[Vwdiesel] VW issues

[Chris Geiser]

Travis - that's the first diesel vehicle fire that I've heard of... You
know it wasn't fuel in those temps, so had to be electrical...
Sorry for your troubles - hope things warm up and turn out positively.

CG
**sent with mobile device

On Jan 6, 2014 6:26 PM, "Travis ." <tgott at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>
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