Anyone ever seen this? STOCK radiator fan caught fire! Now wont start

[1320Motorsports]

I've been working on these cars for about 10 years now, I've worked on over a hundred different dsm's, from building motors and tuning, to suspension and brakes.. Never once have I ever seen or heard of this..

Customers 96 talon tsi awd auto, basic bolt on's on stock turbo... the Pass side radiator fan wiring caught fire and lit the plastic fan shroud and radiator on fire.

Long story short, I've fixed the damaged wiring (just appeared to be the 4 wires going to that fan, replaced the fan with new OEM mitsu fan (christ, it cost $276!), replaced the radiator with a spare one..

Now the damn thing wont start. The car has a good battery, spark, the car has fuel. I havent busted out any of the oh-shit tools (compression/leakdown tester), car ran fine, died out of nowhere while driving, guy pulled over and it was on fire.

All the fuses appear to be good, accessories all work, battery is good, ecu -appears- to be fine. I've tested a few circuits, they appear fine

I'm left with thinking something mechanical is broken, possibly more fried wires I cant see. Or an electrical spike damaging the ECU, although I'd expect that to blow a fuse.

What is "normal" vacuum for a mostly stock car while cranking?

Any ideas?

I suspect a faulty voltage regulator in the alternator causing the fire, although I havent tested that yet to confirm.

 

[snowborder714]

Well, depending on which way the fire went, there's a whole slew of wires running underneath the lower radiator support. Something might have happened to that loom?

Any pictures of the damage??

 

[1320Motorsports]

Well, depending on which way the fire went, there's a whole slew of wires running underneath the lower radiator support. Something might have happened to that loom?

Any pictures of the damage??

Didnt grab any pictures, I was working on limited time to get it repaired. Fire went up, no damage below the bottom half of the fan. I gave that wiring down there a quick look before putting the replacement radiator in, all the wiring down there looked good.

I've been scratchin my head over it the past hour or two, I'm starting to wonder if the fire was caused by something mechanical (for instance severely retarded ignition timing)

I've got a couple of mostly in tact complete wiring harness sets, but I'm really hoping it doesnt come down to having to replace the entire harness

 

[snowborder714]

Ya, that fuse box harness is not the most fun to change.

What happens when you try to start?

 

[1320Motorsports]

Ya, that fuse box harness is not the most fun to change.

What happens when you try to start?

Just turns over, doesnt catch

It sounds a little odd to me while turning over, but he says thats how it always sounds...Thats why the question about normal vacuum during cranking

 

[toddrs93]

We had a VR4 one time do the same thing, everytime we thought we had the damage fixed, we went deeper into the harness and found more damage. Long story short we ended up replacing the entire front harness.