door panel fire

Had an interesting morning. Made a quick trip to Burger King to get wife and daughter something for breakfast. When I pulled back into my driveway I noticed my radio went out like the power was turned off. The next thing I see is smoke coming out of my driver door panel. I shut the car off and the smoke stopped. I took the eats inside and was coming out to remove door panel and now smoke it pouring out and there are flames around the speaker. Quickly disconnected battery and got fire put out but it obviously ruined my recently (4 months ago) installed panel and pretty much everything else in the door. What a bummer. Definitely could have been a lot worse. May be easier to replace the whole door rather than one piece at a time.

That is crazy! I'm glad though it was confined to just the door panel and not somewhere else in the car.

Jon

I bet you're glad that you came right back out, instead of sitting down and eating breakfast. That could have been a lot worse.

Glen you need to stop listening to that death metal!!!

Wow, that is crazy,, don't even want to think about what could have happened, especially if parked in the garage.

At work they have been passing around photos of peoples cars who left ipods, phones, gps, etc left plugged into the cig lighter....

ALl I can think of is that maybe the door lock wires got rubbed raw and shorted (high current draw and always on).

Wow what a mess but you sure are fortunate.Personally I would look for another door and definitely not use any of
the electrics from the damaged door.If you went thru the drive-thru, did you notice if any of your change from your
purchase that may have dropped down thru the window? I know its a long shot but I definitely want to know what
caused the fire.
Glad the damage was limited to the door!
Jim Gordon

Boy you got lucky it was not much worse..... I have a white woody door if that helps......

Tim

Flasheroo wrote:

Wow what a mess but you sure are fortunate.Personally I would look for another door and definitely not use any of
the electrics from the damaged door.If you went thru the drive-thru, did you notice if any of your change from your
purchase that may have dropped down thru the window? I know its a long shot but I definitely want to know what
caused the fire.
Glad the damage was limited to the door!
Jim Gordon

No, I didn't go through the drive-thru. It definitely started in the speaker area. It is so charred it is very difficult to tell what happened. I am just trying to get the power disconnected from the door harness so I can still use the car. I have the circuit breakers out for the windows and the seat. I'm hoping that will disconnect it but I'm not sure. Getting out the multimeter to go check.

Tim wrote. "I have a white woody door if that helps......"

Thanks Tim. The door itself seems fine. It is just the wires and switches and of course the panel.

Door alignment is a bear. I'd clean out and reuse what you can. That harness - gonna be some work to fix though.

Dammm. thats to bad . On the Buick GNs the door harness unplugs about 6" into the car.. Be easy to change if the wagon has the same type

Glenn, LMK what parts you are going to need. I can hit the local JYards and see what I can bring up to Daytona for ya in a couple weeks.

Buick Park aves, use the same window swichplates (long black ones) so the may help ya out a lil.

Glen, I have a pretty good supply of parts, like quite a few of us here. You are welcome to anything you need. Most of my stuff is in blue. I do have a harness I could send you. Cut out what you need and send the rest back. I also have swithces and the bezel. You would have to SEM the bezel.

As I am sure you know, there is probably damage to the wire insulation further back than the door. I would carefully follow the wires back. When you splice, stagger the splices.

Tom

silverfox103 wrote:

Glen, I have a pretty good supply of parts, like quite a few of us here. You are welcome to anything you need. Most of my stuff is in blue. I do have a harness I could send you. Cut out what you need and send the rest back. I also have swithces and the bezel. You would have to SEM the bezel.

As I am sure you know, there is probably damage to the wire insulation further back than the door. I would carefully follow the wires back. When you splice, stagger the splices.

Tom

Thanks Tom, very generous of you and I will let you know. I'm sure I could use the harness but I will be in touch. Thanks again, Glenn

Sprocket wrote." Glenn, LMK what parts you are going to need. I can hit the local JYards and see what I can bring up to Daytona for ya in a couple weeks.

Buick Park aves, use the same window swichplates (long black ones) so the may help ya out a lil."
Much thanks John. I will let you know. Very helpful info. Glenn

Looking at the way the tweeter is melted like that, it looks like there was a dead short in the speaker circuit that caused the fire. Do you have the stock radio or is there an aftermarket setup in it? I'd definitely trace the speaker wiring back to the radio and make sure it's not fully fried. You may have other damage behind the radio too.

That's amazing and scary!! Glad you came back out when you did. Hope all the damage is just in the door. Please keep us in the loop on what you find.

Never a dull moment is there...?

-Mike

Sprocket wrote:

All I can think of is that maybe the door lock wires got rubbed raw and shorted (high current draw and always on).

I agree with Sprocket about the door lock. When you stop the car, put it in park, the door luck opens. Somehow it may have stuck in opening the lock. Quickly overheated, melted the insulation and shorted to ground and started the fire.

Tom

sherlock9c1 wrote:

Looking at the way the tweeter is melted like that, it looks like there was a dead short in the speaker circuit that caused the fire. Do you have the stock radio or is there an aftermarket setup in it? I'd definitely trace the speaker wiring back to the radio and make sure it's not fully fried. You may have other damage behind the radio too.

Joel, I think you are right about a dead short around the speaker area. It has a aftermarket radio and speakers but they have both been in the car for at least 2 1/2 years. Good advice to check the wiring behind the radio. Another good idea is to keep a fire extinquisher close by or in the car. When I sold my Regal last week I let the extinquisher go with it. Murphy's law is alive and well.

silverfox103 wrote:

Sprocket wrote:

All I can think of is that maybe the door lock wires got rubbed raw and shorted (high current draw and always on).

I agree with Sprocket about the door lock. When you stop the car, put it in park, the door luck opens. Somehow it may have stuck in opening the lock. Quickly overheated, melted the insulation and shorted to ground and started the fire.

Tom

The locks may have been the culprit, but I don't have that feature working in my car. I never liked all that locking and unlocking everytime you put it in gear or in park.

Damn man, that sucks! Holy crap! Glad you caught it in time...

A new harness and door panel and an air freshener and you should be all set.

WOW! Good thing you caught it when you did. I figured everything in the door would have been fused to prevent this, but I guess not.

Another thought.

The radio itself could not have provided enough energy to cause a fire before the radio fuse would have blown. What may have happened was that the radio problem melted the wiring harness behind the speakers, and once that happened, then you have exposed power lock or power seat harnesses which have REAL current that could really cause a fire.

Woah! Glad it was not worse.

If you find you need parts, I will be at the Daytona show and can bring 'em. Just name your price and you can have anything on THIS driver's door except the harness. No cracks, but some sun fade at the top. I have an extra, and I know its hard to find a good one these days. Sorry your new one got toasted.

Chris

[quote="brokecello"]Woah! Glad it was not worse.

If you find you need parts, I will be at the Daytona show and can bring 'em. Just name your price and you can have anything on THIS driver's door except the harness. No cracks, but some sun fade at the top. I have an extra, and I know its hard to find a good one these days. Sorry your new one got toasted.

Chris

Thanks for your kindness. I am sending you a PM.

You might also check to see if your insurance policy covers fire. It's often on comprehensive but not on collision.

sherlock9c1 wrote:

You might also check to see if your insurance policy covers fire. It's often on comprehensive but not on collision.

It does cover fire damage and I have a $50 deductible. The adjuster is coming out tomorrow. I will let yall know what he says.

gwturbo wrote:

sherlock9c1 wrote:

You might also check to see if your insurance policy covers fire. It's often on comprehensive but not on collision.

It does cover fire damage and I have a $50 deductible. The adjuster is coming out tomorrow. I will let yall know what he says.

He'll say "here's your check" and "oh by the way, we are cancelling your policy".

Wow, Glen...it must be Spring. I was going to calll you and talk about the shuddering door lock syndrome on the Fleetwood. Happened to me on 2/17. It turned out to be the entry control module and not the door lock...thankfully. Always good to have an extra Fleetwood around for parts exchange / trouble shooting. We need to hit the North Main yard! We can use my RMW for reference on the rebuild. I have to replace the driver's door panel and speakers so this is incentive to start. ARGH!

Richard Snipes
4501 Safari in Jax, FL

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