My car caught on fire...help

Smokedawg · 07-10-2001, 12:10 PM

Well, I step into my car last night and I guess and I went to press down on the clutch, my foot bumped up against the fuse box and shorted something out. The car never had a fuse box cover on it when I purchased it. On 1 of the fuses I had one of those spaid clips in it that powered my radio, I think thats what I grounded out. So it burnt all my wires heading to my strobe lights and electric fan switch. When the wire was smoking it caught my carpet on fire. I stomped it out after it burnt up a nice chunk of my carpet. So after the smoke cleared, I started evaluating damage. I had no headlights or taillights. No electric fan, strobe lights. No radio or radar detector. All interior light were not working either. So it was about 10 last night and i had a buddy in front of me and one behind me with flashers on hoping I wouldnt get pulled over.

I get home and check all the fuses and only found one to be bad. I replaced it and still nothing worked. I figured that I burnt up the whole box but I thought it would unplug, but there is like 2* wires plugged into it. The socket where the fuse blowed is brown and the metal in the socket is corraded(spelling?), I took a hot wire and figured out how to wire to get everything back BESIDES my headlights and taillights. Has anyone had this problem before and how do I get this thing together again.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

------------------
347 Stroker Motor: Balanced, Cobra Transmission, Extrude Ported and Polished Upper and ported Lower, GT40 Milled Ported and Polished Heads, B303 Cam, BBK 1 5/8 Headers, 30lb Bosch Injectors, Holley AFPR, March Underdrive Pulleys, Perma-Cool Fan, 3-Core Radiator, Accel Performance Coil, Accel 300+ Racing Wires, Ram Air, K&N Filter, 73mm Vortech MAF, 70mm TB, FlowMaster Exhaust w/BBK Offroad H-Pipe, Hurst Shifter, 3:55 Gears, Ram Clutch, Cross Drilled Rotors, AC and Smog del, rear seat del.

Rick 91GT · 07-10-2001, 02:17 PM

Although I don't have any suggestions I just want to say sorry to hear it caught fire but luckily you got it out before it did major damage.

Good Luck

------------------
Check Out My Site 91GT,Holley SysteMAX II Kit-Heads 2.02" x 1.60" port matched to a 1262,Anderson N-61,24#,76mm C&L,Full MAC exhaust 1-5/8" Long tubes,2-1/2" O.R H-Pipe,2 1/2" cat back, No A/C or PS or emissions, 12" K&N Filter,RNH PERFORMANCE Ram Air,Ron Davis Radiator,Full Suspension,S&W 8pt "X" brace,JAZ seats,3:73's,Welds..etc,4:30's and 31 splines coming very soon! FIRST TIME OUT 12.16@111 WHEELS-UP

Skyman · 07-10-2001, 04:48 PM

Bad luck man... but strobe lights? Is it a disco club or a mustang? hah, sorry. I would just check all your wiring, you probably burnt a lot of wires.

------------------
-1989 Saleen Mustang #406-
TFS TW Heads, E-303, Edelbrock intake, 70mm TB, 73mm MAF, 24lb injectors, 1 5/8 shorties, Off Road H, 3 Chamber flows, Jaz Race seats, Back seat removed, sub-frames, Roll Cage, and a 80 shot of N20.
12.54@107.4 Motor
1.69 60'

Smokedawg · 07-10-2001, 04:51 PM

HAHA. My buddy and I both installed these strobes. He put them in his R/T and I put'em in my car. I noticed that the fuse that I blew to pieces, now only has 1 wire going to it. I dont know what happened to the wire leaving the fuse. Could it have burnt all the way gone??

------------------
347 Stroker Motor: Balanced, Cobra Transmission, Extrude Ported and Polished Upper and ported Lower, GT40 Milled Ported and Polished Heads, B303 Cam, BBK 1 5/8 Headers, 30lb Bosch Injectors, Holley AFPR, March Underdrive Pulleys, Perma-Cool Fan, 3-Core Radiator, Accel Performance Coil, Accel 300+ Racing Wires, Ram Air, K&N Filter, 73mm Vortech MAF, 70mm TB, FlowMaster Exhaust w/BBK Offroad H-Pipe, Hurst Shifter, 3:55 Gears, Ram Clutch, Cross Drilled Rotors, AC and Smog del, rear seat del.

dinomite · 07-10-2001, 05:07 PM

thats crazy man, my car has no cover on it either, it broke off a long time ago...i often pull the fuse box with my foot as i'm getting out of the car. hope you can fix everything.

Smokedawg · 07-10-2001, 08:11 PM

Well, from what I can see, there are 3 main wires that go into the fuse box and powers everything. It looks like I have toasted one of those 3 wires. And pertaining to the strobe lights, I like to think of them as rice attractent

------------------
347 Stroker Motor: Balanced, Cobra Transmission, Extrude Ported and Polished Upper and ported Lower, GT40 Milled Ported and Polished Heads, B303 Cam, BBK 1 5/8 Headers, 30lb Bosch Injectors, Holley AFPR, March Underdrive Pulleys, Perma-Cool Fan, 3-Core Radiator, Accel Performance Coil, Accel 300+ Racing Wires, Ram Air, K&N Filter, 73mm Vortech MAF, 70mm TB, FlowMaster Exhaust w/BBK Offroad H-Pipe, Hurst Shifter, 3:55 Gears, Ram Clutch, Cross Drilled Rotors, AC and Smog del, rear seat del.

82 GT · 07-10-2001, 08:42 PM

Dude, you might need to replace your wiring harness. I just did that and it's not fun!!

------------------
'82 GT 351W C-4,BBK headers,Carter 625 carb,Comp.Cam,Flowmaster exhaust.
1988 GT...T-5,bone stock

Smokedawg · 07-17-2001, 01:29 PM

Last night I thought I would finish up all the wiring. I ran in a new hot wire and put in inline fuses to the section of fuses that I messed up. Got it all hooked up and its still screwed up. The parking lights stay on full time with light switch off and keys out of the ignition they are still on. Have to disconnect battery to get them off. When I hit the light switch my fog lights come on but no headlights. All wires are hooked up and all fuses are powered. I checked them all with a test-light. I dont know what else to do. Guess I will finally have to break down and take it to the shop.

------------------
347 Stroker Motor: Balanced, Cobra Transmission, Extrude Ported and Polished Upper and ported Lower, GT40 Milled Ported and Polished Heads, B303 Cam, BBK 1 5/8 Headers, 30lb Bosch Injectors, Holley AFPR, March Underdrive Pulleys, Perma-Cool Fan, 3-Core Radiator, Accel Performance Coil, Accel 300+ Racing Wires, Ram Air, K&N Filter, 73mm Vortech MAF, 70mm TB, FlowMaster Exhaust w/BBK Offroad H-Pipe, Hurst Shifter, 3:55 Gears, Ram Clutch, Cross Drilled Rotors, AC and Smog del, rear seat del.

andy669 · 07-17-2001, 05:27 PM

dude. thats gonna be alot of money to have a shop fix it. (i'm assuming youre not made of money) I like 82gt's idea about replacing the whole harness. you could probably get one from a junkyard pretty cheap. It sounds to me like your strobes were pulling too much power for the wire to handle. But, in order to start a fire, the fuse would have had to been oversized for the wire. I have heard of people having that kind of problem with their xenon bulbs and such. good luck.
andy

crewzin · 07-17-2001, 05:47 PM

Sorry to hear about that. I have a 70 mach1 that some wires shorted out and melted into some of the others inside the dash were you could'nt see them and it would do the same thing that you experiencing. The dome light would come on when the heater was turned on, that kind of stuff. The power to one accessory would jump thru to another. Just some info from the past that may help you.

82 GT · 07-17-2001, 09:47 PM

Smokedawg, I got a wiring harness from the junkyard for only $10
My wiring caught fire and melted together almost 2yrs ago and I thought I could just splice new wire here and there and be ok but I was wrong!
I know you are probably dreading the thought of replacing the harness(I was too) but I am glad I did.
I will be visiting Columbus Indiania in two weeks. If you want, maybe I could help you with the new harness if you decide to go that way since I just finished mine a few weeks ago.

untamed351 · 07-18-2001, 08:23 AM

As a TEMPORARY fix you can wire the headlights to the marker lights so they turn on together. just change the fuse to a 20 amp. My headlight switch stopped working when i was on I-95 coming home from florida to nj. it should be a good temp fix till you get everything straightened out.

Smokedawg · 07-19-2001, 08:50 AM

Man, I really dont wanna replace the whole wiring harness but I guess that might be my last and only option.

82 GT---Hopefully I will have this thing fixed in 2 weeks. I will let you know if I dont..Columbus is about a 1 hour drive from my house. Maybe a little farther but not much.

------------------
347 Stroker Motor: Balanced, Cobra Transmission, Extrude Ported and Polished Upper and ported Lower, GT40 Milled Ported and Polished Heads, B303 Cam, BBK 1 5/8 Headers, 30lb Bosch Injectors, Holley AFPR, March Underdrive Pulleys, Perma-Cool Fan, 3-Core Radiator, Accel Performance Coil, Accel 300+ Racing Wires, Ram Air, K&N Filter, 73mm Vortech MAF, 70mm TB, FlowMaster Exhaust w/BBK Offroad H-Pipe, Hurst Shifter, 3:55 Gears, Ram Clutch, Cross Drilled Rotors, AC and Smog del, rear seat del.

LX XLR8R · 07-19-2001, 09:48 AM

well your ganna have to rip the dash out and i dont rember but maybee the carpet has to get peeled back to the point where it could just come out..the last stripper car i had i took every wiring harness out of it

------------------
1987 black notch(ex 4 banger)
DSS 306 w/ main support...Elderbrock 6028 heads..gt-40 intake..24# injectors...70 mm tb..77 pro-m...accel 300+..mac full legnth..tremec w/ pro5oh...full MAC exhaust,off road h-pipe,long tubes, catback...ron davis radiator..subframes, control arms...CFDF II..o yea holley FPR sucks..dont buy one..
AIM=onesillynotch

Smokedawg · 07-26-2001, 12:55 PM

Finally got it done.
Put in a bunch of inline fuses to run everything. When I was all done I hit the headlights and it seemed to pull a big load. So i went outside looking for a ground somewhere and looked by the coil and there was my wire that fed that hole section of my fuse box burnt out in half. It had burnt in half somehow.

I appreciated you asking to help 82GT.

Can someone suggest the best intake for my setup. I will also be switching to a custom ground cam..Thanks

------------------
347 Stroker Motor: Balanced, Cobra Transmission, Extrude Ported and Polished Upper and ported Lower, GT40 Milled Ported and Polished Heads, B303 Cam, BBK 1 5/8 Headers, 30lb Bosch Injectors, Holley AFPR, March Underdrive Pulleys, Perma-Cool Fan, 3-Core Radiator, Accel Performance Coil, Accel 300+ Racing Wires, Ram Air, K&N Filter, 73mm Vortech MAF, 70mm TB, FlowMaster Exhaust w/BBK Offroad H-Pipe, Hurst Shifter, 3:55 Gears, Ram Clutch, Cross Drilled Rotors, AC and Smog del, rear seat del.

StreetStang37 · 07-26-2001, 04:03 PM

I guess we know why they call you smokedawg

j/k
Seriously though, sorry to hear about that. My '67 Mustang cought on fire in the school parking lot. At first I thought my friend had burned his clucth but then smoke started coming out of the hood! I opened it and there was a fire. Luckily, it was raining and I found a empty bottle and filled it with water from a puddle and put it out that way. I had to push the car home with about 6 friends helping out. Good thing I only had 5 classes so school wasn't out yet!

07-10-2001, 12:10 PM	#1
Smokedawg Tires Fear Me... Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 867	My car caught on fire...help Well, I step into my car last night and I guess and I went to press down on the clutch, my foot bumped up against the fuse box and shorted something out. The car never had a fuse box cover on it when I purchased it. On 1 of the fuses I had one of those spaid clips in it that powered my radio, I think thats what I grounded out. So it burnt all my wires heading to my strobe lights and electric fan switch. When the wire was smoking it caught my carpet on fire. I stomped it out after it burnt up a nice chunk of my carpet. So after the smoke cleared, I started evaluating damage. I had no headlights or taillights. No electric fan, strobe lights. No radio or radar detector. All interior light were not working either. So it was about 10 last night and i had a buddy in front of me and one behind me with flashers on hoping I wouldnt get pulled over. I get home and check all the fuses and only found one to be bad. I replaced it and still nothing worked. I figured that I burnt up the whole box but I thought it would unplug, but there is like 2* wires plugged into it. The socket where the fuse blowed is brown and the metal in the socket is corraded(spelling?), I took a hot wire and figured out how to wire to get everything back BESIDES my headlights and taillights. Has anyone had this problem before and how do I get this thing together again. Any suggestions are appreciated! ------------------ 347 Stroker Motor: Balanced, Cobra Transmission, Extrude Ported and Polished Upper and ported Lower, GT40 Milled Ported and Polished Heads, B303 Cam, BBK 1 5/8 Headers, 30lb Bosch Injectors, Holley AFPR, March Underdrive Pulleys, Perma-Cool Fan, 3-Core Radiator, Accel Performance Coil, Accel 300+ Racing Wires, Ram Air, K&N Filter, 73mm Vortech MAF, 70mm TB, FlowMaster Exhaust w/BBK Offroad H-Pipe, Hurst Shifter, 3:55 Gears, Ram Clutch, Cross Drilled Rotors, AC and Smog del, rear seat del.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
My Car Caught On Fire!!!	zepherman	Windsor Power	24	08-28-2002 02:47 PM
G/F car caught on fire today	82 GT	Blue Oval Lounge	7	04-25-2002 10:10 PM
My dash caught on fire	Brady91 GT	Windsor Power	6	10-08-2001 06:37 PM
alt caught fire.	JM90GT	Windsor Power	4	08-21-2001 09:47 AM
She caught on fire...	leo	Windsor Power	3	07-09-2001 07:03 PM

07-10-2001, 02:17 PM	#2
Rick 91GT Procharged! Join Date: May 1999 Location: Hanover, PA Posts: 1,539	Although I don't have any suggestions I just want to say sorry to hear it caught fire but luckily you got it out before it did major damage. Good Luck ------------------ Check Out My Site 91GT,Holley SysteMAX II Kit-Heads 2.02" x 1.60" port matched to a 1262,Anderson N-61,24#,76mm C&L,Full MAC exhaust 1-5/8" Long tubes,2-1/2" O.R H-Pipe,2 1/2" cat back, No A/C or PS or emissions, 12" K&N Filter,RNH PERFORMANCE Ram Air,Ron Davis Radiator,Full Suspension,S&W 8pt "X" brace,JAZ seats,3:73's,Welds..etc,4:30's and 31 splines coming very soon! FIRST TIME OUT 12.16@111 WHEELS-UP

07-10-2001, 04:48 PM	#3
Skyman I need 110mph Trap Speed! Join Date: Feb 1999 Location: So, CA Posts: 4,315	Bad luck man... but strobe lights? Is it a disco club or a mustang? hah, sorry. I would just check all your wiring, you probably burnt a lot of wires. ------------------ -1989 Saleen Mustang #406- TFS TW Heads, E-303, Edelbrock intake, 70mm TB, 73mm MAF, 24lb injectors, 1 5/8 shorties, Off Road H, 3 Chamber flows, Jaz Race seats, Back seat removed, sub-frames, Roll Cage, and a 80 shot of N20. 12.54@107.4 Motor 1.69 60'

07-10-2001, 04:51 PM	#4
Smokedawg Tires Fear Me... Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 867	HAHA. My buddy and I both installed these strobes. He put them in his R/T and I put'em in my car. I noticed that the fuse that I blew to pieces, now only has 1 wire going to it. I dont know what happened to the wire leaving the fuse. Could it have burnt all the way gone?? ------------------ 347 Stroker Motor: Balanced, Cobra Transmission, Extrude Ported and Polished Upper and ported Lower, GT40 Milled Ported and Polished Heads, B303 Cam, BBK 1 5/8 Headers, 30lb Bosch Injectors, Holley AFPR, March Underdrive Pulleys, Perma-Cool Fan, 3-Core Radiator, Accel Performance Coil, Accel 300+ Racing Wires, Ram Air, K&N Filter, 73mm Vortech MAF, 70mm TB, FlowMaster Exhaust w/BBK Offroad H-Pipe, Hurst Shifter, 3:55 Gears, Ram Clutch, Cross Drilled Rotors, AC and Smog del, rear seat del.

07-10-2001, 05:07 PM	#5
dinomite The Dude Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 1,262	thats crazy man, my car has no cover on it either, it broke off a long time ago...i often pull the fuse box with my foot as i'm getting out of the car. hope you can fix everything.

07-10-2001, 08:11 PM	#6
Smokedawg Tires Fear Me... Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 867	Well, from what I can see, there are 3 main wires that go into the fuse box and powers everything. It looks like I have toasted one of those 3 wires. And pertaining to the strobe lights, I like to think of them as rice attractent ------------------ 347 Stroker Motor: Balanced, Cobra Transmission, Extrude Ported and Polished Upper and ported Lower, GT40 Milled Ported and Polished Heads, B303 Cam, BBK 1 5/8 Headers, 30lb Bosch Injectors, Holley AFPR, March Underdrive Pulleys, Perma-Cool Fan, 3-Core Radiator, Accel Performance Coil, Accel 300+ Racing Wires, Ram Air, K&N Filter, 73mm Vortech MAF, 70mm TB, FlowMaster Exhaust w/BBK Offroad H-Pipe, Hurst Shifter, 3:55 Gears, Ram Clutch, Cross Drilled Rotors, AC and Smog del, rear seat del.

07-10-2001, 08:42 PM	#7
82 GT Import Slayer Join Date: May 1999 Posts: 2,241	Dude, you might need to replace your wiring harness. I just did that and it's not fun!! ------------------ '82 GT 351W C-4,BBK headers,Carter 625 carb,Comp.Cam,Flowmaster exhaust. 1988 GT...T-5,bone stock

07-17-2001, 01:29 PM	#8
Smokedawg Tires Fear Me... Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 867	Last night I thought I would finish up all the wiring. I ran in a new hot wire and put in inline fuses to the section of fuses that I messed up. Got it all hooked up and its still screwed up. The parking lights stay on full time with light switch off and keys out of the ignition they are still on. Have to disconnect battery to get them off. When I hit the light switch my fog lights come on but no headlights. All wires are hooked up and all fuses are powered. I checked them all with a test-light. I dont know what else to do. Guess I will finally have to break down and take it to the shop. ------------------ 347 Stroker Motor: Balanced, Cobra Transmission, Extrude Ported and Polished Upper and ported Lower, GT40 Milled Ported and Polished Heads, B303 Cam, BBK 1 5/8 Headers, 30lb Bosch Injectors, Holley AFPR, March Underdrive Pulleys, Perma-Cool Fan, 3-Core Radiator, Accel Performance Coil, Accel 300+ Racing Wires, Ram Air, K&N Filter, 73mm Vortech MAF, 70mm TB, FlowMaster Exhaust w/BBK Offroad H-Pipe, Hurst Shifter, 3:55 Gears, Ram Clutch, Cross Drilled Rotors, AC and Smog del, rear seat del.

07-17-2001, 05:27 PM	#9
andy669 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Moline Il Posts: 901	dude. thats gonna be alot of money to have a shop fix it. (i'm assuming youre not made of money) I like 82gt's idea about replacing the whole harness. you could probably get one from a junkyard pretty cheap. It sounds to me like your strobes were pulling too much power for the wire to handle. But, in order to start a fire, the fuse would have had to been oversized for the wire. I have heard of people having that kind of problem with their xenon bulbs and such. good luck. andy

07-17-2001, 05:47 PM	#10
crewzin Registered Member Join Date: May 2001 Location: Sour Lake, TX Posts: 211	Sorry to hear about that. I have a 70 mach1 that some wires shorted out and melted into some of the others inside the dash were you could'nt see them and it would do the same thing that you experiencing. The dome light would come on when the heater was turned on, that kind of stuff. The power to one accessory would jump thru to another. Just some info from the past that may help you.

07-17-2001, 09:47 PM	#11
82 GT Import Slayer Join Date: May 1999 Posts: 2,241	Smokedawg, I got a wiring harness from the junkyard for only $10 My wiring caught fire and melted together almost 2yrs ago and I thought I could just splice new wire here and there and be ok but I was wrong! I know you are probably dreading the thought of replacing the harness(I was too) but I am glad I did. I will be visiting Columbus Indiania in two weeks. If you want, maybe I could help you with the new harness if you decide to go that way since I just finished mine a few weeks ago.

07-18-2001, 08:23 AM	#12
untamed351 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Belmar, NJ Posts: 52	As a TEMPORARY fix you can wire the headlights to the marker lights so they turn on together. just change the fuse to a 20 amp. My headlight switch stopped working when i was on I-95 coming home from florida to nj. it should be a good temp fix till you get everything straightened out.

07-19-2001, 08:50 AM	#13
Smokedawg Tires Fear Me... Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 867	Man, I really dont wanna replace the whole wiring harness but I guess that might be my last and only option. 82 GT---Hopefully I will have this thing fixed in 2 weeks. I will let you know if I dont..Columbus is about a 1 hour drive from my house. Maybe a little farther but not much. ------------------ 347 Stroker Motor: Balanced, Cobra Transmission, Extrude Ported and Polished Upper and ported Lower, GT40 Milled Ported and Polished Heads, B303 Cam, BBK 1 5/8 Headers, 30lb Bosch Injectors, Holley AFPR, March Underdrive Pulleys, Perma-Cool Fan, 3-Core Radiator, Accel Performance Coil, Accel 300+ Racing Wires, Ram Air, K&N Filter, 73mm Vortech MAF, 70mm TB, FlowMaster Exhaust w/BBK Offroad H-Pipe, Hurst Shifter, 3:55 Gears, Ram Clutch, Cross Drilled Rotors, AC and Smog del, rear seat del.

07-19-2001, 09:48 AM	#14
LX XLR8R Dirk Diggler Join Date: Feb 1999 Location: SLOATSBURG, NY Posts: 1,931	well your ganna have to rip the dash out and i dont rember but maybee the carpet has to get peeled back to the point where it could just come out..the last stripper car i had i took every wiring harness out of it ------------------ 1987 black notch(ex 4 banger) DSS 306 w/ main support...Elderbrock 6028 heads..gt-40 intake..24# injectors...70 mm tb..77 pro-m...accel 300+..mac full legnth..tremec w/ pro5oh...full MAC exhaust,off road h-pipe,long tubes, catback...ron davis radiator..subframes, control arms...CFDF II..o yea holley FPR sucks..dont buy one.. AIM=onesillynotch

07-26-2001, 12:55 PM	#15
Smokedawg Tires Fear Me... Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 867	Finally got it done. Put in a bunch of inline fuses to run everything. When I was all done I hit the headlights and it seemed to pull a big load. So i went outside looking for a ground somewhere and looked by the coil and there was my wire that fed that hole section of my fuse box burnt out in half. It had burnt in half somehow. I appreciated you asking to help 82GT. Can someone suggest the best intake for my setup. I will also be switching to a custom ground cam..Thanks ------------------ 347 Stroker Motor: Balanced, Cobra Transmission, Extrude Ported and Polished Upper and ported Lower, GT40 Milled Ported and Polished Heads, B303 Cam, BBK 1 5/8 Headers, 30lb Bosch Injectors, Holley AFPR, March Underdrive Pulleys, Perma-Cool Fan, 3-Core Radiator, Accel Performance Coil, Accel 300+ Racing Wires, Ram Air, K&N Filter, 73mm Vortech MAF, 70mm TB, FlowMaster Exhaust w/BBK Offroad H-Pipe, Hurst Shifter, 3:55 Gears, Ram Clutch, Cross Drilled Rotors, AC and Smog del, rear seat del.

07-26-2001, 04:03 PM	#16
StreetStang37 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: San Jose, California USA Posts: 275	I guess we know why they call you smokedawg j/k Seriously though, sorry to hear about that. My '67 Mustang cought on fire in the school parking lot. At first I thought my friend had burned his clucth but then smoke started coming out of the hood! I opened it and there was a fire. Luckily, it was raining and I found a empty bottle and filled it with water from a puddle and put it out that way. I had to push the car home with about 6 friends helping out. Good thing I only had 5 classes so school wasn't out yet!