Chrysler Repair: 99 Chrysler Sebring just quit: electrical short circuit, cable sheath, chrysler sebring

Question
Car shut off. when i looked under the hood the throttle cable was burning, it has melting real bad and now sticks. i was thinking a short somewere any ideas? I can get it to start for short periods of time but it is all crazy. radio goes on and off, temp guages jump, lights flash then shuts off, with cable smoking and a nasty burning smell.

Answer
Hi Ron,
That must be quite a sight! I would disconnect the (-) post cable clamp from the battery so as to avoid any more short circuit between the + side of the battery and ground. Then I would look at the throttle cable and its surrounding sheath to see if it has come in contact with anyother wires near by which have burned insulation from having been carrying 12v in the normal course of affairs but somehow due to rubbing of the cable/sheath against the wire caused a short through the cable to ground (e.g. any part of the body (which is attached to the - post of the battery) is what we call a ground). If you don't find some other wire(s) that were in contact with the throttle cable then you will have to use an ohmmeter and see what is the resistance between the + clamp of the battery (after removing it too) and ground (any shiny metal surface or the engine block or cylinder head will serve as a ground). It should read no less than 100 ohms, or it means there is a short still present (of course do this measurement with every door closed, every light turned off, and the ignition off too of course). To find the other shorts I would go to the power distribution center under the hood near the battery and remove the large fuses one at a time to see if you can find one that when removed causes the very low resistance reading to go up to at least 100 ohms. Then let me know what fuse that was and we can contemplate on the cause. But I suspect the throttle cable touched an electrical wire and wore thru the insulation, and that then caused the short. It could have been shorted to one of the large battery cables, for example. Once you determine the cause(s) of the shorts you can repair them with electrical tape, temporarily, and then get some quality insulation materials to do the job more permanently.
Then try hooking up the battery again and see if it will start and run normally (your battery could be discharged and need recharging to get the starter motor to turn over the engine fast enough to start it).
For now, that is my best suggestion.
I am going to bed at this point, but I will be available after 5:30 AM PST tomorrow morning. Write back with the observations and results at that time and we'll go from there.
Roland