[xxvicarious]

Fired it up, letting it warm up. Turned on the lights, all was working find. Theeeen my gauge cluster lights cut out, and smoke starts billowing from the driver's side of my dashboard...

wtf?

Something obviously got hot enough to literally catch on fire....That was a lotttttt of smoke. Call it stupid, but instead of having my NEWLY PAINTED FOXBODY (Yea, it just got painted today) burn to the ground, I grabbed the hose, and jammed a few bursts of water up by the headlight switch. Heard a sizzle, and the smoke eventually cleared out of the car.


W......T......F? Im gonna take a look at the damage tomarrow morning, but if anyone knows what can cause this right off hand, please. FILL ME IN.

[95tbirdv8]

Take off the gauges and check. Unplug the battery too

[xxvicarious]

Originally Posted by 95tbirdv8 Take off the gauges and check. Unplug the battery too

Uhooked the battery right after it happened, I'd hate to wake up tomarrow to a smoldering hunk of plastic and metal in place of what used to be my 'stang.

Its an '85 GT, are the gauge clusters easy to pull? Or does it requiring pulling more than just the cluster?

[warrior86]

glad you took immediate action. That sucks!

[Firaga]

Mine caught on fire right as I pulled up the the driveway. The lights had been dimmer days before, and the voltage was really now. All of a sudden one I gave it a lot of gas up my hill BOOM FIRE.

My alt went up. Turns out one of the wires running to/from the alt (I think it was a ground, I don't know jack about electrical) had been rubbing against that plastic piece that covers the fuse box, and sliced open the wire, hello fire!

I sprayed it down with an old extinguisher, and to this day (almost a year ago, I STILL find extinguishing agent in the engine bayl

[dshaff36]

Hmmmm, that is really weird. Sorry that happened to your fox, hopefully it didn't damage anything but the wires. Nothing was changed with the car besides the paint since you last drove it right? I don't know what could have caused it if it drove fine before the incident. Your best bet is to follow the melted wires and see if you find anything exposed (other than the melted parts of course).

[xxvicarious]

Thanks for the help. Ill definetly check out the grounds. Im sitting on the couch waiting for the sun to come up just so I can go look at it haha. And to answer the question, yes, All I did was paint the car, no wiring was relocated or changed or disconnected/reconnected during the painting. Like I said, my gauge cluster went out, then the smoke started. Headlights were still on, running lights still work. Even after I blasted some water under the dash, I waited an hour, and pulled the headlight knob, expecting either a fire again, or nothing to work at all due to water damage... But the only thing that didnt work was the gauge cluster, so hopefully the damage isnt too bad.
Headlights work, running lights work, car still starts.... Ugh.

Ill take pics as soon as I can. And pics of my 90% completed paintjob haha.

[nolife]

It could be a previous owners rig job for wiring but.. the headlight switch and the 2G alternator pigtail are common flame ups in Fords made in that time frame. The contacts get a little bit of corrosion, that leads to a higher resistance. The higher resistance leads to heat, the heats leads to even more corrosion and deformation which leads to more heat which eventually leads to failure or worst case, smoldering and fire.

[zinc-vert02]

had the same thing happen to my pulling truck this summer, had to jump out and yank the cable off the battery

[302Army187]

should invest in a fire extingisher. I've had one in the back floorboard for a while.....

Glad the hole car didn't go up in flames. hope its nothing to crazy where you have to rewire everything.

[dshaff36]

Originally Posted by xxvicarious But the only thing that didnt work was the gauge cluster, so hopefully the damage isnt too bad. Headlights work, running lights work, car still starts.... Ugh. Ill take pics as soon as I can. And pics of my 90% completed paintjob haha.

Yes pictures should help everyone in figuring out what caused it. Hopefully its just some bad contacts on the 12v input to the cluster.

90% completed...as in fire damage? Or was it just not complete before?

[Buffalo02Z28]

Mustangs just spontaneously catch fire?

[Tony Silva]

Um, So how long before the fire did your cluster go out? Cause my cluster went out like... a week ago!!!!!!!...Is my Fox about to have a melt down? Damn!

[bigjohnstud4200]

WOW.. same thing happened to me in a VW about 20 years back.. but I was nowhere near any water / fire extinguisher and by the time I was able to even pull off the road and get out of the car, the entire dash was engulfed in flames follow by the engine and it was over.

Glad you got it stopped quickly!

Originally Posted by Buffalo02Z28 Mustangs just spontaneously catch fire?

Along with any other vehicle that bad wiring (my car didn't have a radio and was purchased within a week from someone else. My guess is someone else screwed up some wiring.)

[zinc-vert02]

Originally Posted by Buffalo02Z28 Mustangs just spontaneously catch fire?

yes bacasue they are fast.......











un like chevys

[Tony Silva]

One time my dad was driving his aero coupe Grand Prix down a hi-way to a small town called Durham....some how a fire started in the engine compartment...so my dad pulls over, and a passerby calls 911.......The entire Durham Fire Department responds to the fire!!! LOL....The ENTIRE fire dept consisted of one volunteer fire fighter senior citizen and an old ass busted up truck.....Im talking a 1940 truck and some elderly gentleman in his (late) 70's.......I didnt know what an aero coupe was at the time but I guess they are kinda rare. I thought it was just an ugly car with a bastard hatchback stuck to it.

[Tony Silva]

Needless to say, but the car burnt to the ground. It burned so hot that the door handles literally melted off the car and pooled onto the ground. ....gotta hand it to the old fire fighter though....It was a losing battle but the old guy never gave up.....kept sayin "We'll save some of her"

[nolife]

Originally Posted by 302Army187 should invest in a fire extingisher. I've had one in the back floorboard for a while.....

Same here in both of my foxes and my Bronco. You never know.

Costco has 3 pack of these for about $20

Amazon

Amazon

[87fourbanger]

Ha I can imagine that , last week I drove by. A burning camaro. I madesure the driver was safe and all but I wasn't worried about the car. ...after all its a chevy

[Tony Silva]

Gonna check out Costco later on today for those fire extinguisher cans. Not too sure if I want to be that close to the fire though...(