A fire that "almost" spread

[m60b30530i]

Well Saturday i was driving home and every time i hit my wiper blades the radio would shut off and the obc would go dead as well. Then when the wiper blades were done every thing would turn back on. I soon noticed a smell like melting plastic. Well i got home and i quickly shut the car off and went to unplug the battery, well when i got the seat up some smoke came puffing out. What caused this smoke, well the red wire that comes from the battery and that powers the obc and such was all melted.

Now I know that there is supposed to be a 80amp fuse that runs in line with the battery.Hmmm were was it i wondered well it was wrapped up in red electrical tape. When i cut away the burnt tape i found what used to be a fuse and not only that a nice thick wire bypassing the fuse so the fuse was not even doing its job.

I'm glad i caught it in time :). But i was wondering can i go out and buy a In line fuse kit like what the amp kits use ?. I checked in redzits 535 and his was still in the nice plastic holder but i can't seem to think what he will have to do if the fuse ever pops. I don't think they make the bare metal fuses anymore, I think it would be more practical to use a more updated design.

It snowed on Saturday :(, I feel so bad driving the poor 535 on these salty roads.

[dhcomp]

Walmart has some inexpensive, decent scotche fuse holders, and you can buy replacment fuses in jsut about any amperage that you want.

I would go that direction.

[NapaBavarian]

PO probably was to lazy to find the problem that caused the fuse to blow (repeatedly?) that might be a good, but painful start, and use the factory fuse location.

[bustedbmw]

During my electrical short troubleshooting I blew 80amp inline fuses several times. You can use any inline fuse setup as long as its the correct amperage rating.

[dansgt]

i'd say you got lucky, i had something similar happen in my celica except the wire that shorted was usless, dont know why it was there, anyways all i had to kill the short and prevent the fire was a knife and my bare hands...needless to say that was a bit panfull, shit burned through my fingers almost to the bone in the time it took to cut it off...but the car didnt burn lol.

[renegadeforce]

e34s love fires, as i almost fell victim too:shifty

[E34Big6]

I bought an 80 amp fuse from Napa that had two ring terminals on each end then drilled out the rivets that held the fusible link in and used screws and nuts to hold the new fuse in before rapping every thing in electrical tape.

see pics

http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss232/e34big6/DSCN6154.jpg

http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss232/e34big6/DSCN6157.jpg

sorry they are a little blurry

[bdejong11129]

I would suggest getting some proper heat shrink tubing and doubling it up instead of the electrical tape. All the brown and black wires in there are grounds.

[loustylez]

i'd say you got lucky, i had something similar happen in my celica except the wire that shorted was usless, dont know why it was there, anyways all i had to kill the short and prevent the fire was a knife and my bare hands...needless to say that was a bit panfull, shit burned through my fingers almost to the bone in the time it took to cut it off...but the car didnt burn lol.

Lol at the picture of you grabbing hot wires going OW OW OW AHHHHHHHHH while madly slicing away.

[Jeff9000CD]

good save. you know what gauge wire it was that melted?

[5mall5nail5]

Right but why was it burning? Even if the 80A fuse was bypassed and didn't blow, what was drawing all that current to burn the wiring?

[m60b30530i]

Right but why was it burning? Even if the 80A fuse was bypassed and didn't blow, what was drawing all that current to burn the wiring?

Well i think that it was arcing but I'm not sure. because some of the wiring was even exposed and it was pretty close to the floor next to all those brown wires, which are grounds :stickoutt. At the time i was blasting Metallica, had the wipers going, heated seats on and almost full heat. Every time the wipers would run the radio would shut off along with the obc.

So im going to go pick up a amp fuse kit. Wire it up shrink wrap everything and try to simulate what was going on at the time and see if it blows the fuse.

[dansgt]

Lol at the picture of you grabbing hot wires going OW OW OW AHHHHHHHHH while madly slicing away.
hey it was either that or let the car burn lol. it is funny to think about, i was in the middle of the street too, didnt even bother pulling over just stopped in the center dividing/turning lane lol.

[CleanE34]

dude no way should the wire even come close to melting. i run a 2500w RMS sub w/ matching amp, the ones that drain 4 amps each bass note hit. and my tsumani wire doesn't even come close to melting dude. i would go over the electrical system if i were you, definatly a fire is not something that is welcome inside a car.

[m60b30530i]

dude no way should the wire even come close to melting. i run a 2500w RMS sub w/ matching amp, the ones that drain 4 amps each bass note hit. and my tsumani wire doesn't even come close to melting dude. i would go over the electrical system if i were you, definatly a fire is not something that is welcome inside a car.


I checked every thing and this was not the wiring that went to the subs, this was the red wire in the stock wiring harness. I cleaned the area up today went out and bought a 80amp blade fuse, soldered it up heat shrank the wires and all is well. I simulated every thing possible to see if it would pop and it did not. :D nor did it heat up.