no guages work....

[Teknohund]

Ok, first of all I go out to start the car this morning. Smoke starts coming from behind the dash. Shut it off, find out its the aftermarked temp guage ground wire. It got so hot it melted the insulation. I have had this guage for over a year no problems. So I take it off, and it was sparking when it touched some metal I wasnt careful with. Also for some reason when I hit the brake pedal, my radio and autometer tach stopped working, but started again when I let off the brake. Then everything went dead. No tach, radio, intrument cluster, even the back hatch motor. But it still starts and runs. Any ideas???
Chris
I was thinking a fusable link somewhere to the fuse box, but i dont remember where to look. its been a long day.