Fuse for the starter?

After installing a stereo on my own I seemed to pinch a wire. On my second time out, I hit a bump, the radio went out, then the smoke started pouring out from under the dash.

I ended up getting it towed and the guy told me what I did and fixed it. Ended up with quite a few fried wires. Said that if i wouldn't have unhooked the battery when I did, it could have burned to the ground.

Anyway when I picked it up I asked if there was anything that could have prevented this (other than my being an idiot), and he mentioned that it might be a good idea to put in a fuse just before the starter. What's your feeling on this? Is this something I should do? What do you guys suggest? Thanks!

Look through the correct wiring diagram for your year/car and find out what wires are fried. That will help a lot more.
Did the "guy" do any fixing? Rewiring? I would get under there myself and look into what happened and post back with some more info.
I believe the starter is already fused, but check the diagram and you will see for sure. Hope to see you come back after you dig in a little more.

The brown circuit? I don't think it is fused. what did he tell you that you did to cause it? What year car? I would install a battery cutoff switch.

You can get schematics for your car here
http://www.advanceautowire.com/

He said that when I pushed the radio back it pinched a wire and the vibrations and bump probably cut through the wire insulation and caused the short. I'm not sure which wire it was. I just know there was damage in quite a few places. I haven't driven it since I got it back (it's too cold and I need to replace my top). I have tomorrow off so I'm hoping to be able to put on a sweatshirt and look around to see what things look like. I do know that the blinker, tach, etc wasn't working at some point, so I guess that got fried somewhere, but I think that's green.

I don't think the starter circuit runs behind the radio, but there are brown and white wires that could be the cause. Brown are always hot - White are hot when the ignition is on.

I would be interested to hear what you find.

I don't think there is a fuse for the starter. It's connected directly to the battery.

Sorry about that, forgot to link the diagram. Don't be scared to get in there with that sweatshirt!
Battery cut off is a for sure thing to do.

Install a shut off switch in the negative battery cable circuit so that you can reach over with your right hand and cut all power quickly and easily.

Look at this....http://www.jackscars.net/batteries.html

Jack

I have seen a fusible link installed inline to the starter. Common in American cars. (or it was last time I took any notice of such arrangements). This is a section of wire that has a given amp carrying capablity and when that capacity is exceeded part of the wire melts. Acting like a fuse. Presumably the link's "melting" point is less than that of the rest of the wiring. This would go in the hot line, not the ground line. one can buy this stuff at any parts store.

I ran a separate power line directly from the battery to a small 6 fuse box mounted behind the stereo, activated by a relay, so that if anything happens with my accessories (I've added a couple of toggle switches for interior lighting, stereo, dual 12v outlets for charging stuff)or interior wiring, it is isolated from the rest of the car and theoretically it should still get me home. I think I paid 10-15 bucks for the fuse box and maybe 15-20 for the relay at O'Riellys. The image below is pretty much what it looks like and the cost is very minor. If you've got to repair it anyway, it might be something to check into.

After constantly blowing a fuse when putting the car in reverse, I found that the wire that runs from the backup switch had been rubbing against the crossmember and was down to bare metal. After repairing the damaged wire, I installed 6 inline fuses, at the fuse box, to break up the various electrical components into individual circuits. Of course, since doing this I have never blown another fuse. My car is a '67, so merely removing one spade ended wire, from the fender mounted solenoid, kills all the power from the battery, except for the cable running to the solenoid. Whenever I work on anything under the hood, I always remove this wire from the solenoid as a precaution. RAY

No real way to fuse the starter load that would open before the harness fried (think cold-cranking amps).

The battery isolation switch is certainly needed since much of your electrics is 30 or more years old.

I vote cut-off switch, too... But a fuse on the main power feed circuit (brown) can't hurt.

I suppose a solenoid or starter could "lock on" but that's gotta be really rare.