Here's the short version of a semi-long story that began a few days ago: while driving home tonite, my truck begins to lose electrical power - radio going off-and-on intermittently and I detect some fluctuation in the brightness of my headlights in addition to the fact that my dashboard display lights are a little dim. Just as I (thankfully) reach my 'hood, the power goes and I hear some weird sound at the back and I pull over as it dies.
I hop out and raise the hood and see that 'glow' again at the little post where the 2 leads in the pic are connected. I say again, because it was there 30 minutes earlier when I had the truck idling for a while and when I got back in the truck, I could smell burning plastic. On the lead on the right, you can see where the plastic has been melting.
So, my question is actually a simple one - do I absolutely have to have the nut on that little post? I removed it Tuesday and forgot to put it back on. Does not having it there leave me with an incomplete circuit of some sort?
Sure, I could just try it and see, but I'd rather do it in the daytime (I need to go buy some more steaks!) if I don't have GetBig approval as I don't know a damn thing about electrical systems in newer vehicles.
Thanks in advance.
