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Date:         Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:12:41 -0500
Reply-To:     John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject:      Re: Electrical Fire in the Engine Bay
Comments: To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <BAY152-ds8E7CC27948FA4DCDA1400A02F0@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Dennis,

I have found the cause of the problem.

The air filter housing has always been a problem in that it was never mounted correctly. With all the work recently done, the filter housing installation was corrected. Unfortunately, part of the harness from that ignition box with the relays branches off carrying the wiring for the Idle stabilizer, the power steering pump pressure switch, the throttle switch, and a few more things I couldn't see. That portion with these wires got trapped under the air filter housing and squeezed directly against the metal shield on the spark plug. For just a few minutes of local driving, it never got hot enough to do any damage, but today I took a long drive (for here) and 7 miles out at highway speed trouble started. The engine was hot, and the wiring was clamped against the plug shield and the insulation just melted, shorting the wires and burning off a lot of wiring insulation. Bad enough, but it could have been far worse.

I suspect I'm going to to have to replace the complete harness and maybe some relays, connectors etc. I'll have a better count tomorrow.

John

John Rodgers Clayartist and Moldmaker 88'GL VW Bus Driver Chelsea, AL Http://www.moldhaus.com

On 8/22/2011 4:27 PM, Dennis Haynes wrote: > You just have some bad luck. The ignition, ECU, including the injectors and > the fuel pump are all non-fused circuits. Start at the fuel pump and work > your way back. Another possibility is some short near the starter. If you > have one of those hard start relay kits it could have closed energizing the > starter. Anyway, look carefully for the first short. It will be apparent > what initially went wrong. > > Dennis > > -----Original Message----- > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of > John Rodgers > Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 4:21 PM > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM > Subject: Electrical Fire in the Engine Bay > > Well, if it's not one thing, it's another. > > I was tooling down the road, enjoying my newly opertional air conditioning, > and my smooth running engine, when of a sudden - the engine just quit. I > immediately put it in neutral, turned off the AC, recycled the ignition > switch, but nothing happened. None of the panel lights came on. It was like > the battery had been disconnected or something. I left it out of gear and > pulled to a stop off the road. Then I realized that with the ignition off, > the engine was still running, rough, but still running. I jumped out, popped > the hatch, and smoke was everywhere. Engine was kicking over, but barely, > and roughly. I pulled the coil wire out of the distributor cap and the > engine stopped. At that point I saw a wiring harness that had really gotten > hot and melted the insulation. > > The wires in question came from the high voltage electronics box on the left > side of the engine bay that has the two relays in it. The insulation was > melted and fused on the wires on the relay marked 53 > PN#141 951 2538 and PN# 321919505A. From there, the wiring cover - the long > flexible plastic cover through which all those wires go, was melted along > the bottom, all the way from the ignition box across the front (towards the > front of the van) over to the the point it disappears down and behind air > filter box and AFM. I moved the wire harness where it passes over the top of > the box with vacuum line layout, and got a click over where the starter is. > Sounded like the solenoid clicking. I immediately went and disconnected the > battery. Got AAA to come and get the van and take it home. That is as far as > I have gotten. I'll spend a bit more time later today when it cools off. I > have no idea what may have cause this, but to be sure - it will take some > time to trouble shoot and fix. > > I haven't yet started tearing it apart to troubleshoot and fix this. > Haven't even looked at Bentley yet. > > But has anyone any ideas?? > > Thanks. > > John > > -- > John Rodgers > Clayartist and Moldmaker > 88'GL VW Bus Driver > Chelsea, AL > Http://www.moldhaus.com > >


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