I managed to burn a link on the exhaust( a whole other story). It is the plastic one for the charging system and now my battery does not get charged nor does my guage work. I am afraid to bypass. Cant find one at parts store. Is this a replace a whole wire bundle thing?

 

I've no experience with fusible links, but my Haynes manual describes a repair. Basically it's the same as a normal wire splice. I've seen fusible links for sale at the auto parts store near me...you might have to look around a bit to find what you need. I wouldn't think you'd need to replace a whole bundle for a bad fusible link. Their function is just like a fuse and should be about as easy to replace. My understanding is that there are different size links for different amperage capacities. Make sure you have the right size. Good luck!

 

Great news will do.

 

It would be best to solder the wires and cover them with heat shrink tubing if you can when you replace them. That will help to prevent future corrosion and subseqeunt resistance heating in the wire.

 

That may be easier said than done. I'm not sure if the metal the link is made of can be soldered to. The main design of these links is to have a smaller diameter wire that will fuse open first with a high temperature insulation that won't melt through. You could just splice in a short section of wire that is a couple gauges higher and cover that with some rubberized fiberglass spaghetti for burn through protection.

 

All of the ones I have seen burned up have been as you say, from the exhaust or some other stupid problem that should not have been!
I just cut them out and replace them with a known good enough wire for the amps needed. I think they are mostly for some extreeme rare happenings. Anyway that is what insurence is for.
Big Jim

 

Couldn't you just splice in a generic fuse holder if you are worried about circuit protection? Would have to be heavy enough.

 

Splicing in a regular fuse might work...I don't really know. However, years down the road if you have a problem in that circuit, you (or whoever you sold the vehicle to) might have a hard time troubleshooting without the original components in place. Just my opinion, but restoring things to original condition and securing the bundle away from the exhaust would be the best bet in the long run.
By the way, after referring back to the Haynes manual, they also suggest soldering the splice and protecting with tape or heat shrink. Apparantly soldering can be done on the fusible links.