so my car caught fire

MR JAS · 09-10-2009, 11:40 PM

so anyway yesterday i was driving down the road and got hit by a faint whiff of acrid electrical/rubber smoke figuring it was somewhere else i turned the fan on for fresh air and it went away
fast forward 10 mins and i notice white smoke coming from the hole where a stereo would go if i had one... i was like hhhmmmmmm that cant be good so pulled into a car park cut the ignition and disconnected the battery real fast
by now the cabin was full of smoke within ten mins it slowly dissipated and stopped coming out from under the dash

seeing as i was a mere 1 minute drive from my house i eventually got bored hooked the bat back up and boosted it home

almost instantly the smoke returned much worse and by the time i got home it was completely filling the car with both windows open

i once again cut the power and it slowly went away

skip to this morning and i investigated the cause

turns out a previous owner had completely removed the stereo loom then later decided he wanted a stereo so made a new one VERY BADLY he also wired in a small amp under the passenger seat

and way i discovered a mass of wires under the dash and carpet all linked together by twisting wires and masking tape or sellotape these had shorted and his power wires that were unfused going straight to the battery went up

most of these wires have no insulation left as it all melted off and burned the bottom of the carpet and his switch he installed under the dash caught fire and burned some nonessential plastic **** but luckily it didnt go up in flames completely

anyway i ripped it all out but now the car has no power it seems the battery is completely dead from my multimeter measurements so maybe it has a dead cell its charging now so i guess we will find out
inb4 check fuses etc

thats my rant for now
i will post some scorched wiring photos soon but its raining now

also does anyone know how much of the loom needs to be replaced to restore the radio plug?

MRH · 09-10-2009, 11:48 PM

dang dude! sorry for the problems! that stinks!!!!

-H

MR JAS · 09-11-2009, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRH

that stinks!!!!

-H

that pretty much sums it up i just put in new carpets and leather seats and now it all smells like burnt plastic
oh well out come the cleaning products

MRH · 09-11-2009, 12:35 AM

icic, best of luck to ya man!

-H

curvesrgood · 09-11-2009, 12:48 AM

What a bummer... good luck with the cleanup!! I guess you joined the club the easy way. I had a small engine bay fire from a starter wire that touched something it shouldn't have... I had flames though, but luckily they went out quickly and I caught it before anything other than the wire's casing had burned! Scared me though... I was driving down the road and smelled melting rubber/something hot and I looked in the rearview mirror and smoke was billowing from my decklid!! I've put a small fire extinguisher on my list of to-buy-ASAP items.

MR JAS · 09-11-2009, 03:10 AM

charged the battery and it runs fine now
i ran a battery test before i charged it and it was on 11 volts which is deeply discharged
goes to show it had enough charge to start normally in the car park but managed to fully discharge on the 1 min drive home the battery was disconnected immediately so all that juice was lost in a very short period of time

09-10-2009, 11:40 PM	#1 (permalink)
MR JAS Generous to a fault Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: hamilton new zealand Posts: 722 Thanks: 19 Thanked 17 Times in 16 Posts iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	so my car caught fire so anyway yesterday i was driving down the road and got hit by a faint whiff of acrid electrical/rubber smoke figuring it was somewhere else i turned the fan on for fresh air and it went away fast forward 10 mins and i notice white smoke coming from the hole where a stereo would go if i had one... i was like hhhmmmmmm that cant be good so pulled into a car park cut the ignition and disconnected the battery real fast by now the cabin was full of smoke within ten mins it slowly dissipated and stopped coming out from under the dash seeing as i was a mere 1 minute drive from my house i eventually got bored hooked the bat back up and boosted it home almost instantly the smoke returned much worse and by the time i got home it was completely filling the car with both windows open i once again cut the power and it slowly went away skip to this morning and i investigated the cause turns out a previous owner had completely removed the stereo loom then later decided he wanted a stereo so made a new one VERY BADLY he also wired in a small amp under the passenger seat and way i discovered a mass of wires under the dash and carpet all linked together by twisting wires and masking tape or sellotape these had shorted and his power wires that were unfused going straight to the battery went up most of these wires have no insulation left as it all melted off and burned the bottom of the carpet and his switch he installed under the dash caught fire and burned some nonessential plastic **** but luckily it didnt go up in flames completely anyway i ripped it all out but now the car has no power it seems the battery is completely dead from my multimeter measurements so maybe it has a dead cell its charging now so i guess we will find out inb4 check fuses etc thats my rant for now i will post some scorched wiring photos soon but its raining now also does anyone know how much of the loom needs to be replaced to restore the radio plug?

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09-10-2009, 11:48 PM	#2 (permalink)
MRH 5SF-TorquE Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Middle TN Posts: 800 Thanks: 66 Thanked 19 Times in 19 Posts iTrader Rating: (3/100% )	dang dude! sorry for the problems! that stinks!!!! -H

09-11-2009, 12:35 AM	#4 (permalink)
MRH 5SF-TorquE Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Middle TN Posts: 800 Thanks: 66 Thanked 19 Times in 19 Posts iTrader Rating: (3/100% )	icic, best of luck to ya man! -H

09-11-2009, 12:48 AM	#5 (permalink)
curvesrgood three mk1's Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: NC Posts: 499 Thanks: 8 Thanked 33 Times in 28 Posts iTrader Rating: (1/100% )	What a bummer... good luck with the cleanup!! I guess you joined the club the easy way. I had a small engine bay fire from a starter wire that touched something it shouldn't have... I had flames though, but luckily they went out quickly and I caught it before anything other than the wire's casing had burned! Scared me though... I was driving down the road and smelled melting rubber/something hot and I looked in the rearview mirror and smoke was billowing from my decklid!! I've put a small fire extinguisher on my list of to-buy-ASAP items.

09-11-2009, 03:10 AM	#6 (permalink)
MR JAS Generous to a fault Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: hamilton new zealand Posts: 722 Thanks: 19 Thanked 17 Times in 16 Posts iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	charged the battery and it runs fine now i ran a battery test before i charged it and it was on 11 volts which is deeply discharged goes to show it had enough charge to start normally in the car park but managed to fully discharge on the 1 min drive home the battery was disconnected immediately so all that juice was lost in a very short period of time