Just thought I'd ask here if anyone has any ideas on this. My K reg Astra MK3 2 litre SRI suddenly died on me after travelling about two miles, when I popped the bonnet there was smoke coming from the main wiring harness. Turned out that a black earth lead from the ignition switch, which runs straight to the engine management unit had melted the whole length of the wire. After stripping the harness and tracing the wire I noticed there was only one offshoot from it that went to the neg side of the ignition coil, this offshoot wasn't melted. I have since replaced the wire and checked for any shorts etc and also checked the coil which is fine. Can the EMU failing cause this kind of wiring damage? I noticed after I got the car home that the HT lead from the coil wasn't plugged in the distributor, I don't know if this was just dislodged while I was checking the wiring harness or if this could have been the cause of the fault, can the HT lead making contact with earth do this kind of damage? Any ideas would be appreciated and also any suggestions as to where I might source a secondhand EMU cheap.
cheers