Smokin'! - Am I a little bit on fire

alfesti

Member
Hi all,

Has anyone else had the worrying experience of driving along and suddenly a waft of smokedrifts up from the foot well (not a dropped fag setting the carpet alite as I dont smoke!)?

When I first got the car running this happened, but I put it down to the large amounts of brake fluid that had spilt from a leaky reservior as it appeared to be coming from the pedal box -no wires in there - and not present in the glovebox - full of wires - but could not see a source.

Today it happened again, but turning the engine off stopped the smoke after a minute or so, restarting brought it back after a very short time. Later (I was in a one way system at rush hour and had to risk it) after a stop of 40 minutes it drove almost 10 miles without incident.

Anyone got a clue? The smoke has either no smell of a slightly acride scent and is very pale grey almost white.

The car is now going nowhere until I've had a good look at this as we've had bonfire night alresdy!

Thanks

Matt
 
If its a 3500 model then there is a thick cable connection point under the carpet - disconnect the battery immediately. Chances are the insulation on the cable or mounting for the connector has gone
 
Yikes it is a 3500, but is in a lock up some way from home. First thing in the morning I will head over and disconnect the battery.

Where should I look for the connector - is it up under the dash or more in the body work as there is a grommet into the side of the car?

Thanks for the warning

Matt
 
thanks John,

This morning I found the bolt under the carpet (car hadnt self combusted in the night!) but in the light of the key ring torch which was all I had on me it looked in good enough nick, with a rubber boot over the top as well.

I will go back with better light and some tools and it take apart for a good clean up.

I found the old thread and that sound just like my problem, but could a short elsewhere in that cable travel and manifest under the pedals?

Matt
 
Unlikely to travel from elsewhere, more likely to be rubbing on cable up under the pedals where it passes through the bulkhead. Get proper light in there and have a really good look.

Other option is to do it in the dark and look for sparks etc. I spotted a broken distributor cable once purely because I looked under the bonnet in the dark and saw the cable glowing where the brake was !

Richard
 
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