Yes, a bad ground connection heated up and melted things. That big brown
wire looks like the ground for the radiator fan motor, the highest amp
draw item in the vehicle if it is the larger motor used 86+ for A/C and
Syncro.

I usually pull the  damaged end of that fan ground wire back outside to
the area behind the upper grill. Then I put a ring terminal on it and
screw it down to bare metal is a location easily seen with the grill
off. This removes it from the ground crown.

Mark

Robert Fisher wrote:
> '87 GL: I pulled the two under-dash 'crown' ground points to clean and
> re-set them and this is what I saw:
>
>
>
> http://picasaweb.google.com/garciasghostvw/WiringDamage#
> <http://picasaweb.google.com/garciasghostvw/WiringDamage>
>
>
>
> I guess I'm just lucky the yellow plastic didn't melt all the way through.
> Do y'all suppose that corrosion/bad connection was sufficient to create
> enough resistance to cause that much heat? There is a small battery drain
> but I'm not aware of any shorts or shorting episodes that would have caused
> that.
>
> Was the fat brown wire connected to the farther crown (I may have pulled it
> off while I was getting the crowns out)? Where's the other end of that wire?
>
>
> I may pull and replace the entire thing if I can; there's no telling what
> other damage it has. Ugly... not good. : (
>
>
>
> Cya,
>
> Robert
>