Cabin Fills With Smoke ...

[peterbardell 0]

Looking for some help .....

 

To put you in the picture, the pug has been having some charging issues for a while with the battery light on the dash slightly illuminating everytime the heater blows gets turned on .... i thought the battery was on the way out so replaced with a heavy duty 150 AH halfords jobbie.

 

Anyway .. driving to work i gave it the beans and suddenly the cabin filled with smoke and a strong smell of electrical burning. It carried on driving but eventually conked out a few miles later. I parked it up and started it again about 6 hours later, it ran for a few more miles but then conked out again. The battery was totally dead, but after the smoke the battery light on the dash never illuminated.

 

So, basically the battery wasn't being charged but the dash battery light never came on. I removed the bottom of the drivers side dash to try and locate the source of smoke but had no luck. However later on i found this burnt resistor in the passenger footwell ... i think it fell out of the dash plastics when i put them there after removal but cant be sure.

 

It looks like it was part of a circuit board and got so hot it melted its solder and fell out, but i cant find out where from (im pretty sure it is from just under the steering wheel as that seemed to be the main source of smoke) ... a search with a torch hasn't helped. I wonder if it is linked to the battery light not comming on?

 

So if anyone has an idea it would be much appreciated!

 

[welshpug 1,657]

 

Anyway .. driving to work i gave it the beans and suddenly the cabin filled with smoke and a strong smell of electrical burning. It carried on driving but eventually conked out a few miles later. I parked it up and started it again about 6 hours later, it ran for a few more miles but then conked out again.

 

 

 

err, WTF!?

 

surely if there's smoke and a burning smell you stop immediately? you mighty have actually traced the source much quicker.

 

not a clue where its from, especially without some scale as to how big it is.

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

Something is shorting out by the sounds of it.

What was the last thing elecetrical that you've touched or had work done on and start from there.

 

Saying that I had to replace the film circuit board clipped to the back of the dash clocks once because it shorted out so it could be just dodgy french wiring

[DamirGTI 342]

Looks like a dash binnacle resistor .. that yellow one gets quite a bit hot ...

 

... and , totally agreed , once you notice smoke or sniff a burning especially kinda "plastic/rubbers" odor - stop !! (my tacho/fuel pump relay literary caught on fire during the driving , i stopped asap as i spotted a white smoke and awful eye itching molten plastic odor ... burn my hand while i was extinguished it but luckily i caught it on time cos it's started to spread over on other plastic parts .. if it was left for just a few min. , it might do a major f* barbecue out of a whole engine bay ..)

 

Damir

Edited March 25, 2012 by DamirGTI

[peterbardell 0]

I know, i know .... i should have stopped.

 

I have no excuse! I'll take the dash out and have a closer look there. I suspect it may have come from the instrument pannel as it is the only thing i can see with an exposed circuit board.

 

Also i forgot to mention its a Mi-16 conversion, not sure if that makes any difference.

 

Looks like a dash binnacle resistor .. that yellow one gets quite a bit hot .... where exactly under the dash would i find that??

[DamirGTI 342]

where exactly under the dash would i find that??

 

On the clocks ... if my memory serves me , theres one right on top and one at the back soldered on the film circuit board .

 

Damir

[DamirGTI 342]

... theres the one at the back : http://www.205gtidrivers.com/articles/m-instrumentpanel.html .. should be another yellow one (a tad smaller) on top of the clocks .

[peterbardell 0]

Brilliant! ...that looks like the kiddie ... thanks for the help.

 

Any idea if it makes up part of the battery charging circuitry?.... or could it just be a coincidence?