Black Box Melted/What Is It?

Hi:
Went to start my truck this morning & smelled burning. This "black box" (about 4" x 3" or so) was bolted to the passenger fender wall right near the starter solenoid but when I touched it this morning after I smelled burning it fell right off. There are 7 wires going into this black box but none coming out the other side. The wires appear to go inside the fender towards the front of the truck. There's about an inch or so melted spot,quit smoking when I shut the truck down. Truck was still running even as this was melting down. 1986 Ford Ranger 2.0 manual trans. I'm not the first owner,so no idea what's been done to the wiring. If you guys could tell me what this is & what it does that'll be a start,would really like to get this truck going again,the local Auto Electric store had no idea when I sent them a pic of this thing...Thanks!

Roberta

P.S. Hope it's okay to post this on a few different forums,it's driving me nuts!

man i dont know much about rangers... but whats it look like on the other side... does it have any numbers on it... ill try to help you the best i can

i would try d/c the power to it .. and see if it still runs on... check all your accessories to make sure they work....

Hi: I think I've found what it is. I'm Canadian,Canadian truck. This seems to be a daytime running lights module or DRL. This truck never had working daytime running lights since I've owned it. Perhaps this thing was just sitting there idle anyway,but I'd sure like to know how to disable it to avoid all that smoking : ) ! Any suggestions? I'm googling but not much info on anything this old. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

You could try to find a fuse or relay for it and pull the fuse.. or find the power wire going to the the black box.. and just cut the wire and tape it up... after you do that be sure that everything else works.. be sure you can still turn the head lights on..

Wow!! DRL's were mandatory back in 1986??? Dang.

lol... im glad my truck doesnt have them... i run with my parking lights on everywere i go... and in my g/fs car i have to do the e brake trick so i can ride with my parking lights only lol

Hi: Well we looked closer at the infamous black box on Saturday morning. Out of the 7 wires coming out of it,it turned out that the blue and the red had already been cut & were taped up a bit further down the line. So,we thought we'd give starting a try. -21 C,but pumped the heck out of it and away she went. No smoke,no fire,even idled great after it warmed up a bit. All lights and accessories working fine. Husband drove it around town Saturday and all was well. Went to start this morning & turned over great,but died first try(cold here again). Went to spin 'er over again & nothing! No lights,no power to anything. Popped the hood,wiggled a few wires by the starter relay(don't think this did anything but worth a try) popped the key in & away she went. Ran the dog,have started her a few more times today & no problems. Think maybe this is just a worn ignition switch or are we gonna have to look for loose connections? Nothing I wiggled seemed loose & everything's clean...Thanks to everyone here for your help! Cheers!

I would make sure all your battery connections are clean and tight... be sure all loose wires are taped up and not touching any metal....... Hopefully that fixed your problems.. Check back often and post some pics if you get a chance