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[Beetleboi -Greg-]

So for those of you who don't know, I had a little electrical fire on Saturday night on the way home from work. My headlights were causing a spark and eventually the smoke and the flames came. Could have been much worse if did not have a fire extinguisher. First time ever using one, and I don't even remember how it all happened. Bus still runs, a lot of powder clean up, and check to see what the damage is. Hopefully I'll be up and running for the campout in two weeks. Always always always keep an extinguisher nearby!

[DreamWeaver J@Y:~}]

 Congrats. 
Good Save Greg..  thumpup)-  thumpup)-

[lovebus (jack)]

It still runs, but DON'T run it!!!

[Beetleboi -Greg-]

So what should I do? Was going to drive it to Shawn's Saturday.

[6T5 square]

uuhh find out why it went on fire? Maybe fix it so it doesnt happen again?

[Baha (Shawn)]

And go get another fire extinguisher

[vwtrike (Rich)]

I'm sorry to hear what happened. As long as your alright, that's the important thing.

[kvbug (karen)]

And get one of those fire extinguishing systems put in that Jay posted to save your investment!!!!

[Beetleboi -Greg-]

Well this wasn't an engine fire.

[Beetleboi -Greg-]

Started the clean up, repair process today. It went from this:



To this:



Pulling the fuse box out, I had a mini heart attack. As you know I hate electrical. I like bolt off bolt on type things.

So on the back of the fuse box one thick red wire going to a cluster of 6 wires was badly burned which I will try to show in the picture below...



On the lower right is a connector with 6 wires. The red one, in this case the top left, goes to the fuse box and was all burnt up.

My question, is what is the easiest way to remove that wire from the connector? I don't want to disturb anything else. I'd rather not cut the bad part, and put a butt connect in to connect the two wires I'm guessing that is where I should put the fuse.

The other bad wire is no problem at all. I'm just worried now that i disturbed some wires. It's such a rats next. I wish there was more give to the wires, I guess they are just old and cranky.

If I can get this on the road by my birthday that would be great, but as an extreme pessimist I'm going to plan on tent camping.

[lovebus (jack)]

Just tape the burnt wires after you seperate them before driving it.

[buglvw (Howard)]

I would think you would want to find out where the red wire goes and what caused it to heat up. Unless the insulation is bad and it contacted something else.  :confused04:;

[Beetleboi -Greg-]

Pretty sure it shorted out on the body. I broke the harness trying to remove it.

[Bugaru "JAY"]

 Beet.

 Disconnect your Battery Neg / Ground cable, before exploring further. That will stop any further shorts till you can isolate the troubles. Looks bad, but you got lucky buddy. Remember your driving a 40+ year old vehicle with 40+ year old wiring connections etc, that are probably oxidized, loose, or brittle. If your connections aren't tight they will not always make a good electrical connection and can arch, spark, and ignite.

 Take your time and do the job once and do it right. Also pick up some dielectric grease and use it on your electrical connections.  BTW, it looks like two of those wires may have arched and wielded themselves together, so disconnect your battery before going further.

 Also, a shorted wire carries that heat, and current that will travel and have a direct result possibly further inside of the wiring harness causing more hidden problems.
.

[Beetleboi -Greg-]

Thanks Bugaru! Batt is disconnected. I'm going re wire and add some additional fuses. Going to have pops come over to look before I drive her any further. Thank goodness I had an extinguisher.