Thread: ELECTRICAL FIRES

Had a mildly alarming situation last night. Heading home from French Pass chasing kingis, coming into Okiwi bay a couple of warning lights flashed up on the dash. Stopped and had a look and all seemed OK as far as I could tell and a quick Google indicated maybe voltage regulator playing up, so carried on as didn't seem to have a lot of other options. Flicked the fan blower on heading up the hill and it popped and didn't run, shortly after a heap of electrical smoke pours out of the dash under the passenger side. Shut it off and pulled the glove box out of the dash, found a heap of melted wires in the loom and the issue seemed to be the fan blower relay - no further heat and smoke once I pulled that. Carried on, no further issues. A few things in the dash not working.

Now I'm thinking I probably need to replace the whole dash loom with a 2nd hand loom rather than try repair the cooked wires, replace fan blower relay and fan blower, and voltage regulator.

Thoughts ? Would this be unusual as a result of a dud voltage regulator? LN106 Hilux. Warning lights on the dash are the fuel filter water light & timing belt light. Could be others too but half the globes for my warning lights have died and I (and all my local auto sparkys) can't find replacements in the right size

At least I caught a big kingi

Easier to splice repairs in than a new loom. And looms vary consistently even on same make and model

Insurance job

Likely to be some damage a lot further back than you can see without proper diagnostic gear

Nice fish.

Had my heater fan stop and a small under dash fire last winter
Unbearably acrid smoke

There was a mouse nest inside the fan body
Replaced the fan with a new one
Only worked on top speed
Mechanics had to replace the relays and a few wires.

Learned to stop and investigate the tiniest whiff of smoke
Had to drive with the Windows open for a week
Sickening smell

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Had my heater fan stop and a small under dash fire last winter
Unbearably acrid smoke

There was a mouse nest inside the fan body
Replaced the fan with a new one
Only worked on top speed
Mechanics had to replace the relays and a few wires.

Learned to stop and investigate the tiniest whiff of smoke
Had to drive with the Windows open for a week
Sickening smell

Wait till you smell rat that ate thru a 3 phase

The rats are are normally not too bad, not big enough to really get a honk on. It's the bloody seagulls that only get a partial zap (that doesn't explode them) but then slide down and end up getting caught up in the housings down the below where the bastards fester and grow friends... Lovely.

Nice fish, everything got a price...
I'd just splice in, using a Haynes manual to follow wires , if u can find a 2nd hand loom , u can replace the whole thing , but u gonna find u still will have to cut and splice
V Regulator could have been the reason, especially as it went after u increased draw with the fan. Surprised that a fuse didn't just blow normally there's a few main fuses that should prevent this. See if u can find a circuit that wasn't fused normally a add on drawn afterwards ( aftermarket spotties , amps and compressors I've seen some Beaties) no fuse in line taking power of wires that is made for 5 amps drawing 25A , surprisingly they get away with it sometimes for quite a while

Try insurance if u got it as mentioned, it can turn into a major job as u find more stuff burnt as u start following , eg fuel filter sensors etc , wouldn't state that any warning lights came up though , they all where fine when u restarted the vehicle , remember ...

U can try ledbulbs.co.nz
They have most size dash bulbs
From memory it's a d8.5 or an e 10. I might be wrong on that

For lights etc try Canterbury auto electrical supplies. Bloody good guys who know their stuff