Smoke from the central Dash Air Vent

[Dazza the Stag]

Hi all

Had a lovely trip out in the stag yesterday, mainly because it was to take my daughter to her wedding !

Anyway on the trip back from the reception - fortunately all formal duties over with and only me in the car, I could smell something and then could see white smoke coming from the central air vents in the dashboard. I pulled over and turned everything off and it eventually stopped.

Checked under the bonnet and and nothing untoward and the temperature gauge was normal. Carried on without issue for a few miles and then it happened again. I also then had a issue with the gearbox and the overdrive didn’t seem to be working correctly - might be completely unconnected but seems strange.

Any help would be appreciated in diagnosing what it might be or where I could start to look to find the issue. I don’t really understand what could cause the issue to then be able to come out of those vents.

thanks

Darren

[72BLUE]

Best not to drive it again until you have found the source of the smoke. There are loads of wires in looms behind the dash, check them out for signs of melted plastic, could well be an electrical short or similar.

Keith

[Dazza the Stag]

Thanks Keith - agree in regard not driving it and just glad I got back and very pleased I had the small comfort of a fire extinguisher in the boot just in case.
In my mind I always thought of the vent system as being sealed, clearly that can’t be the case as the smoke has managed to get into it as I can’t believe there are wires within the vents ?
So does anyone have any suggestions (just to narrow down the search) as to where wires might be shorting and then the resulting smoke manages to get into the vents ?

Darren

[steve.n]

Was the heater fan on? From memory I think the power cables for this run through the casing behind the centre console. Cable short cct?

[022Dave]

Hello Darren,

Suggest that you also disconnect the battery until you've discovered the cause, in case there's a live feed in amongst the loom, which might erupt again.

Dave

[barkerwilliams]

Was it smoke or could it have been steam? You didn't mention a distinctive smell which normally accompanies smoke and can help to identify the source..

Alan

[I am Groot]

Nightmare! Good advise to disconnect battery, check behind your radio but if no fuse is blowing have you got wrong fuse ratings in place or an addition or circuit that isn't fused? Surely any corrected fused circuit wouldnt be smoking.

[TR5convalescent]

If you had problems with the overdrive it sounds to me as if that wiring was shorting out somewhere under the console. You need to find it and as the coin tray and switch plate are easily removed I would start there. As you know with Lucas electrics, if all the smoke escapes they no longer work!

[Richard G]

you could ask the Best Man from the Stag night!

[Dazza the Stag]

Hi all

thanks ever so much for the replies, so I found this to the right hand side of the centre tunnel, sort of below where the instrument light adjustment knob is.

its seems to be the black wire that has ‘shrivelled’ and in one place seems to have welded itself to the green wire next to it. I’m not sure what the grey connector should look like but it looks like that might have melted too.

can anyone suggest what these three wires, green/grey green yellow and one black lead to and from and what might the cause ? Also are those connectors available to buy and is there any guidance available to show how I could repair it ?

so many questions I know - sorry !

darren

[Arbman Al]

To do with the heater circuit. Not sure about the black wire though

[steve.n]

These cables run from the heater/blower switch to the blower motor. They seem to take a strange route from the switch, around the console past the window switches then forward again to this connector then to the motor. When fitting my new radio I found this cable a bit short so I pulled the motor side of the plug back towards the switch, disconnected the unused part at the switch and made a new section of loom between the switch and motor.
Cables are ground, and two power connections for the two fan speeds (there is a resistance built into the fan motor for one speed)
Steve

[richardthestag]

lucky you found that so quickly. there is a lot of loom in that area. I would disconnect the heater from the switch so the burned wiring is isolated and then flash the battery terminal to see if you get a big old spark. which of course is a bad thing. beware that interior lights being on, or anything being on will cause a big spark. as will a modern radio with memory and some tracker units also.

with those isolated / switched off you should be able to connect the battery with no drama, then ignition on and check for further shorts nasty smells.

replace burned wiring and refill the loom with Lucas wiring loom smoke as all of yours will have leaked out now

[thebadleys]

refill the loom with Lucas wiring loom smoke as all of yours will have leaked out now

If you need some smoke I still have some on the shelf

791819.jpg

[richardthestag]