starbo on fire!!??

[adi]

Went out in it this morning and all was fine, then as soon as me and my missus got in it again an hour later, there was a horrble smell inside it, so we carried on hoping it was in the air and would pass.
Then as we got up the road it got worse and the car started to fill with smoke, and the smell was awful! Made us feel high and sick so we stopped and opened the doors to get rid of it, but even after half an hour, the smell was still present, so we gave up, held our breaths and got it home, and it's now sat outside my house with the rear windows open to air out, but still stinks!

Any ideas whats up?

 

[dee23388]

clutch??? were is the smell/smoke coming from?

 

[adi]

nah defo not clutch, we cud smell it as soon as we got in the car before i started it. smoke seemed to come either from the air vents or from under the steering wheel. Note the air con had been removed some time ago, so I can't see it being that.

 

[Glanza Gaz]

Check your battery mate, same thing happened to my gf's car the alternator was overcharging it! the smell started as we were coming back from global gathering (bout a three n a half hour journey) jus as we were about to get back there was a POP then all the electrics n the car died, the ECU was fucked too! check the voltage from your alternator to the battery for high readings?

 

[WallaceGlanza]

Have you actually looked under the bonnet or tried to find where the smoke was coming from?

Maybe you hit a badger and its now roasting nicely on the manifold??

 

[adi]

i thought that too, but the turbo timer reads normal battery voltage at 14.2 when running, also note that you can't smell anything under the bonnet at all surprisingly! I've just been out to it and its been sat for 3 hours and still the smell inside is unbearable!

 

[Glanza Gaz]

i thought that too, but the turbo timer reads normal battery voltage at 14.2 when running, also note that you can't smell anything under the bonnet at all surprisingly! I've just been out to it and its been sat for 3 hours and still the smell inside is unbearable!

hmmm strange, this is just a stab in the dark like but one of your fans for the ventillation hasnt burnt out has it, check your blowers n see if theyre acting 'under performance' etc, we had a fan motor on it's way out at work bout a month back n it fookin stunk!!

 

[adi]

yea the blower works fine. a mate has advised me to try flushing the coolant (which i need to do anyways as my heater wasnt very good anyways and engine gets up to temperature) and re-fill with rad weld. He had this problem with the air con on his old scooby and said it worked. I find it hard to believe it still has refridgerant in it now though when the condenser has been removed though!

 

[HYBRID]

do u have any aftermarket guages or other "non toyota" wireing? u may want to check if u have a wire burning out..

suggest u dont drive it till u solve this problem mate.. wouldnt want to cause disaster!

kon

 

[adi]

well as i cant even get in it without wanting to throw up, it aint goin anywhere! it has a boost guage, air/fuel meter, turbo timer, gps speed camera detector, and a few other bits wired in, but i don't think a burned out wire would make that amount of smoke and smell

 

[HYBRID]

i can assure u a burnt out wire can & will.. remember fire is progressive & it will eat away through everything in time..

suggest u have a good luck under the dash & check ur connections, particullarly the a/f & other guages..

 

[adi]

well i had a quick look under the dash and i havent seen anything unusual and everything is working as normal. And its had a good 6 hours to set fire so far, and luckily it hasnt, so all I can do is see if it still smells bad in the morning. If it is air con refridgerant, I'l have to have it valeted well

 

[Dub-Se7en]

disconnect the battery too!

 

[Glanza Gaz]

well i had a quick look under the dash and i havent seen anything unusual and everything is working as normal. And its had a good 6 hours to set fire so far, and luckily it hasnt, so all I can do is see if it still smells bad in the morning. If it is air con refridgerant, I'l have to have it valeted well

Just thinking would air con refridgerant cause the smoke you described, usually when there's an electrical burn it gives off a 'scalelectrics' kind of smell lol if you know what that smells like, I know this is strange but can you describe the smell at all?? did driving cause/aggrovate the condition??

 

[adi]

*runs outside to dis-connect battery*

 

[Glanza Gaz]

Ah another thing, check your fuses, there under the 'steering wheel'ish which is where you stated the smell was from?? Although a lot of smoke from a fuse would be strange??

 

[adi]

already checked, nothing unusual under there either

 

[Jay]

I'm with Kon on the wiring being a possible cause.

Remove the lower trim on the drivers side (the one where your knees are) and inspect the wiring behind it. If something has shorted out in there it can be slowly melting the insulation around the wires. Have a look and let us know if any of the wires, connectors or other components are showing signs of heat.

On my trackcar I had the same scenario where one of the looms had rubbed through and was arc'ing off the steering column. It melted my turbo timer loom before I realised what was happening.

I would not recommend driving the car until you get to the bottom of whatever it is causing the smoke and smell. A dash fire can be highly dangerous.

Or you could have stood in something but it sounds unlikely.

Jay

 

[spuddy]

Definatly sounds like a short circuit causing a burnt wire.

 

[Toms GTread]

yeah def sounds like wirein problem. have u changed any bulbs or anything recently.