redstyles Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 Hi, So driving home today (05 GT Wagon) , smoke started coming out from under the steering wheel.... Very electrical burning smell. Yellowish Smoke. Scary as shit! As that was happening my rear wiper started going on it's own, flashers stopped working and the door chime didn't either once I stopped the car. Is this just a fuse that blew? (there was a good amount of smoke) Can I drive anyways? I'm paranoid as hell now.. any help to calm me would be greatly appreciated.n Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verwilderd Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 Something probably grounded out. There will probably be some damage as if it were a fuse, none of that would have happened. The fuses are put in line to prevent stuff like that from happening. If I were you, I would drive it and disconnect the battery to prevent further damage. Then I would have it towed to a dealership to have them check and see what happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verwilderd Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 Disconnect the battery and then look under the steering wheel to see if you can see anything. From what it sounds like, you should be able to see wires where the coating has melted off and the wires may be stuck together. But you really want to disconnect the battery. If said wire(s) hasn't fully burnt up, it could burn into another wire and cause that wire to ground or burn up. There are a bunch of wires clustered together so there can be/could be extensive damage. Also check your fuses....But if there was a fuse inline, there would be no smoking. It sounds like something grounded out though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redstyles Posted March 7, 2009 Author Share Posted March 7, 2009 I disconnected the battery... Looked under the steering wheel, but have no clue what wires to look for. What I find strange is that the smoke came out for about 30 seconds then stopped. Like whatever it was burning, finished. So by what you're saying it can't just be a fuse and I should worry right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 I would say that you have a short circuit in your cabling and that you need to investigate that in detail. Fuses doesn't smoke. (Unless you are on LSD or something). I would say that you may have been lucky that the car didn't catch fire. Check for blown fuses to get a hint about what was wrong before continuing the investigation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verwilderd Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 The smoking was probably from the rubber burning off the wire. The short circuit causes the wire to heat up and then burns off the rubber coating. So what you should be looking for are signs of melted rubber. If there is a short circuit and no fuse to stop it, if you connect the battery and continue driving, the wire may heat up again and cause a fire. Then again, the short may be over and whatever the wire went to may be toast and thus no more power will go to it. So in that case it may bo ok to drive to a shop so that they can repair whatever it broken. But from the sounds of it, because your wiper was going off, I would look in your manual, see what fuse is for the wipers and check it. Then I would look for the wire that sends the power for the wipers. It is probably toast. It sounds like it could be that since you said the wipers were going off and smoke was coming from under the steering wheel. The power wire for the wiper will be located there and go into the steering column. So I would inspect all the wires going into the steering column and see if you see an exposed wire and or melted rubber on other wires. What you will want to check is to see if other wires near the burnt one are exposed because of the heated wire melting the rubber into another wire (if that makes sense). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verwilderd Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 Oh...and I would nessecarily worry. It may not be that big of a deal. Just depends on what was ruined. You just want to make sure there wasn't any other damage. I don't think the switch for the wiper or the actuator is that expensive in and of itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redstyles Posted March 7, 2009 Author Share Posted March 7, 2009 I'll check if I can find anything.... Thanks for getting back to me.... was scary as hell but at least I know what it's probably from now. Take care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verwilderd Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 good luck. If you have any other questions, you can pm me and I'll do my best to help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 The smoking was probably from the rubber burning off the wire. Except that the insulation is plastic, not rubber... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 This was the result of an electrical fire http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v275/162/21/227200822/n227200822_835904_9991.jpg http://www.toronto-subaru-club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114226&highlight=fire I would get it checked out asap, and don't drive the car until it's fixed. Double Award Winning Legacy GT Wagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scruit Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I would get it checked out asap, and don't drive the car until it's fixed. +1, absolutely, definitely, without a doubt. Have it towed to the shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violhence Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 There is only one way to find out if it will burn up if you keep driving it - Don't try it though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCSpecB Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 This was the result of an electrical fire http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v275/162/21/227200822/n227200822_835904_9991.jpg http://www.toronto-subaru-club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114226&highlight=fire I would get it checked out asap, and don't drive the car until it's fixed. I just dealt with one of those this morning....GET IT CHECKED!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterJMC Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Do not drive around with that problem. Do not assume it's fixed because it's stopped smoking. Please get it checked out before you start driving around. Once you start driving around especially if you have passengers you are putting their life in danger. you are also putting yours and the lives of other people in danger if your car catches fire on the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterJMC Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I'd also like to add... If it's electrical shorts under your steeringwheel I WOULD NOT DRIVE around with it because of the fact that your airbag could possibly deploy if it's signal wires happen to get melted and short along with the rest of the wires under your dash. Deploying airbag in your face while driving is NOT a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patriki Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 This was the result of an electrical fire http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v275/162/21/227200822/n227200822_835904_9991.jpg http://www.toronto-subaru-club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114226&highlight=fire I would get it checked out asap, and don't drive the car until it's fixed. MY POOR CAR DO NOT DRIVE THIS CAR!!! The link and picture I just quoted was in fact my 2007 Imrpeza!! It burned down to the group in less than 2 minutes. Just before the fire started, it had ALL the EXACT same symptoms!!!! Get this checked ASAP!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunra Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 If it was yellow smoke it was most likely engine rodents, they're usually housed inside the casings for turbo boost and some miscellaneous functions, if they're exhausted or worn out you need a new set. Don't get young ones though, they're not as efficient as the older rats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamarocket630 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 If it was yellow smoke it was most likely engine rodents, they're usually housed inside the casings for turbo boost and some miscellaneous functions, if they're exhausted or worn out you need a new set. Don't get young ones though, they're not as efficient as the older rats. There is a time and a place for smart-ass funny. This isn't it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verwilderd Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 There is a time and a place for smart-ass funny. This isn't it. + 1. This is serious and the op is looking for real help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patriki Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Ya... This is for sure the wrong place to do this. Although I do crack jokes about this with friends, but its hard to see how my car went from this: http://images42.fotki.com/v1372/photos/1/116174/6370436/IMG_2871web-vi.jpg http://images43.fotki.com/v1321/photos/1/116174/6370436/IMG_29061web-vi.jpg To this: http://images43.fotki.com/v1328/photos/1/116174/6632785/007Preza-vi.jpg http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v646/162/21/227200822/n227200822_997815_7225.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violhence Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 yeah, one heck of custom black on white paintjob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunra Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Didn't mean to offend anyone :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patriki Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 yeah, one heck of custom black on white paintjob Only takes 2 minutes! I should do a DIY write up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patriki Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Any aftermarket equipment on this car? Mine? Nothing electrical.. Just a touch screen. But the fire started in the column at the turn signal switch, so its not related. Otherwise it was just suspension and all the cosmetical stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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