(please repost or forward to anyone you know who has encountered something similar. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE -- email us anything of interest. josh@idreamdigital.com. ADMINS: sorry for hitting you with this message twice, but we really need help from other people. We're not hating on sunfires... but this is what happened. Please let this message remain.)
Friday afternoon as my girlfriend pulled up to our house, her car (a 2003 Pontiac Sunfire) was enveloped in a fire, in under 2 minutes.
The story: Lyndall was coming home from the gym early on this chilly -27 day. Her heat was on full, and she was only a couple hundred feet from home when she smelt smoke from her heating vents. She stopped the car in our ally, where i was standing and told me she smelled smoke. At this point, i saw it pouring out of the vents on her dash and told her to turn the car and heat off, then pop the hood.
After a quick look under the hood confirmed nothing was wrong there, we pulled the car into our spot, smoke now billowing out, and went to call a tow truck. This whole process took about 40 seconds.
By the time we had walked up to our house, the car was pouring smoke from the open, driver's side, window. I told her to get me a phone so i could call 911... before i finished dialling, flames were shooting out of the now-shattered front window. Firemen arrived a minute and a half later, from down the street.
They put it out, the investigators said is was probably some sort of electrical fire in the heating system. The car is a write-off.
The next day, Lyndall's brother mentioned this story at a work saftey meeting, and someone there had an identical story about their folks Pontiac Sunfire. Still, i can find nothing online about it at all.
Her insurance is going to cover the car, but the problem is she still owes more on it to the bank than it is actually worth. Not only could this have resulted in an accident, house/garage fire and possibly death in either event, but she is left owing on a car that GM decided was not worth recalling, endangering the lives of it's drivers.
We need to track others down with similar stories about their sunfire's. Please forward this to people you know with this car, or who have had similar stories to tell.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE -- email us anything of interest. josh@idreamdigital.com
here are the photos:
http://www.idreamdigital.com/projects/sunfire/S6000008.jpg
http://www.idreamdigital.com/projects/sunfire/S6000009.jpg
http://www.idreamdigital.com/projects/sunfire/S6000010.jpg
http://www.idreamdigital.com/projects/sunfire/S6000011.jpg
http://www.idreamdigital.com/projects/sunfire/S6000012.jpg
It's not the first fire issue GM has had with Js. They had a recall on earlier Js because the starter wires would overheat from extended cranking and start a fire.
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Thats messed up... but you mean she doesn't have GAP insurance? Many loans offer GAP where if you owe more than the car is worth they'll pay the deductible and the difference. I had it on my 2000 Grand AM, but they ended up giving me a grand more than what I owned on it anyway, but needless to say I'd never buy a car (epecially a depreciating american car) without it!
I would look in the
jacked/wrecked/sold forum i know of atleast 2 other J's that started smoking and within a few mins they too were up in flames.
No problems with mine yet, but those pictures make me sad... and your coke's probably no good anymore.
my 2004 had the same thing like a year ago.........i had to pay for everything to get fixed at the dealership..............and they @!#$ up my clutch hose while they were fixing it( kinked it and it dident fail till i was on my way home) ....so everything is fixed but im still broke down.................
lucky...i wish my cav would burst into flames....
Sucks....but damn, nothing can kill a CocaCola!!!
I would march down to the dealer, explain the situation, and ask them to at least cover the gap. They'll pass it off to GM pretty quickly.
Sorry to hear about this.
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yup same thing happened to
Andy Brooks
ive seen a few others on here have the same problem.
[quote=ßãggéÐÇåv98 (Ûñqùðtäߣè Øñé)]yup same thing happened to
Andy Brooks
ive seen a few others on here have the same problem.
not even the same problem the thread starter is having , andy's was under the hood
this guys was under the dash
how long ago did she have the aftermarket headunit put in? ever think it could have been something with the aftermarket radio that started the fire and not just go straight to saying its GMs fault. who put in the radio? 4 jbodys ketch on fire shouldint be a recall. well the Ford Explorers tires poped and sent the trucks flipping over thats a recall because it happen to thousands of them. out of all the jbodys built in the 02-05 years 4 ketch on fire not going to be a recall. you got a bad one or someone did something to it that they shouldint have.
at least the coke didnt get damaged
Member of J-body of Michigan.
jbody03eco wrote:how long ago did she have the aftermarket headunit put in? ever think it could have been something with the aftermarket radio that started the fire and not just go straight to saying its GMs fault. who put in the radio? 4 jbodys ketch on fire shouldint be a recall. well the Ford Explorers tires poped and sent the trucks flipping over thats a recall because it happen to thousands of them. out of all the jbodys built in the 02-05 years 4 ketch on fire not going to be a recall. you got a bad one or someone did something to it that they shouldint have.
How do you know there was an aftermarket headunit in there? It's so melted you can't tell anything, and there's no mention of it in the story....
jbody03eco wrote:how long ago did she have the aftermarket headunit put in? ever think it could have been something with the aftermarket radio that started the fire and not just go straight to saying its GMs fault. who put in the radio? 4 jbodys ketch on fire shouldint be a recall. well the Ford Explorers tires poped and sent the trucks flipping over thats a recall because it happen to thousands of them. out of all the jbodys built in the 02-05 years 4 ketch on fire not going to be a recall. you got a bad one or someone did something to it that they shouldint have.
definetly onto something there
if there was indeed an aftermarket head unit instilled. I've been scalded by more than one myself. also, if one was installed, by who and was it wired properly? if it was factory, extremely slim chance it was a direct result of the heat produced by the heating system. heater cores don't get hot ehough to ignite or melt abs plastic. it is possible for it ignite debris(paper, insulation,etc). faulty wiring from is also a slim possibility, but it could happen.
from the picture, I'd say either debris in the hater core or aftermarket stereo( it does look like it had one)
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Yeah I see what looks like a aftermarket radio as well. No gap insurance? She would be stuck with the left if it was a accident. Her fault for not having gap. It is the chance you take. Sorry to hear this happened, but more info is needed.
FU Tuning
that is the block heater cord , LOL
LOL
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he has another post saying she had a headunit put in the car. my bet is they did something because all the other fires with the eco motor where in the motor bay not in the dash.
Quote:
She also had a aftermarket stereo installed but the fire appears to have started above it -- when i looked into the burn area there was plenty of untouched insulation and even paper wire-tags exposed lower down which i can only surmise survived because the heat was much lower 8 - 12 inches below where the fire occured.
BINGO!!!!
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pluse the raido is on top of the heating controlles. so if the heating controlls where what started the fire then the little track under the dash where the soda can is would have get messed up because thats where all the wires are right in there. and buy looking at the dash it started from the top meaning the radio. so i would look into going after who ever put the radio in your car.
there is actualy very little electronics to the HVAC controls (just the fan control). so there i a greater chance it being something else i.e. cd player
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