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        General >> Problems >> HELP!  car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
        
(Message started by: clarricks on Aug 2^nd, 2006, 1:03pm)

Title: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by clarricks on Aug 2^nd, 2006, 1:03pm

Just cannot believe my luck at the moment, to cut a really long story short, got my car back yesterday as mechanic friend took it to work to fit new tyres (some *rsehole had put nails in my tyres, plus I needed two new ones for MOT anyway) so got all four off a BMW for 80 quid (right touch)
Anyway, had to go to hospital with Son (two broken arms fell out of tree) and parked up car, that was driving lovely, I hasten to add. Went in Hospital, next thing pandamonium, it's announced that my car is alight in the car park. Whole hospital went into panic mode, fire brigade called the lot!!
All there was , was smoke , quite alot of, coming from drivers side top left corner out of the grill under the window, it smelt acrid and electrical, so someone popped the bonnet and they soaked it in foam (cheers) time fire brigade got there all was ok, but they dissconected the battery. Anyway got car home reconnected battery, had total inspection of all electrical bit and bobs on car, all working fine, can see no burn't wires, only evidence is smell of burn't wires and foam residue all over car !! Seems that smoke etc was coming from under the fuse box located in the top left corner (looking at car) cannot see an signs of burning and all fuses are fine. Have driven car today took daughter to work ,with an extinguisher to hand!! but car is fine no burning. I am deducing that whatever must of burnt must have been on a constant live as ignition was off and car didn't start smouldering till ten mins after I got out of it, as I left my son in car whilst got parking ticket, that took five mins and there was no smoke then.
Anyway, sorry to ramble but has anyone had anything similar or can they suggest anything I havn't thought of to check. Any help appreciated
Clare.x.

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by Octavian_P on Aug 2^nd, 2006, 1:14pm

In the fuseboxe there are several cooper layers spaced by an insulating material, meybe water ingressed between made corrosion and did a short circuit. Do you have a battery cover fitted ....???

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by Daven on Aug 2^nd, 2006, 3:18pm

What about the wiper motor - that's in that area as well?

Lucky it didn't get any worse!

Dave

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by invernessguy on Aug 2^nd, 2006, 4:20pm

i had a wiper motor jam on me, same symptoms, and loads of smoke.... linkage had popped out and jammed it, and motor couldnt get into park. Hope u get it sorted soon, although i think its more likely gonna be the fusebox?

donnie

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by mr._floppy on Aug 3^rd, 2006, 12:02am

Bad luck clarricks , It's rather frightening to know , even though the key is out of the ignition, that there are still many live circuits in the cars' electrical system with up to 40 amps of current surging through them.

What about the heater blower motor ?

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by clarricks on Aug 4^th, 2006, 9:27pm

Hi guys slight update on car fire, everything has been working fine since fire, no fuses blown no electrical problems.......untill today ???
Driving along and out of the blue the Heater starts blowing, full pelt, hot air ?? freaky thing is no switches were on, all off. So I started pushing buttons and turning knobs, the LO /high temp controls bits are still reading although cannot actually change the temp it is constant warm. My air con has never worked since I have had the car, due to spending money on other things more important on it and waiting to have it re gassed. The heayet has always been tempermental at coming on and off etc, but was reassured by peeps on here that , it was normal, but i did het a new HBC to make sure and it didn't make any difference, i could adjust the heat to what i wanted, it just came on and off when it wanted. Well now it is just permanently on, with warm air, if I turn the dial to the right it adjusts the speed, so that bits ok, all bits on the surface look to be working, but obviously the fire must have melted something. So I am now going on a mission onhere to look for wiring diagrams or some help in getting the heater control unit thing off, so we can have a look behind it, any more help appreciated.

By the way, what does happen if you do not have the correct battery cover fitted??? ;D

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by jonnycab on Aug 5^th, 2006, 2:58am

Clarricks wrote....."By the way, what does happen if you do not have the correct battery cover fitted"

Water can get into the fusebox & start shorting things out :o

If you have climate control, then if water gets into the fusebox & shorts out...lets say.... a connection for the SATC module, then it is quite possible that some component (resistor, capacitor etc) inside the SATC module would get so hot it would burn out & cause a terrible smell & alot of smoke, which could exit through the grill.
Was there any evidence of smell/smoke in the car?

If a part of the SATC module has burned out then this might cause it to permanently blow heat at full blast.

It's just a theory :)

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by Simmo on Aug 5^th, 2006, 5:16am

This page will tell you how to remove the control panel for the AC controls. You will see that both the air con and Climate control panels are shown. Depends on your model.http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/fasciabulbs.htm. The battery cover is one of the most important fittings on the car !!,as is making sure the drain holes under the battery tray are clear of leaves etc and the fusebox lids properly fitted. This should help as well.http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/acmanual.htm

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by colinw on Aug 5^th, 2006, 6:31pm

ok i had a similar prob to this a long long time ago ,smoke from vents and could find no visible damage anywhere,but heater was all over place,and eventually car stopped all instruments etc failed .so i turned detective stripped fuse boxes ,traced all cables ,and eventually came across a melted loom that connects to the cc panel this had obviously been causing probs for a while,I had previously had probs with engine loom melting in places due to heat as well.My advice would be to get this checked asap i no its a complete female dog of a job but its better than car catching fire with the family on board.i could not beleive how bad these cables had got and i actually had them smoking/melting before fuses blew.i needed to remove entire dash and check everything.and beleive me mr ford did not make this easy,but all diagrams are easily followed and found on this site.

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by clarricks on Aug 10^th, 2006, 6:42pm

Cheers guys for all the info, I am going on my Hols in a couple of days, so car will have to wait till I come home (if I ever get there with the cancellations??)
I do have a battery cover of a sort, it was made for my car from rubber matting, but I think battery may be sitting in puddle of water? would that also make my car juddery on the steering when braking?, when all other possabilities have been ruled out? or is that just too far fetched? I will buy a battery cover on my return and get the mechanic to investigate under the fuse box and behind the interior bits and bobs and see what happens, will keep you posted :-*

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by Octavian_P on Aug 10^th, 2006, 9:50pm

If the battery staies in a puddle of water then it's bad news, drainig holes are full of dirt, water ingreses from under the fuseboxes...serious trouble. The shakeing when braking means new disks and pads for the front brakes ;)

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by clarricks on Oct 28^th, 2006, 1:18am

Had new discs and brakes, still judders when breaking over 40mph, gear knob wobbles as well, worse when you lighly touch break, better if you jump on it :-X you know what I mean, apply more pressure on break!!, driving me mad, wondered if it could be the whole lifting car off ground, air in fluid thing? will try tomorrow taking lid off break fluid, sitting at 1500 rpm and turning wheel, if that doesn't cure it will post again for possible causes, cheers guys.x.

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by clarricks on Oct 28^th, 2006, 1:19am

ps whole battery thing is fine clear and clean and covered, but thanks for asking :-*

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by Jim on Oct 28^th, 2006, 10:37am

Re breaks : Outside edge of disks rust and the lip at outer edge of pads flake off giving that type of feel on light breaking. New disks or grind off remaining lip.

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by mr._floppy on Oct 28^th, 2006, 10:38am

The steering shake when braking is strange, even with new discs and pads !

Check both front wishbone's rubber bushes front and rear ( more likely rear ) for excessive play.

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by slimspider on Oct 28^th, 2006, 1:11pm

I had smoke coming from near the grill on the left side at the top of the bonnet - it was the wire for the electric front wndow... Not a l;ot of smoke but when I pulled off the wire that attached under the front window the smoke stopped... I expect the heated front window wont work now though but will fins out soon when window frosted up.

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by allenjames on Oct 28^th, 2006, 5:08pm

I get this shaking on braking with new discs and pads too - only when slowing 50mph to 40mph.

Are those bushes easy to replace ?

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by Simmo on Oct 28^th, 2006, 5:28pm

Try reading the relevant sections HERE (http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/suspensionman.htm). The anti-roll bar rubbers are cheap and easy, the large rear bush is often the cause and you should be able to check this with a bar. Replacing these will significantly improve things if there is movement in them and they are fairly easy to change.

Title: Re: HELP! car fire !!!!! (long sorry)
Post by xr4s_r_ace on Oct 28^th, 2006, 10:27pm

buy a big fire extinguisher!