Electrical meltdown

[Geraint Lloyd]

Stuff under there includes ecu (behind the A pillar cover) and the splice.

the splice would be my guess

try searching the list for info on the "splice". you would not be the
first...............
or look at SJM's excellent site @
http://www.sjmautotechnik.com/trouble_shooting/elec.html#chg

The splice is a join between 2 different gauges of wire that runs from
the battery to the starter and from there to the rest of  the car (well
more or less).
the splice itself is located behind the top of the carpet in the
passenger footwell which could explain your smoke.
the joint is a dry crimp and has a tendency to go high resistance, which
night have singed the sleeve / heat shrink especially if the SO was
cranking the starter when it started smoking.

I would pull the carpet ASAP and also follow the SJM test procedure.
Changing the splice (or the whole cable forwards of the splice, as I
did) is not too hard as long as you fancy a bit of light contortionism.
the OEM part is NOT CHEAP so go to your local electrical store and buy
some chunky but flexy wire (with v high melting point silicone
insulation), connectors, and heat shrink.

Geraint



Feelstranger wrote:
> Got a call this morning from The SO,  "the Car is on fire!!"
> My first thought was a gas leak had started a fire under the hood.  I recently had some light gas smells from the pressure regulator to fuel manifold on occasion.
> She sounded confused when I told her to use the extinguisher....turns out smoke was coming out of the passenger side of dash - from underneath.  Strong electrical BBQ smells remain.
> Car didn't actually catch on fire. 
> But I fear it might as well have!
> Any known/typical/likely things to look for in that region? 
> It was only 1 minute after leaving the driveway in the morning.
> I need to determine if she turned on the dash fan to clear morning dew - thinking the fan might have melted down???
> Thanks
> Nat
>  
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