Fried electrical/vacuum lines blowin
 

hello,
took a trip out of town. Suddenly all the gauges started fluttering. Car drove fine for a few miles. Then it slowly began losing power. Pulled over, found nothing. Continued driving about 60 miles and then all power was lost. The volt meter ran completely down and we putted home. I opened the hood and could see the plastic melted and smoking. Prior to this the vacuum line kept blowing off. I included a picture. The other picture is a line that melted when the other wires grounded out. Its below the alternator. Its a 90 degree rubber elbow that connects to a metal line on each end.

That rubber elbow is part of the AIR (air injection reaction) system that pumps fresh air into the exhaust to improve the catalytic converter efficiency. It looks like you lost a check valve (the black pancake valve looking thing in the 3rd attachment) which would allow hot exhaust gases to flow out into the pump side of the check valve. The hot exhaust burnt up the high temp rubber elbow and your wiring.

Just a comment on the wiring job there... IMO, especially under the hood I'd always solder & heat shrink tube the electrical connections, then tape & split loom them. When possible get the waterproof/resistant heat shrink tubing. Those butt connectors look like they've been crimped with pliers. I know I have some butt connectors open under the hood, but they're up, out of the way & away from the engine or other nasty, wire destroying things.
Just trying to alleviate futher issues down the uh ... 'road' for you. ;)

I was just trying to get the car running and half did it. I know that heat shrink is def the way to go. I forgot to mention. Once we noticed the serious drop in power the passenger side began to smell like gasoline. So strong that it overwhelmed us with fumes at the stop lights. I was real worried we had a gas leak so I just took it easy the last couple of blocks. After I rigged up the wiring under the hood. I turned on the ignition , everything looked fine. The battery showed about 8-9 volts and the battery light stayed lit. Also the fuel was completely gone. The car had at least a half a tank when we pulled in. So I contribute the leaking gas smell to a friggin leak related to this short. Any ideas?? Could a hot cat melt something? the cat did just go out not to long ago.

hmmm not knowing what specific vehicle I can't say for 100% but on my 2002 blazer the cat is on the PS & the fuel lines run down the DS frame