Close call...

[bxl_lad]

Had a very close call last weekend, almost lost the van...
After driving for an hour or so, stopped for a break. Upon restarting the engine, a puff of smoke, began to reverse, more smoke, pulled over lifted the bonnet and flames!
Only quick reactions saved the van from going up in smoke... Much longer and the small extinguisher i had wouldn't have saved it (luckily in Belgium carrying a fire extinguisher in your vehicle is compulsory).

Damage looks minimal, but won't know the extent until the garage has had a chance to peel things back to investigate.

What seems clear (on first inspection) is that the trigger looks like being the starter motor - its spitting sparks when trying to turnover the engine. Its not 100% clear, but looks like excess oil and crap build up on the engine tray cover (under the engine) were ignited from the sparks.

So, moral of the story, check that engine tray is clean, check your starter if it begins to play up and carry a couple of small fire extinguishers in your van!

Hoping to be back on the road soon - fingers crossed ;-)

 

[2into1]

Hope it's a modest cost to fix buddy.

 

[bxl_lad]

Finally back on the road. Needed a new main engine wiring harness and starter motor - took so long to resolve due to a slow response from our mechanic to diagnose (sat three weeks with him before he even looked at it!) and then let down by an ebay seller who failed to send us a replacement cable (lost 2 more weeks).

Big shout out to though 'Cali-Campers' (https://www.calicamper.co.uk/), who pulled out all the stops to help us in our hour of need and provide the much needed part - if you need hard to find parts for your T4 then give them a call (not so much the Westfalia elements, but the mechanical for sure!).

In the end I did the work myself, quite a fiddly job, but doable.
Upon reflection, most likely cause of the fire seems to be a dodgy starter motor that was arcing that looks to have caused the loom to melt and catch fire (the crud in the engine tray just added to the fun!).
Given the difficulty sourcing the harness and the scare of a fire, heads-up if you think your starer motor is playing up, just swap it out ;-)

Anyway, we were lucky the damage wasn't worse - thankfully we had extinguishers on board! Can now look forward to a busy summer of trips in the van!

 

[sidepod]

Ooh nasty. I’ve always been a bit obsessive about keeping things like that clean and tidy. I can’t bear a filthy engine bay. Anyway well done on saving it.

 

[Derry]

Wow felt your pain reading that and bought back some memories of my experience about 8 years ago when my starter motor did the same thing? Went to get a new exhaust fitted and got half a mile up the road with a plume of of smoke behind me pulled over with flames licking up over the bonnet luckily a van driver pulled over who had a fire extinguisher while I was trying to call the fire brigade and put the fire out.


Insurance company wrote it off and I got to keep it with with a 6k payout and bought a doner vehicle with a 2.5 TDI engine and swapped everything over I needed and then sold what was left of the doner, all worked out well in the end .


Still on the road and going strong

 

[bxl_lad]

Wow felt your pain reading that and bought back some memories of my experience about 8 years ago when my starter motor did the same thing? Went to get a new exhaust fitted and got half a mile up the road with a plume of of smoke behind me pulled over with flames licking up over the bonnet luckily a van driver pulled over who had a fire extinguisher while I was trying to call the fire brigade and put the fire out.

View attachment 108276View attachment 108278
Insurance company wrote it off and I got to keep it with with a 6k payout and bought a doner vehicle with a 2.5 TDI engine and swapped everything over I needed and then sold what was left of the doner, all worked out well in the end .

View attachment 108279
Still on the road and going strong

Wow, quite a story. Glad you had a good ending. Seems i got off lightly in comparison. I think that's testament to having an extinguisher on board (one thing of Belgian legislation I'm thankful for!) - needless to say I now have two new ones

Thanks for sharing, hopefully these tales will give others the nudge to check out their starter motors so as not to fall to the same fate!