Fire!

[Sinbad 16]

Just had my newly rebuilt 1.6 running while i was bleeding coolant and suddenly the alternator started smoking and then making a sizzling noise,i then went to turn the car off and just as i was about to the earth terminal at the battery started sparking and then caught fire!!

Luckily i had some water left in a 4pint milk bottle that i threw over it to put it out.

What could have caused this to happen??

Lost all confidence in the thing now.

[welshpug 1,657]

Either a poor connection or the cable breaking down, or the alternator over charging.

[Sinbad 16]

The alternator was smoking and is still warm half an hour after this has happened,would that be the cause of that cable failing?

and the sounds of sparking and smoke from alt mean it would be over charging?

Absolutely terrified me as my house is right next to my garage!

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

I had this on my rover turbo, turned out it was just a duff alternator.changed it and all was well

 

Happened as I was driving along tho, with no water to hand

Edited April 16, 2012 by pugpete1108

[Sinbad 16]

Did the earth cable catch fire too or just the alternator??

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

Just the alternator , it was something internal that went wrong. Not sure if that's your case? But if all your wiring is up to scratch then it could well be a knackered alternator

 

What sort of condition was your earth lead beforehand?

Edited April 16, 2012 by pugpete1108

[Sinbad 16]

Just had a look at it,its in a pretty bad way is the earth cable.The part that the bolt goes through has snapped due to the fire.

Got the alternator belt off and it still turns freely,i expected it to be seized or with knackered bearings

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

You sure it wasn't snapped before? Causing arcing and fire?

[Sinbad 16]

No it wasnt snapped,it wasnt very tight mind,i must have left it loose by mistake,still,that wouldnt cause the fire would it??

If that snapped 1st could it cause the alt to fry like it did?? That was the sound it made,like when you fry a piece of steak.

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

Who knows ? Electricity is a funny old thing.

 

I'd just get a new alternator and earth lead, make sure all your connections are good. And see how you go.

[BlueBolt 156]

And see how you go.

 

But do it out of the garage and away from the house if you were that worried last time?? With a big jug/bucket of water??

[welshpug 1,657]

if its electrical don't throw water on it

[allye 530 3 Cars]

The cable hasn't failed, something has caused a massive short and fried it. I had this not long ago, it turned out to be the starter not disengaging getting really hot causing the internals to fail and short out, frying the earth lead. But as the alternator was smoking I would swap that and the earth lead as suggested above.

[Sinbad 16]

Are the earth leads still available or is it a case of making one??

Im buying a fire extinguisher whatever happens.Frightened me.

 

Where should all the earths go,just so i can eliminate that?

 

I have-2 strut tops-pass side out the loom,drivers side to fuel filter bracket??

2 yellow/green,battery earth to gearbox

Battery earth to coil plate with the loom earth

Then the slam panel earths 3 at pass side and one at drivers.

Is that all of them and theyre in the right places??

 

Have thick black to starter and red to alt.

Just had a look and the alt red is melted with the terminal having just snapped as i removed the alternator.

[BlueBolt 156]

if its electrical don't throw water on it

 

I thought that as I pressed send!! Fire extinguisher of CO2 would be the one then lol

[Sinbad 16]

I thought that as I pressed send!! Fire extinguisher of CO2 would be the one then lol

Thats exactly what im going to buy.

Seriously,its opened my eyes to just how quickly and easily things can go very wrong indeed!

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

i always carry a fire extinguisher now, luckily some bloke stopped and offered me half a bottle of evian otherwise the car would have been a gonner as it was proper alight

 

it was either water or watch it burn so i opted for the water. its better than nowt

[harryskid 193]

Have you been doing any body work repairs near the alternator as metal fileings could have caused it to short ?

[Sinbad 16]

no,i spilt some petr9ol on it last week but that would have evaporated,other than that i opened it up earlier and it was rather black inside.

[P_Monty 2]

Water's fine on car electric fires. The reason they tell you not to is household electrics - it could give you a fatal shock with the volts being so much higher (though I guess you could get a bit of a belt from the HT if the engine's running at the time...)

[P_Monty 2]

maybe I ought to point out that I mean electrical fires in cars. If you have a smash and a pool of petrol is going up - water will make it 10 times worse ....