Help! burnin wires

[dirtynails]

As I pull into the driveway I see smoke coming from the dash. I park real quick, turn off the motor and start checking things out. No headlights. I read the wiring diagrams for awhile and find that the bat feed wire (yellow) from the headlight switch that goes to the dimmer switch after a brief excursion into mysterious back area of the fuse box is pretty melted at each end along with some of the plastic on the sockets going into each switch. I read the wiring diagrams some more. I also notice the three wires (brown, green and yellow) coming out of the dimmer switch on the floor are also pretty melted. I look under the hood and find the brown and green wires to the head lights are toast also. I disconnect the fusebox by unbolting from inside the engine compartment (a little 3/8" inch bolt going into the center of the engine compartment socket that plug into the back of the fuse box. I also unscrew the fusebox (two screws) from inside the driver's compartment to see where all these burnt wires are going. It doesn't do me any good, I can't move the fuse box around enough to see in back of it.

From what I can tell from the wiring diagrams I can run a new wire from the headlight switch directly to the dimmer switch so, I did that. Then I ran new green and brown wires from the dimmer switch directly to the headlight socket. Then I put everything back together again. Now when I try to connect the battery the fuseable link smokes up by the firewall near the junction box and it's pretty sparky between the negative battery lug and the battery. I check the dimmer for shorts and see if it is electrically sound and it seems to check good. So I disconnect the dimmer switch altogether and disconnect the headlight switch from the red main feed going to it from the bat and try to connect the battery. Sparks. So right now I can't even connect the battery without causing a major fuseable link burning short. I seem to have made things worse.
What should I do next? What did I do wrong? I am out of ideas. Do I take it to an electric shop and get burned myself or do I look to buy another vehicle or can I still find a way to fix my truck?

 

[Fordum]

Well, what you are doing now, is not working well.
In fact, there is a very good chance you are about to solve the problem the hard way. By burning the truck down.

First of all, stop hooking the battery up!!!!

You obviously have a major short, and finding it by following the smoke is the method of last resort.

Turn off the key, all lights, and anything else you can. Hook a 12 volt test light between the positive post and the positive cable.
It does not have to be a professional light, any 12 volt bulb with a couple of wires will work.

It should light with full brightness.
Put it were you can see it, and start disconnecting things until it goes out or real dim.
You can start from either end, but try the fuse links first. Figure out which one puts the light out, hook it back up, and move farther down the circuit away from the battery until you find the short.

If you want to jump ahead, take all the wires loose from the headlight circuit and see if that puts out the test light.
If it does, then start tracing the wires until you find the short. May be where it goes through the firewall, or at the headlights themselves.

I could be a little more specific as to what to check if I knew what make, model, and year vehicle it is........