a 1986 GXl. Yesterday i turned the ignition to the accesories position and allowed it to stay there, with the engine off for about 2-3 minutes. soon i noticed smoke under the hood and found that two wires had caught on fire. I believe the two wires where to air sensors loctated right off the intake manifold on the passenger side of the engine but im not entirely sure. Either way, i cant seem to find replacement sensors and now there is a continuous strange clicking sound coming from the engine sounding like a solenoid.

What could be wrong with the car and is it gonna be expensive and hard to repair? my only guess is that there might have been a short in the wiring harness,,

 

In detail, describe where these two burnt wires lead. Do they go to the ACV, air control valve??? If so, then I suggest you follow the wires from both solenoids on the acv to their plugs which are about one/two feet from the solenoids. PUll the plugs apart and LEAVE them apart.

Next, go to the ENGINE FUSE BOX and look and see if one of the fuses is blown. It should be one of the two most inboard fuses that is blown. Replace it with one from the auto store, OR you could just swap in the one for the headlight retractors and install it in the place of the burnt out one.

The clicking is normal. It is either the bac or the VDI. Forget about the clicking.

I assumed the car does not start. Is this a fact or not? IF the car starts, then the fuses I described are not a player and are good, so don't bother looking.

 

Yes, if the small unit mounted to the intake manifold is the ACV then that is what both lead into. Both are disconnected, there are no blown fuses, and the car runs perfectly with no other fried wires.. now the two solenoids are useless, i cut off the melted wires and left in the solenoids, is the car driveable till i can get new ones, or should i avoid useing it?

 

Keep on truckin. The front one was disabled by the ECU once 20,000 miles was reached years ago.

The rear one is the split air solenoid. It is energized when the transmission is in fifth gear. It feeds air/extra air to the catalytic converter in fifth gear. If I remember right. You might consider getting another one out of a wreck with good wires on it.

One wire on the solenoids has 12vdc all the time. So if for some reason that wire got a bare spot on it or the two wires got twisted at the solenoid, then that could cause a short. Usually the EGI COMP fuse gets blown when you get a short there and causes the car to not start/run.

I'd NEVER replace the front solenoid (Port Air Solenoid), but if you have to pass emissions someday, you might consider replacing the rear solenoid. You did notice that each solenoid has a electrical plug about one to two feet from the solenoid???? Yes. At least series four do. You could get a good solenoid out of the wreck yard and just install it and connect it to the other half of the plug. If that half is still good.

I think it would take some time for a non working Split Air Solenoid to screw up a catalytic converter. I'm just guessing.

Be extremely careful when removing the solenoids. Each has a very, very small spring and poppet valve. So put your hand under the solenoid as you slowly remove it.