Hi everyone.
A few weeks back I was at the gas pump after filling up, turned the key and a big puff of smoke came out from under the hood. I opened my hood to see the driver side of my engine bay on fire. We emptied 3 fire extinguishers on it and got it out before any serious damage was done.
I towed it to my shop and at first it seemed like an easy fix, just a cable and an oil hose. Unfortunately my mechanic can't source the cable, OR find a part number. He is NOT a novice. They work on BMW's only and have been in business for over 30 years. I was hoping someone here can give me some direction.
The cable is a positive B+ cable that goes from the jumper box > alternator > starter.
I don't know what B+ means, that's just what they told me.
Just in case you were wondering what happened, the cable was rubbing against the oil hose and it caused the insulation to wear off the cable. When I went to start my car, the cable shorted to the engine block right through the oil hose causing it to explode hot fire all over my engine bay. Not fun but could have been SOOO much worse.
Engine fire while at the gas pump, YIKES!
B for battery, + for positive.
He is talking about the jumper connection. It is a piece of wire, nothing special. Even a novice could fabricate this part. It isn't even needed for the car to operate.
Last edited by ross1; 11-23-2020 at 02:46 PM.
If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue
Here’s your various pieces to the cable.
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=12_0638
If you must have a BMW part go to a junk yard or pay the big bucks.
I’d just splice it with some 4 gauge welding cable, it’s as good or better than battery cable.
Can you share specifically where it grounded out? Want to check mine now...
You can check Realoem.com but I did on engine elctrical and body electrical and found nothing.
b+ means battery positive. The shop can make their own wire, is not that complicated.
Also, it would hrlp if you put the year and model of your car.
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e30 325i, the mighty 4 door granma mobile....Gone
e39 528i, 4 door sports tank
Thanks for the advice.
Sorry, it's in my info in the upper right - 1998 540i/6
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I can post pics when I get it back, but it was near the top of the engine.
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You're amazing. Thank you for tracking that down. My guy is already considering making it. I will check the junkyard tomorrow. Also, It looks like two cables, I wonder why he needs both? I will report back.
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It was the single most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me. Costco none the less, so not a small gas station. The scariest part was jumping in my car to throw it in neutral when it was actively on fire, so we could push it away from the pumps. I thought I was gonna die, or level a city block. Not fun, but ultimately lucky. If it had happened on the freeway I would have pulled over and watched my car burn to the ground. At least at the gas station there were fire extinguishers.
Last edited by baneoh; 11-23-2020 at 03:10 PM.
Something like this?
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e30 325i, the mighty 4 door granma mobile....Gone
e39 528i, 4 door sports tank
The weird thing about that diagram is that #10 is 9/1998 and up, but my car was manufactured in 1997 and it doesn't show an alternate. Is it possible that up till 9/1998 it was one continuous cable and in 9/1998 it was changed to two cables but it's interchangeable? I'd be surprised they don't show the old cable. I might have to head to Pick-n-Pull tomorrow.
Checking the boneyard price list, a battery cable (600-4) is $6 at pick-n-pull. At one point they charged $1/foot for wiring. Either way, it's far less than new and immediately available.
If it's like the six cylinder, BMW changed how the cable was split (which part of the four-way connection alternator/starter/jump-post/chassis-lug was a 'Y') during production so the parts diagram illustrations don't match reality.
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