FIRE!!!!!!!!

[bongoneer]

Hello all,

I'm new to the site, which is a godsend by the way, but have had my Bongo since September last year. Silver, 1996, 2.5TD 2WD Autofreetop.

I've been really chuffed with the Bongo until this morning when it tried to spontaneously combust itself!

It started with a burning smell not long after I'd pulled off my drive and onto the road. No smoke, so I thought it was someone burning something outside.. head out of window, no smell.. head inside, major smell! My front blowers became intermittent a few weeks ago.. bumps in the road and opening / closing the doors affecting operation, so thinking that could be it and that it could have been coming from behind the dash, I cast my eyes over that area of the dash as it slowly become more and more out of focus.. with the smoke coming from the blower control panel and through the blower vents in the middle. A few 'oh s***, oh s***' later I frantically switched the controls off and pulled over as soon as I could. As I stopped, the smoke seemed to disappear and the cab was left stinking of electrical burn out. I can still smell it now! Anyway, I sat for a bit thinking how I'd put a fire out, finger ready on the '9' button on my mobile and running my insurance policy terms and conditions through my head, but fortunately it didn't get any worse.. meaning no fire! I switched the engine on again and watched everything for a couple of minutes, no more smoke so switching off the blowers did the trick. I'm so glad we didn't go up in smoke. My dog too, as he was with me!

This could have been really serious and ending in one very charred Bongo. Later on today, I drove down the motorway, in someone else's car by the way, only to see a smouldering shell of a car that had burned up on the hard shoulder. Made me shudder!

So, I'm guessing that either a loose wire has short circuited or the fan motor or resistor might have burned out. I've read in threads about resistors going and motors seizing, but has this burning / smoking ever happened to anyone else? Any ideas as to what it could be? It's the digital climate control version.. in case that makes a difference.

Any advice or sympathy greatly appreciated. Thanks muchly.

[John the sparky]

phew

sorry to hear that, but glad it didn't end horribly....

can't really help with your problem, so sympathy only I'm afraid




John

[apole]

Hi,

Glad you got away with it okay, sounds nasty.

Until you know what the cause was I'd do a number of things:

Firstly I would find out and remove the fuse that powers this.

I'd also make sure you have a 10mm spanner to hand so you could disconnect the battery quickly if you needed to.

You really need to get this kind of problem sorted quickly so if you can't yourself get it booked into a good auto electrician.

Good luck.

Andy

[madmile]

Just had a flash back to my first camper - bay window vw when I was in college 20 years ago. I smelled electrical burning, stopped and opened the engine hatch (v.small on VW) and despite seeing the wires on fire I could not put my head in far enough to blow them out -managed it eventually, but not a nice experience.

[bigdaddycain]

Woah!...sounds like the resistor has just gone west to me!

[Simon Jones]

The fan resistor sits in the airflow from the fan to keep it cooled. If it has fried then that would explain the smoke from the vents. Try removing the resistor & seeing if it looks damaged.

[dipstick]

I saw a VW T25 go up in smoke and flames in about 3 mins flat at a VW meeting in Malvern, the guy was messing with the wiring trying to put a 240 invertor on but had used too thin a wire.

Take the inlet cowl off the front blower and see if it turns freely, if it is stiff, or solid this could cause the wiring to this circuit to overheat if the fuse did not blow when it is switched on????

Or of cause there could just be a short circuit on the wiring for the blower curcuit due to frayed wiring etc.

On my Bongo the front heater fuse is under the bonnet, number 17, and it is a PAL 30 amp type.

Hope this helps.

[wokewy]

Sorry to hear about your problem. I think that the advise given here is very sensible, you cant be too careful with auto electrics. Hope its just a component failure which is easily traced and replaced.

[bongoneer]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I've got a VW Beetle as well and when I used to be more in to the 'scene' I saw my mates go up in smoke, due to a dodgy connection on the voltage regulator under the back seat. They do go up fast!!!

Anyway, I've just had a look at the fan motor with my dad and it's stuck solid. I've had the blowers on the lowest setting, thinking it was still working but I've noticed air comes through with it off anyway. So power has been going to the motor trying to get it moving for some time, so something's given up the fight. Maybe the resistor? I don't think any fuses have blown, but I'm not sure where I should be looking as there's a fair few to chose from isn't there?! Going to do a bit more digging in to the 'how to's' and take the motor out to see if I can free it up and check out the resistors while I'm in there.

Failing a fix on my driveway and probably due to the consequences of getting it wrong, I'll be looking for a bongo friendly garage nearby.

[John the sparky]

not exactly sure about car fuses, but with standard (BS1361) 13A or 3A fuses in plugs....
the fuse pops in a short circuit fault, but for overload, such as your fan motor, the tripping current is 5 to 8 times the current rating, so I have seen, in houses, similarly melted extensions that didn't pop the fuse even then (the breaker at the fuse board had popped)

so the fuse Dipstick mentioned (30A) could possibly have allowed say 80 -90 A down the wiring
or even more.....

so in reality, it wasn't a bad thing to happen at all, 'cos you are here talking about fixing the broken bit (just with that horrible smell still in your nose).... did you get a lottery ticket last night


John

[bongoneer]

No lottery ticket, but I did manage to sell my old car this morning after only sticking it on autotrader last night! and for the asking price!

Just been out again and checked the 'heater' fuse under the bonnet. It's not blown, but it looks a bit black in comparison to the others.

Am I safe to remove this fuse to cut power to it, so I can drive the Bongo without further risk to my nostrel hairs?

[mikeonb4c]

There's lots of stuff on here about how to mend fan motors and the fan resistor (assuming they are not 'too far gone'). BF Member MissFixit70 (Kirsty) is one who has stripped the motor I think so you could either search on here or PM her. With the fan resistor, the high current often melts the solder and breaks the connection, without wrecking the resistor, and it is possible to resolder it and get it working again (but not until you have a free running fan of course!!!). Failing that, I noticed two Bongos on ebay tonight that were being broken so second hand spares could be got. But of course you need to check that the motors and resistors on THOSE are in good nick!!! There's some excellent BF members not far from you (the North West crew - BigDaddy, DaveBlue, Dabs, RoosterUK etc.) who, between them, could ferret out a ferret at 10 miles where a Bongo is concerned. So all in all, we'll get this thing licked

[bongoneer]

Thanks Mike. I'll have a dig for Kirsty's post.

[helen&tony]

Hi
Many years ago, i had the same thing happen in a VW Scirroco....it was the motor itself that burnt and gave off smoke from the vents. Many many years before that, I had a coin slip down the back of the switches in a mini, and it shorted across the back of a switch, getting nearly red hot....luckily managed to release it with some pliers....moral of the tale...check the motor itself, and look round behind the switches....people find all sorts of things in their Bongos, and it's possible hat you have a "metal lodger" somewhere...
Cheers
Helen

[bigdaddycain]

Hi bongoneer, i can't really comment on the ins and outs of your problem, i have been lucky with my heaters so far!

The common consensus is that the fan motor can seize,due to water not being able to drain off into the hole/tube under the windscreen. If the raingutter fills, it can spill into the fan motor seizing it.