Electrical fires in your FSJ?

[fireman91186]

How many of us have electrical fire in burnt wires in our FSJ's.


The first 78 W/T I owned had 3 different fires in it at different times but thank goodness never burnt to the ground.

Knock on wood though my 79 hasn't had one yet. At least with me that is.

[PlasticBoob]

Mine had at least one ammeter meltdown before I bought it. :mad:

Another occurred in a '78 J-10 as we were driving. Turns out it too had a previous fire that took out the whole interior of the cab. The moron replaced the dash with another and left the ammeter intact, and the cycle repeated. :banghead:

Another I saw when driving with my dad and uncle. Down the road we saw lots of smoke, and I jokingly said "Watch, it'll be a Jeep just like mine.." Turns out it actually WAS...similar color as well, that was just downright scary. Ammeter caused that one too. :rolleyes:

[Crazy4Wheelin]

I haven't had anything wire fire related happen (knock on wood.) I've had quite a bit of giant flame balls come from the carb of another jeep I was playing with with starting fluid and gas in Oregon... but no wire fires. lol

~Crazy

[Dr.E]

That is what started my J-Truck restoration 27 years ago.
I'm still working on her. :(

[ricdiculous]

you guys are freaking me out with all these fire stories.:eek:

i still rock the ammeter set up but every time i read one of these fire threads i get closer to doing the voltmeter mod that's floating around this board somewhere.

now all day i'll be looking out the window to make sure my ride isn't engulfed in flames.:(

[710 Burner]

I checked my connections and clearance from the exhaust.

[stangfather]

my 77 had a wire fire under the hood, pretty sad when a truck with only 70k original miles is like that but thats also how i got it for cheap..

the entire engine harness was gone, 401 with points sucks..

[Tad]

Just two so far.
Feelin' pretty lucky here.

[JeepinPete]

I've owned seven Jeeps so far, the first five had electrical fires. My '79 Cherokee never went up, but then again I removed most of the stock underhood wiring when I swapped the 5.3 in. And the last Wagoneer I had I only put a few thousand miles on it before I sold it. There is a reason I have two fire extinguishers in any Jeep I own ;)

[sappy76]

One, 14 years ago when I first bought it. Now after completely restoring for 2nd time, I have bypassed the ammeter and put in a voltmeter. Also, just about all the high current devices run through relays outside the cab.

[Geminiroq]

Does anyone have the link to the volt meter conversion?

I am getting a bit freaked myself...dont want my investment to go up in a ball of fire.

No bueno....

Thank you..

[Mikel]

My J300 has signs of a carburetor fire. Carburetor is gone :thumbsup:

[sappy76]

Does anyone have the link to the volt meter conversion?

I am getting a bit freaked myself...dont want my investment to go up in a ball of fire.

No bueno....

Thank you..

Here's a good thread.
http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=17510

[grand_wag_85]

Never had an FSJ electrical fire until I got my '76.
The solenoid will smoke if you crank the engine more than 10 seconds.

The BIG yellow wire that runs from the solenoid to the fueseblock melted.

The first HEI I installed burst into flames as soon as I hooked it up.

I set the alternator in a minivan on fire when I jumpstated it with the Jeep. Dunno if that counts or not :huh:

[freeincolorado]

Out of the three Wagoneers I've owned, two have had wire fires. One tried to burn itself down in front of starbucks. The other incident was caused because the PO had installed a aftermarket carb and just left the choke heater wire laying on the intake.

[fireman91186]

I am glad to know that I am not the only one who has had these problems. I just hope it doesn't happen to my 79.

[jpnjim]

My old 73 (J4600) had 2 wire fires while I owned it (one under hood, and one in the dash),

the underhood one happened on the way home from work one day,
I was driving, with the radio cranked, and I thought I heard the starter kick in :confused:.
Turned down the radio.... nothing.

Back to jamming, and heard it again, finally left the radio off, and heard it.
Pulled into a parking lot, with the starter spinning like crazy.

Wiring harness went up in flames as I pulled over, and the engine shut down. :mad:

As the harness melted, the starter solenoid wire melted into a constant hot,and was triggering the starter.

By the time I got the hood open, and pulled the battery cable off, the underhood harness was gone.

I jumped out the ignition, so it would run, but the starter teeth were junk, so I couldn't start it.
The parking lot was pitched, so I tried (in vain, 5, or 6 times) to push the truck up the slope, then roll start it as it coasted down.
Dam n that truck was heavy.

Finally I walked to a payphone (in the days before cell phones), and the gf came down to push start me with her full size Chevy.
Jumped out the ignition & headlights, so I could drive home, and rewired the engine compartment a few days later.

A few months after that the dash wiring went poof (big cloud of white smoke, we both bailed out, & again I pulled the battery cable off).
Funny thing was, I never found out what smoked that time, when I re-connected it everything still worked :confused::confused:

[madmikeX3]

I've also seen a few FSJ's in the junk yard with burned out interiors and engine bays. I want to try and fix minefor the common problems that cause these fires. Recently i was driving and smoke started to come from my head light switch. Scared me so its been parked since ive been deployed.

[Chumley360]

My old J-10 had had all the fusible links cut out of it by the time I got it. So that equaled CAR-B-Q one night. Burned out about 80% of the under hood harness and melted everything in the primary bundle under the dash.

[temps425]

Started the truck up in the garage, let it warm up for a few min, came back out it was a small electrical fire under the hood. Mobile mechanic had left a grouping of wires touching the engine block after some repair. He re-worked all the wires free of charge (took him like 8 hrs).

[J.J.]

Mine burnt up under hood before I got it. I haven't had it happen to me yet but I'm sure I will. Everything I own has been on fire at some point!

[SnowShoe]

One under dash....amp meter toasted:banghead: :banghead: ,One under the hood....wire came in contact with the manifold.:banghead: :banghead:

[fulsizjeep]

I have seen a few crispy carcasses in the yards over the years.

My 76 caught flames under my house (on stilts) in CC TX around 83. Quick action to remove the battery and snuff the flames saved my Jeep and house. The wiring harness had laid down on the right side exhaust manifold.

Krista's 76 Waggy has been plagued with wiring issues but no fires <yet>.

Krista's 77 Waggy fried the yellow wire like Sean discribed. This was from a pack rat chewing on wiring. No flames thank goo.

The J20 came to us with wiring issues. After a couple weeks, one day the starter engaged as I walked away after parking it. The tape wrapped on the right side wiring had smoked and showed me the yellow lead and starter solenoid wires had melted together. No flames, again thank goo.

My 88 GW fried the harness from the electric choke power lead back the the ignition switch in Las Cruces last month. I don't know why we did not have a fire with that. Maybe I should not even say how lucky I feel.

The only amp gauge issue I have seen personally is in the 76 Chief we are parting out and that was this summer. This one had NO wiring in the engine bay except a rigged up speaker wire on the ignition.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee184/jubileejeeps/parts-n-stuff/burntampga.jpg

[janie]

My rigs have always had a tendency to spew fluid from every nook and crannie. Guess that's the only reason why, we didn't have one fire.

[mrtazwrench]

Had a trans line blow while my BIL was plowing snow in my dad's 78 J20, burnt the harness, pulled it home with the 87 commanche my dad had at the time. I was 13-15 years old at the time, cut that part of the harness out of a wag we had for parts at the time, and extended the harness to be farther from the stuff that gets hot, pushed snow many more years with it, finally it broke in half the remains are now rusting in peace, the brake booster block from it is now enroute to Elliott.