My Car Went on Fire Too!

It's only fair that if I publish a story about someone's car going on fire, that I point out that one time my car went on fire. Like Miah's Buick, my fire was due to tinkering (and also an unfixed recall).

When I purchased my Mustang, it had under-drive pulleys and a stock alternator. All this means is that to make more horsepower, the accessories (power steering, air conditioning, and alternator, etc.) are driven slower so the engine can use more of the horsepower for moving the car. Unfortunately, slowing down the alternator yielded constant battery problems. I had to resolve this problem because I was breaking down everywhere.

So the first thing I tried was to purchase a higher amperage alternator. It didn't really do the trick. So the next thing I tried was to replace the underdrive pullies with stock pullies. BOOM, everything was fine again.

Ford had recalled the pigtail connector that connects to the alternator due to fire hazard. The previous owner never had it replaced. So my now over-amped and full speed alternator was pumping a lot of energy through a faulty connector.

So, while driving home, suddenly the battery light came on and the car started to falter. I pulled over and looked through the hood scoop of my somewhat new custom fiberglass hood. I could see a little fire inside.

Thankfully, there were two police officers in the parking lot and they actually agreed to let me use their fire extinguisher. They were really nice and they overlooked my 2 month expired inspection sticker. It took me a very long time to scrape all the yellow crap out of the engine compartment though.

Anyway, the damage was limited to the pigtail, the alternator and a warped spot on my new fiberglass hood because I didn't open it. Incidentally, I put my old alternator back in with a new pigtail spliced in and it worked great with the proper sized pulleys. There's nothing like a fire to bring out your inner pussy.

Tomorrow I will wrap up the car-fire series with a tale of The Abomination. My brother's 85 Jeep that would go on fire whenever you turned your back. It's the only car I've ever seen that really tried to commit suicide.