Shaner Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 So I'm in driving the Sentra and My girl is driving the Datsun Z as she only has 5 miles to work and the Z doesn't have AC. I pick up our kid and am driving home when my phone rings. I answer and it's Val in tears and barely understandable. There is an awful noise in the background and I can't really understand her. I get the intersection out of her of where she is and hear the words "The car is on fire". I told her to stay away from the car and call the Fire Dept. She had already called them and they were just arriving as she was on the phone. I was 5 minutes away and headed over there. I got there as the fire dept was shutting down the hose they had under the hood. I made sure Val wasn't hurt and then went over to help the guys secure the car. Peeking under the hood it gave me the impression that I didn't want to investigate further until after I had calmed down. It looks like the sense wire to the alternator shifted and was resting on an exhaust manifold bolt. Melted, grounded out and melted and fused all of the wiring in the engine bay. Val said all of the accessories were going off. Horn, wipers, lights, starter, battery melted. It's all burnt. The wiring melted through the firewall and started a small fire in the passenger foot well on some rags I had down there so they soaked down the inside of the passenger side as well. So the last year and a half of work in the garage has been for nothing. I'm in the middle of a bathroom remodel right now so I won't even really be able to investigate until after it is done. I'm still trying to process everything in my head and probably need to regroup before I go out there and finish burning the thing down..... Man oh man, Thursdays and I do not agree.... Before I get in there and start getting into it. Does anyone know if by the fire dept turning the hose on in the engine bay, What are the chances the block is cracked? It looks like they concentrated the water down on the right side of the motor. It doesn't look like they got too much water on top or in the carb(I'm going to pull it anyway and have a look) as there was just a little on the top of the intake. She told me the temp guage was at around 205 or so before the wire melted. Anything special I should be looking for? I realize it's probably going to be a rebuild or replacement for the motor and all the wiring is going to need to be done. I'm just looking for something I may not know to look for after an electrical fire.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I'm glad it wasn't any worse. she could have tried to pry the hood and burned herself really bad, and she acted quite quickly. your motor may still be ok, and i hope most of the car is intact and that it will just require some cleanup and a new wiring kit. new wiring for the interior can go for about 140 bucks online as starter kit (not a nissan jobber), and it's all new wiring and nicely built. fire hoses are very powerful, but I'd imagine it didn't take long for them to put it out, and that if anything they just powerblasted any residual oil off the block (hey it's cleaned up and ready to pull!). sorry to hear what happened, and I'm sure you'll make it turn out better than before. I tried to relocate my fuel filter from right over the alternator. Not a good place for a lot of the electronic stuff on the Z's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 IM SO,sorry to hear about the car, .....glad no one was hurt, in most cases it LOOKS a great deal worse than it is from a motor function and parts salvage point of view and the best route is to TOTALLY clean the car up and REWIRE using NONE of the old harness. check the engine components, carefully, but it sounds like a good pressure cleaning or sand blasting and repaint job, might solve some or all of the none wire related issues its only time and money, youll get over it and in a few years it will be old news and won,t concern you, look at it as a learning experiance(a reminder to secure the wiring , brake,coolant and fuel lines) on your next car and have a 5 LB CO2 fire extinguisher in the trunk or mounted on the roll cage, etc. BTW get it dissassembled as soon as you can, water sitting in the engine will screw it up, and theres a good chance a high pressure hose got some someplace thats not ideal. BTW I set my camaro on fire once while welding when I was 19 years old, ....thats one reason I like haveing a water hose with a shutoff nozzel and a couple C02 fire extinguishers in my shop! and detest those dry chemical versions (A P.I.T.A. to clean up after) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaner Posted July 11, 2008 Author Share Posted July 11, 2008 Thanks guys, I'll post a follow up when I get into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Purple240zt Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Glad to hear nobody was hurt. Frustrating indeed, but the damage is likely not as bad as it seems at first! Good luck getting it back together. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSM Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Glad no one was hurt. I'm very paranoid about the same thing, not so much about the car itself and the cost, just all of my time, that is non-replacable to me. I carry a fire extinguisher w/in arms reach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deja Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Sorry to hear that. Benn there myself in my Sunbeam Tiger. Standing there watch the car burn with no way to stop it was a horrible experience. Fortunately someone cam along with a fire extinguisher and put it out before the fire department arrived. But they still foamed the car. I guess since I got them out of bed at 4:00 AM they were going to do something! The carb and distributor were melted a all the hoses and wiring were shot but no real engine damage. Hope you get that lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbk240z Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 I am sorry also about the Z. Thankfully it was the Z that got burned and not your girl. Although it is not Z related, I know the feeling, I watched our family home burn to the ground when I was 15. Good luck on getting the Z road worthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragefear Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 wow man, definitely keep us updated! I couldn't imagine how that feels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Man that sucks. Your girl did the right thing, you should be proud of her. It also sounds like the fire department was careful with your investment. The race track fire brigades will blast it with Soda and really ruin everything in there. Thank god they used water on your car. There are a great many un-fused connections in the Datsun harness. I have brought up some issues that can arise when doing something as simple as bypassing the coil resistor. There are still plenty of things that can go wrong even without changing anything from stock. My approach has been to cover and protect every single wire no matter how insignificant it may seem. The smaller the wire the more likely it is to catch fire if it is shorted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffer949 Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 That sucks on the fire. But honestly from my experience with water in motors. mind you its always been jetski's and dirt bikes (yes ive sank a few dirt bikes trying to cross a river lol). As long as you get the water out shortly after its not that big of a deal. for starters i would take out the spark plugs and if you can crank the motor or poor alcohol in the cylinders and down the intake. Then fallow that by alot of marvels mystery oil. It will crawl in all the nooks and cranies of the engine and protect it. And also do that with the engine oil also. All of this is if you cant get to it right away. if you can more than likely all you will need to do is take it apart and clean it up and put a new gasket kit in it. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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