Yeah well tonight, under my hood, it happened. An engine fire. Well, It may be 'overkill' for me to say engine fire since it technically wasn't the engine, but it was under the hood... so that by itself was scary enough. Here's how it happened...

I got my battery replaced recently at an Advance Auto Parts by some newbie kid working there, and he also installed the battery. I didnt think he installing my battery would be a problem... but I guess it was. When he removed the tower bar which keeps the battery stable he lost the nut. After the battery was intalled he told me about the missing nut and shit. I told him not to worry about it, it seemed ok, and hell... what's the worst that could happen? Yeah well tonight, about 3 weeks after the installation of the new battery the tower bar shifted over somehow TOUCHING the positive end of the battery AND the THROTTLE CABLE/CRUISE CONTROL, created a closed circuit and made my entire throttle cable and the internals of my cruise controle box module thing RED HOT. I took my car down the parking lot from work and the throttle became stuck, i didnt know what the #### was going on!!! I saw smoke pouring from under the hood, so i cut the car off, popped the hood and I saw just a red glowing throttle cable with a tiny flame on one end. I freaked out, rain into work, grabbed the fire extinguisher and all my friends were there helping me cool the bi*** down. Haha, well now my throttle cable i guess is "welded" and/or "fused" in there and my throttle pedal doesnt even function. Tomorrow I'll try to fix it...

Maybe a new throttle cable will do the job. I dunno... I just left my car at work and bummed a ride back home.

Thank God the heat or the red cable melt or burn my injector wires since they are right ####in' there. *phew* It could have been WAYYY worse.


I figured I'd share that story with you guys.

The car should be fine tomorrow.


-Marc

Yes, that is why battery trays and hold-downs are GOOD, a car battery is a powerful unit, as you have witnessed.

Wow what a day huh? haha. Sounds like it was pretty scary. Hope you get everything straightened out. Maybe now you can clean up the engine bay a little by getting a non cruise control cable? Anyway good luck.

Has ANYONE heard of a battery terminal cover? They are on there for a pretty good reason.

Sucks though. They had better honor a replacement battery.

That brings back an old memery, after the tranny was rebuilt in my 91 laser, 3 years ago i took it for a test drive 20 minutes later smokes rolls out from under the hood and what do you know my battery is stuck to my hood. Fry's my entire electrical system and the car is pronounced done. Liability was a joke, denied Tranny shop said F U because it came in without a battery hold down only bungie cords (worked fine for a year)

Lesson learned = Because I got Owned

We're getting a rash of these, lately. Bizarre how the trends clot.

damm. this is nuts,
this is what happens when YOu dont put it out

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160893&highlight=worst+day+life

Damn, I drove around for 3 years with no upper brace. I pulled one off a DSM at a junkyard about 6 months ago just to have so i didnt have to use a tie down at the track but Ive never had any problems with it shifting.

Just a reminder...
the factory does these things and uses these parts for a REASON!

Yeah, well I ordered a throttle cable, but it wont be in until monday. I'm stuck driving my dad's 1984 Porsche 928S. Boo Hoo!

Not that I've tested the theory, but I've heard that the fine particles used in a dry chemical fire extinguisher will go through the car's air filter and work like sandpaper on the engine's internal parts.

Chuckster said:

Not that I've tested the theory, but I've heard that the fine particles used in a dry chemical fire extinguisher will go through the car's air filter and work like sandpaper on the engine's internal parts.

Click to expand...

Well, good thing I didn't use it. About the time I got the fire extinguisher, one of my friends were beating the cable with his T-shirt, and he was very successful in putting it out!

Why in god's name did you let someone from advance auto touch your car?

-Steve

3 weeks and no bolt to attach strut bar still? procrastinaiton never pays. I am getting some friction tape and wrapping my bar from both ends to 1/3rd of the way up, driver side just to look uniform.

sjwelna said:

Why in god's name did you let someone from advance auto touch your car?

-Steve

Click to expand...

*smacks forehead*

I know... I know... bad idea! But hey... I needed a battery and I figured 'what the hell, whats the worst that could happen'? And yeah, procrastination never pays...

Another thing. I got the cable I ordered from the Mitsu. dealer. Yeah, its the wrong cable. They ordered the cruise control cable for me, so those few days of waiting were for nothing. And for some reason, there are no returns for special orders when the DEALER mistakingly orders the wrong part. Seem F'ed up to you guys? Seems a little shitty to me.

I'm buying the cable online, that's if i can find a site that carries it.

-Marc

Just order it from here. I don't know if you are fond of cruise control, you probably fried the control box anyway.

The first item on there is the one you are looking for.
http://www.diamondstarmotorsport.com/maintengine.shtml

Omega said:

Just order it from here. I don't know if you are fond of cruise control, you probably fried the control box anyway.

The first item on there is the one you are looking for.
http://www.diamondstarmotorsport.com/maintengine.shtml

Click to expand...

thank you VERY much! I just ordered it! The dealer price for that cable was like 70 bucks!!!!

*pulls out extra cash and waves in air* yaeahh!!!!

No problem, glad I could help you out.