So I set my car on fire today!

Saab Ed

Dont know what caused it yet but I somehow set my 900 on fire this evening. Spent the day re-fitting the dashboard after fitting a new heater valve at the back of it. Had the whole lot back together , watch for leaks and let it run for a while.

All seemed well so I moved on to cleaning her up because she hasn't moved since Christmas day. Out came the power washer and I blasted all the grime off her. Left the car running through all this to make sure it wasn't heating up. Again all seemed well. Lifted the bonnet and gave it a bit of a blast under there. Again I left it running through all this and stayed away from any bits you wouldn't want water near. I've done this many times before without problem and again there didn't seem to be any problem this evening.

It wasn't till I was finished cleaning the car that I moved it into my neighbours garden ( away on holiday ) to clean up my own drive. I just happened to look over at the car as I was sweeping up the drive and I noticed what I thought was steam. I dont know why but I had a closer look. Just aswell because it wasn't steam at all but some sort of smouldering smoke coming from the back of the dash :eek: Grabbed the fire extinguisher , ran for the battery connections and franticly starting pulling stuff out of the dash. Another neighbour noticed what was going on and he ran over to help.

Anyway we couldn't see where anything was coming from , found no damage at all, although we did sit there for another 20 minutes watching this smoke coming out from the hole for the radio. It was very odd indeed because although it was smoke it didnt stink in a plastic or chemical kinda way. Mad really , I feared the worst . Anyway as I said after 20 minutes the smoke stopped and we just pushed the car back into my drive and sat with it for an hour to make sure nothing kicked off again. have a guess what im up to tomorrow. Lucky escape , im glad im taking my car apart tomorrow instead of watching a burnt out shell heading off on the back of a truck. :pac:

Bigus

Just as well you didn't put it into a garage and leave it . good luck tomorrow

unkel

Saab Ed wrote: »

Lifted the bonnet and gave it a bit of a blast under there.

:eek:

You used a power washer in your engine department???

Max_Damage

Given the state the electrics are in my Escort Mk3, I'll be investing in a fire extinguisher soon. Have one in my Escort Mk6 long with the parent's Mazda 626.

Max_Damage

unkel wrote: »

:eek:

You used a power washer in your engine department???

Done before, once you don't hit the coil, alt, HT leads, or plugs, all should go well.

unkel

Max_Damage wrote: »

Done before, once you don't hit the coil, alt, HT leads, or plugs, all should go well.

Ah shure. It'll be grand. Until you set fire to your car...

Can anyone tell me why the hell they need to use a power washer under the bonnet?

BeardyGit

unkel wrote: »

Ah shure. It'll be grand. Until you set fire to your car...

Can anyone tell me why the hell they need to use a power washer under the bonnet?

Turn that one on its head - Can you tell anyone why they shouldn't?

The fire was very, very unlikely to have anything to do with powerhosing the engine bay, just in case you think it could. The dash was already apart, and it's my guess a 12v feed was pinched or nicked on reassembly, on an unfused strand, and that's probably where it started.

But yeah, why not? In 14 years of driving, every car I've owned has had a power hose under the bonnet. My landrovers get a good clean down pretty much every 3 months with a hot lance wash, and it's never done harm to any car I've washed with it.

caprilicious

Something similar happened in my second Capri

The guy that sold it to me removed the (original) radio & taped up the radio wires.
Was driving it through town a few days after buying it when smoke started gushing out of the dash. Feckin live wires had touched and she was going up in smoke :eek:

Frightened the life out of me, thankfully I was able to stop it in time

Hope your car is ok, not too much damage done :cool:

Esel

Disappointed, tbh. Was expecting an insurance claim thread.... :eek:

carchaeologist

Disconnect battery..instant fix,at least for the night...:)

Iv never used a powerwasher under a bonnet myself. It doesnt bode well for electrical thingys..

Gary ITR

Lucky you had the extinguisher at hand, I hadn't when my car went up, I used about 40 quids worth of Autoglym ad 2litres of coke putting mine out

corktina

in my book Classics and power washers dont mix AT ALL..I dont use one on the outside never mind the inside.

Having said that, Id say you have caused a short behind your dash when re-installing it and will find a nice bare bit of wire with remnants of insulation here and there. Don't reconnect he battery until you find it and fix it.

corktina

Onkle wrote: »

Lucky you had the extinguisher at hand, I hadn't when my car went up, I used about 40 quids worth of Autoglym ad 2litres of coke putting mine out

Metric system confusing you? shouldn't that be two kilos of coke...? (we must be overpaying you...)

chiefwiggum

sorry to hear that edd...fingers crossed its an easy fix

goat2

Onkle wrote: »

Lucky you had the extinguisher at hand, I hadn't when my car went up, I used about 40 quids worth of Autoglym ad 2litres of coke putting mine out

you should have said
i accidentaly set my car alight today
instead of i set my car on fire
as the first thing i thought of, was some lad getting even or mad with his motor
i am sorry to hear this has happened to you, good luck

Big Nasty

corktina wrote: »

in my book Classics and power washers dont mix AT ALL..I dont use one on the outside never mind the inside.

Having said that, Id say you have caused a short behind your dash when re-installing it and will find a nice bare bit of wire with remnants of insulation here and there. Don't reconnect he battery until you find it and fix it.

+1 on the above. Although I have used a power washer on a modern car (light spray) to clean the engine bay - I wouldn't dream of using it on the T/A.

spooky donkey

Max_Damage wrote: »

Given the state the electrics are in my Escort Mk3, I'll be investing in a fire extinguisher soon. Have one in my Escort Mk6 long with the parent's Mazda 626.

I have one in mine after i had a fuel problem with i first got it. Got it sorted but the extinguisher stays in the car.

And ive used a power washer on the engine of my car while it was running and it lives still...... You just have to be carefull.

unkel

RoverCraft wrote: »

Turn that one on its head - Can you tell anyone why they shouldn't?

You know what you're at. The OP and me are not competent

mustang68

ugh I feel your pain, I was working on the mustang a few years ago getting it ready for terenure, I had the dash out and the blower and I was a bit tired. I had put everything back in and connected it up when i found a loose bullet connector, looking around I found what I thought was the other end and plugged it in. However one was a spare live and the other was an earth.

Smoke pouring out of the dash, ran around disconnected the batery and was waiting with the extinguisher but it didn't go up. I did manage to burn out most of the main loom and had to rebuild it early the next day.

• Always have an extinguisher
• Don't plug in connectors until you are 100% sure
• Look at what is fused in your car and redo them

galwaytt

Ed - sorry for your troubles - fwiw, the pressure washer had nothing to do with it imho......more likely the dash refit........

Everyone else - jeez, down here water won't burn..........:rolleyes:

David09

Just thinking about it, is it possible that what you were seeing was steam and not smoke? Could there have been any moisture or water lodged in the heater casing from the rad that had burst? Could it have been this moisture evaporating when hot that you were seeing?
If it was smoke, another possibility would be the heater fan getting jammed and reddening up it's motor. Was the ignition left switched on when it happened?
As previously mentioned, don't take any chances connecting the battery until you find out for sure what it was.
Car fires are a scary situation. Only a few months ago I had my yard vandalised and cars set on fire by local scum. One can only imagine the shock of arriving home after a call to find the whole place ablaze.