Hi everyone,
Couple of nights ago, I was awakened by what sounded like a car horn being pressed. A loud bang later, I discovered that my neighbors car was on fire. The car subsequently burned out, and was a complete write-off. It was a late '90s fairly basic vehicle, I wouldn’t care to name the manufacturer, but they have a great rep… Are there any known causes for this happening? (except human endeavour, that is). Has it happened to any dopers?
When I lived in Maine I saw smoke coming from the camper cover windows on my neighbor’s pickup. I pried open a window, and using a broomstick, pulled out the burning oily/greasy rags that had spontaneously combusted. The flames kicked up when I opened that window, of course, but there was no serious damage. I imagine the whole thing could have gone up eventually.
Funny thing after that, my lawn was always mysteriously mowed when I got home from work every Thursday evening (I usually mowed on Saturdays). Mainers are like that.
I had a car catch fire while it was running parked in the driveway years ago. Apparently part of the EGR valve corroded away, allowing hot exhaust gas to leak onto plastic parts. I got the fire put out, but not before it had done too much damage inside the engine compartment to be worth repairing.
Lots of possibilities. Among them, a relay that gets internally shorted, perhaps from water working into it. If it was the horn relay, that could explain both the horn sounding and the car burning.