O SH#T FIRE!!!!

[Mean 318]

Well the plan was to take the Coronet for one last cruise before I pulled the motor. Everything went great until I pulled into the drive in. As soon as I shut her off smoke starts pouring out from under the hood!!!! So I try to start it to get it away from all of the other cars and the restaurant. All it does is turn over so I run out, pop the hood, pull the battery out, and run inside to get an extinguisher!!! Well there's isn't charged  so by the time I get back out to the car it is engulfed in smoke. ERRRRRRR all I could do is sit there and watch. Thank god all it did is burn up the wires and not to whole car!!!! Once the smoke cleared I took a look. All the wires from the alternator are burnt back to the fire wall, then I look under the dash and it burn all of the way into the dash, melting everything it was close to. It didn't pop any fuses. I just got it home and I don't even want to look at it! I think it is the alternator, the voltage regulator, or the ignition. I will pull it all apart and see what the hell happened, anyone else have anything like this? I think all of us have had a radio or two burn up, but ever anything like this? GERRRRR!

[resq302]

Holy crap .  Glad you werent hurt and the car is fixable.  I wonder why the fuseable link didnt pop.   At least you have an excuse to get nice new wire harness.

[BigBlockSam]

 

[Silver R/T]

thats sucks

[squeakfinder]

Does this car have an amp meter? I don't know what year the car is but you have full battery power at all times to the amp gauge on older mopars (up to 1978 on Dodge pickups I think). And, well, it can lead to some interesting results if something shorts against one of the posts under your dash, or the gauge itself goes bad. Hope you can track down the cause.

[Mean 318]

1970, the mean looking one! lol

[derailed]

These shutoffs arent a bad idea for those types of situations.

[70charginglizard]

Fried my engine harness last year. Probably not the same reason yours fried but here is the post I made last year detailing out why mine got fried.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,3292.0.html

Definately contact that Bill Evens guy (second reply on this post) to get your new engine wire harness. Best harness guy in the business!!!

PS- Don't risk your vehicle over a electical or carb fire. GET A FIRE EXTINGUISHER AND PUT IT IN YOUR CAR RIGHT NEXT TO YOUR SEAT.

[chargerboy69]

Does this car have an amp meter? I don't know what year the car is but you have full battery power at all times to the amp gauge on older mopars (up to 1978 on Dodge pickups I think). And, well, it can lead to some interesting results if something shorts against one of the posts under your dash, or the gauge itself goes bad. Hope you can track down the cause.

I have heard of that happining before. In fact, before I bought my Charger that happend to my car. When I put my car back together I bypassed the amp meter for that very reason. . .And just a tip to mean 318. Put a Halon fire extinguisher in your car.

[Brock Samson]

better then a fuel fire..
glad your ok... it sucks and an embarassment but it's fixable..

[Wakko]

Lucky stuff!!!  I keep a fire extinguisher in every car.

[Mean 318]

Well I stayed up till 4am trying to track down WTF happened. It looks like I got lucky under the hood. It only burned up one part of the harness. The dash is another story! I got some pics of what happened. The wires going from the alt. to the regulator to the coil, to the resistor, to the firewall are dead. Then I pulled the dash apart " I forgot how much fun that can be!!!!" and it looks like it ran up three wires into the column. Then there are three wires that are fudged into three more that run to a box, " For the flashers maybe?". At the point where the three wires are fudged is where the fire stopped. So my thoughts are the ignition switch. Anyone else still think the amp gauge. None of the wires to the gauges look burnt, and neither do the wires running to the aftermarket gauges.

[Mean 318]

.

[Ghoste]

It has almost become a mandatory first restoration step to replace the wire harnesses in these 40 year old antiques.
Glad no one was hurt and the car came through relatively unscathed.  It could have been much, much worse.

[Mean 318]

Thanks guys!
Upon further inspection it looks like there is one wire that runs into the aftermarket Amp. Gauge!

[Mean 318]

And just for the record, I DID NOT DO THIS FU#KED UP WIRING JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think a chevy guy did!

[Ghoste]

That's what I mean about 40 year old wiring.  Between the old wires and corrosion and multiple owners hack jobs over the years, a lot of the original wired cars are fires waiting to happen.

[69charger2002]

no chance you want to sell that 70 coronet huh? i am looking for one
trav

[hemi68charger]

Man, Glad to see you and the car or OK..............   Guess you'll be rewiring for sure now..............

Troy

[Charger_Fan]

No, horn relay.




As bad as yours was, at least your car didn't end up like this one.

[70charginglizard]

 

That SUCKS@!@!

I said it before and I'll say it again....always ALWAYS carry a fire extinguisher next to you in that glove compartment.

[DarkAngel0816]

Looks like the wiring in my Charger.  I did start it earlier this summer and one of the wires to the alternator sparked up and burnt through.  Replaced alot of the bad wiring under the hood and in the dash...but I am going to just go ahead and buy all new wire harness when I find the money to do so.  I also carry a fire ext. right on the seat next to me.

[Mean 318]

Well I think it is the ignition, I got lucky under the hood so I think that I can save all of the wires. I am going to look for a new wiring harness for under the dash, I will also price to what the difference is to just get a whole new kit front to back!

[Mean 318]

No, horn relay.

As bad as yours was, at least your car didn't end up like this one.

Thanks, what the hell happened to that car?!?

[Charger_Fan]

No, horn relay.

As bad as yours was, at least your car didn't end up like this one.

Thanks, what the hell happened to that car?!?

An electrical fire.

Here's the rest of the story; http://1970chargerregistry.com/70messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=3008&start=