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MrMoMo · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 60 Location: Kingston, Ontario

OK, so it's not as bad as it sounds....

Driving home in my '87 "937" last night I decided to pull into the gas station to get a splash of fuel. Since the weather is turning cold - and there is snow in the forecast I figure I'll be pulling the car off the road for the winter soon. I wanted to have as little fuel in the car as possible for winter storage, but didn't want to run out of fuel on the way home!

Pulled into the gas station and hopped out. Pumped $10 in and figured that would be more than enough (couldn't make myself stop at only $5).

Done fueling, I got back in the car - hmmm... seems a bit smokey in here - kinda smells like melting plastic... ? ? Opened the door again and realized that yes, it was indeed smokey in the car!! Crap!!

Started looking around to see if I could find where the problem was, looking down in the drivers footwell figuring I must have kicked something loose somehow and not noticed... Then I saw it, a nice blue flame in the area of the ignition - behind the dash. CRAP!! pulled the hood release and ran around to the front, poped up the hood and YANKED the battery negative cable off (glad I didn't overtighten that one -I am just able to pull it off by hand). Ran back around to the drivers door and look, still flaming away under there. Blow as hard as I can through the crack to see if I can blow it out - no luck. At this point things are starting to sink in.... I am in a GAS STATION and my car has a FIRE in it. I really don't like this!!! Now for the good parts. Gas stations don't like the idea of fire either, so they have lots of fire extinguishers around. Grabbed the nearest one I could find. Ran back over to the car and the blue glow was still there - I put the extinguisher hose up to the gap in the dash (between the steering and the lower dash) got a good line of sight and just tapped the extinguisher trigger. POOF. ABC fire extinguisher dust tastes like crap. In the 1/4 second discharge I managed to get enough powder to come out every single crack in the dash, driver and passenger side... including back in my face. Yuck. Fire is out. Standing there slightly stunned for a few minutes thinking how much this sucks. I opened both doors to allow the smoke/ABC to vent out (pretty windy night). I decide I should probably let the poor attendant know what is going on, so I walk in with the extinguisher and say - "sorry, I had to use this" his reply was "No problem, that's what they are there for!"

So I have some tools with me and I try to get a closer look at what went on down in there. The plug on the back of the ignition switch is completely melted, not sure if the switch is also - but things in that general area do not look nice

I figure it's not worth trying to hook things back up and have them work only to have the thing catch fire again 1/2 way home and not be as lucky this time. Called for a flatbed.

Now as much as it really sucks to have a fire after working on this car for 5 years, I am REALLY glad it happened when and where it did. (sounds a bit odd to be happy to be on fire in a gas station). However, here is what I weigh it against. If I had not stopped for gas, and the short (I'm assuming) was caused when I shut the ignition off - the next opportunity for that to happen would have been when I got home - parked in my garage and went into the house for the night. I would not have been back 3 minutes later to get back into the car, the fire would not have been extinguished - the car would have been much worse off, and who knows how my garage/other cars/house/life would have turned out.

So... If I'm to take anything from this - I will now carry a fire extinguisher in this car ALWAYS!! (I do in other vehicles)

Lucky part #2, I have a spare wiring harness!! So far, from what I can see - the only damaged caused is directly to the harness, and possibly to the ignition switch.

Now - has anyone else experienced this? WHY is the ignition not fused at some point to protect against this?

_________________
Bruce

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'87 924S (project 937)
'87 924S parts car
'87 924S parts car
-Strewn amongst the other vehicular mass engulfing my property!

Rasta Monsta · Joined: 12 Jul 2006 Posts: 11733 Location: PacNW

Check for shorts around the starter and associated wiring, under car and under dash.
_________________
Toofah King Bad

WeiBe (1987 924S 2.5t) - 931 S3

924guy · Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 7:55 pm Post subject:

wow, sounds like a close call... id say you were very fortunate, and good job on the quick thinking, could've been much, much worse.
my guess is that something shorted to ground, and there is also probably a bunch of foam insulation in the dash deteriorating which could have fed the flame so to speak. let us know where the fault was when you find it, it may be a common wear point most aren't aware of and we should be checking periodically.
i keep a fire extinguisher in every vehicle, and two in the garage, as well as inside the house... well worth their weight..

_________________
Eric
78 924
82 931 SE "smokey"
99' VehiCross
Y2K Honda Insight
http://www.cardomain.com/id/924Guy
Performance by Pasha

D Hook · Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 3158 Location: Omaha, NE

Very lucky and quick thinking! Too bad it happened though. Hopefully you can update us on the cause.

On a side note, about 10 years ago I replaced my negative battery post with one of the marine type that can be unscrewed and removed by using a large knob. Comes off in seconds and has saved me a couple times when I've done some boneheaded thing and overloaded a wire ( or three). Strongly recommend that for everyone that owns these cars, along with good fire extinguishers.
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'80 924 n/a SOLD

MrMoMo · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 60 Location: Kingston, Ontario

Well folks after a long winter... it's finally warm enough to pull the cover off and start digging into this issue.

I'll post a few pics up shortly to see if anyone has any ideas. So far I have found that there are two wires burned, one to the ignition switch, and one to the turn signal assembly. All the insulation is burned off them, and the one to the turn signal has actually come apart (the wire blew like a fuse). So this was a high current fault! The fire doesn't appear to have done any damage, other than that to the wire harness, and the plastic on the back of the ignition switch is slightly melted, but I don't think it effects the switch at all.

I have pulled everything off the steering column, but I'm not sure how to test the turn signal switch, or the ignition switch for a short, I'm not sure what posts are supposed to be connected to what posts in each of the positions... any suggestions to links?

Unfortunatly, with the state that the wires are in, its going to be hard to tell what colour they were, other than I should be able to figure out what is still there. Of all the spare parts I have, including harnesses, I can't seem to find my spare ignition harness

!!! DOH!!!

Anyway, I'm starting to dig into it so any ideas would be appreciated, I'll check on the starter.

Thanks!

Bruce
_________________
Bruce

-------------------------
'87 924S (project 937)
'87 924S parts car
'87 924S parts car
-Strewn amongst the other vehicular mass engulfing my property!

Smoothie · Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 12:55 pm Post subject:

You can refer to the wiring diagram. Terminal numbers are molded into the switch and those numbers appear in the diagram. -So you can tell by the diagram and the terminal numbers, what color the wires were, and where they go (as long as you haven't already disconnected them).
_________________
"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

Rasta Monsta · Joined: 12 Jul 2006 Posts: 11733 Location: PacNW

No need to test the ignition switch. . .toss it! New replacements are cheap.
_________________
Toofah King Bad

WeiBe (1987 924S 2.5t) - 931 S3

MrMoMo · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 60 Location: Kingston, Ontario

WOW! you're not kidding they are cheap!! I didn't think you could buy anything for a porsche that cheap! (but I guess it's probably a VW part)

Gets even better than that, A buddy just called me from Hershey, he picked me up a signal assembly, with ignition, with key, with .......... I don't even know how much other stuff.

Apparently he got it with a passenger door for his 968, all for $5!

He was looking for a harness for me as well.... maybe luck will continue to be on my side!
_________________
Bruce

-------------------------
'87 924S (project 937)
'87 924S parts car
'87 924S parts car
-Strewn amongst the other vehicular mass engulfing my property!

MrMoMo · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 60 Location: Kingston, Ontario