hey guys,

today we had a big problem in a freinds car on the way to the beach.

the engine shut off, just like it ran out of gas, and smoke started coming from under the dash on the drivers side.
we got the car off the road and when i popped the hood, i looked and ever wireing harness in the engine bay had a melted and comepletly burnt ground wire. every single one was toast.

then smoke started pouring from the top of the dash and flames started under the drivers side dash by the clutch petal. i put that out with dry chemical. then out of now wheres the motor started turning, it sounded like it was running till i ran over to the car again and pulled every fuse out, and i even pulled the fuse for the fuel pump and it kept moving.
thats when i relaized it wasnt running the starter was just turning and turning.

key where out of the car and nothing was turned on.

then after that while waiting for the fire dept. the grounds in the door started smokeing, thats when a guy ran over and helped me get the battery disconnected. after that everything was fine.

the fire fighters looking under the hood pointed to the amps power wire runing off the battery and told my freind that was no dout the problem. well i know thats not the problem, i wired it myself and double checked and sealed every connection and rechecked everything. ontop of that i checked all the stereo wires and nothing was burnt nor was there a blown fuse anywheres.

now can anyone of you guys think of why all the grounds in the car but the stereo system where burnt and melted to bare wire?

only thing the stereo and the rest of the car share is the battery and the chassis grounds.

anyone have any ideas? i need you help becuase the insurence guy is probably going to take the easy way out and blame it on the stereo, but i know its not the issue. i have wired god know how many stereos in my time and nothing like this has ever happened before. plus its not like i can trace down the problem now, becuase all the relays and ground wires are cooked so i cant track dow the issue that way.

anyone?

Rob

your stereo wiring wanst the problem, if it was, it would have melted and left the rest of the wiring alone. it is a complete seperate curcuit that is tied to nothing on the car other than the battery itself.

there had to be a wire short ofut somewere, but usualy it doesnt melt every wiring in the car.