[Vwdiesel] VW issues

[Travis .]

Well after I order brakes but before I received them even- my car started on fire. Went out to start my car. Turned over slowly. I tried one more time and figured it wasn't going to spin it fast enough to actually start. I worked night shift and this was trying to get home. I went inside to call my wife. After a couple minutes someone said they had jumper cables and we would try that. Just then my boss came in and said-your car is running. I ran outside and saw smoke coming out from the hood area. I popped the hood and flames came out. I closed the hood and got a couple fire extinguishers. Thankfully where I work there is a lot of those per building codes/factory, etc. Came back out with my boss on my heels and we got the hood back open and took two big extinguishers but it was out. I had to peel the smoldering hood insulation off for fear it would drop back in and start something up. It was around -25. Around as cold as it was last Monday. I should have just had my wife drop me off last night and pick me back up since our garage isn't as cold as it is outside and we can plug it in vs at work were there isn't plug in's. 

So my boss gave me a ride home. Called insurance which gave me a claim number and I was suppose to call a different number. 3 numbers later I finally got the right set of number since this was "fire". Since they were already booked today-they might send someone to look at Tuesday. Glade they really can speed things up. Found out I don't have the coverage that covers getting a rental either so that will be getting added in. Love how with insurance that unless you ask the right things it is hard to figure out what you do have. They said that the part causing the fire wouldn't be covered but the surrounding parts would be. 

So I attempted to start my truck-wouldn't turn over. I attempted to move my JD L&G tractors and after an hour of messing around got one started to so I could move it out of the way. Only to find the hydraulics (hydrostactic, power steering, blower lift) wouldn't work as the oil likely couldn't get past the filter. So I had to push it out of the way and push it back in. The Geo metro with some extended cranking was the only thing that did fire off. I was getting parts for it to rebuild since there is no power, it burns oil, etc. I did have the battery on a battery maintainer. 

So after driving to work at 35 mph since it doesn't have the power to go faster then that right now I got there to clear my car out. I went to remove my rear hitch carrier and twisted the lock key in the pin. So-that got left behind. Took pictures of the damage since I now had a camera and it was now daylight. No body damage (paint) and no mechanical engine damage. But if it is rubber or plastic and in the engine-it doesn't look good. One radiator fan is melted down as is the battery area. Valve cover was starting to melt, radiator melted some. Hoses crispy but not burned through. 

The crappy part-that was my good vehicle that was meant for my towing and my distance drives. Internet was down most of the day due to cold related issues. I felt like a caged animal today. When it rains-it pours. Hopefully the insurance stuff gets worked out OK. My deductibles aren't bad but I worry since it isn't a 100% stock car on what they could put blame to on things. I know it had to be the battery area. I don't know if something just overheated in the attempted start and then it smoldered and started up. Could have been the live wires on top of the battery as well (don't know the name for it were it is a power hub basically). I had my cold weather front on so that helped keep things from burning faster I think. It burned a hole in the intake side of the one cover. My entire plastic intake parts are also melted. 

Could have been worse I guess. I could have been someplace without fire extinguishers - or enough of them. My wife could have been driving - with 3 kids strapped in cars seats and a fire up front stranded outside in the cold. So I am thankful for several things. But I am still at a lose as to how this happened. No recent work that hasn't already started the car in just as cold of weather. 

On top of that we had one frozen water pipe in the house we rent (we got it thawed) and now have found a few areas of ice on the inside of the house-on outside facing walls. Now my wife will have to drop me off day and possibly another day or two since I don't trust starting a vehicle sitting outside. Neighbor will help watch the kids as this is done - which they just are recovering from the stomach flu. 

Well-I think that venting makes me feel a little better. Couldn't barely sleep but a few hours. 
Travis