Today I experienced a very scary and unfortunate event that could have ended much worse. I was on a routine trip through a local desert in socal, called Borrego Springs, in my 77 series, with my 4 year old son. We were offroading on a fairly mild trail cruising along picking through a bumpy stretch when I began to smell plastic burning, in a panic I started to frantically try to pin point where it was coming from, seconds later I see huge amounts of black smoke coming from under the hood, truck was running normal. I quickly stop, turn the truck off, run out, get my son out of the back seat, then run and pull the hood latch, open the hood, and a huge flame busts out of the back corner over the battery. I run back to the driver seat where I had a 2.5lb fire extinguisher between the seat and cansole. Luckily it was not tied down and I got it out immediately. I've had that fire extinguisher for over 8 years, as I am running with it over to the front of the car I am praying it still works. Pull the pin, hit the trigger and it WORKS!. Instantly it is empty and I can still see fire @!##$#. I run back to my rear swingout where I have a rotopax can with water. I hit the latch, swing it over, get the can,luckily it came loose quickly as well. It had about 3 gallons, douse the rest of the fire and it goes out. As I am trying to process what just happened, smoke and white powder every where, I look over at my 4 year old son at the side of the trail, he smiles and gives me a thumbs up. At that point i feel some relief that no one was hurt.
I immediately see the rear battery tilted towards the firewall with the positive terminal jammed snugly under the pinch weld. Battery is half melted and wires charred all around. It was obvious what happened, the battery shorted out and sparked the fire. When I got it home, it became clear the fiberglass battery tray failed on the back and allowed the battery to tilt. The tray was original and appeared normal about 2 months ago when I got a new battery. But I guess what do you expect of a nearly 30 year old plastic part that has been made brittle by age and constant abuse over the years, it finally gave way and caused this unfortunate incident. I was lucky myself and my son are safe and damaged contained, the whole truck could have easily been torched because of this.
I am sharing this experience with you all to bring awareness to this weakness I discovered the hard way to make sure you will not have the same misfortune. Please check your trays, and make sure your terminals are adequately protected.
Here are some photos of the incident, including the remains of the tray. You can see where the mount is still bolted on the side to the ripped portion of the tray.
I immediately see the rear battery tilted towards the firewall with the positive terminal jammed snugly under the pinch weld. Battery is half melted and wires charred all around. It was obvious what happened, the battery shorted out and sparked the fire. When I got it home, it became clear the fiberglass battery tray failed on the back and allowed the battery to tilt. The tray was original and appeared normal about 2 months ago when I got a new battery. But I guess what do you expect of a nearly 30 year old plastic part that has been made brittle by age and constant abuse over the years, it finally gave way and caused this unfortunate incident. I was lucky myself and my son are safe and damaged contained, the whole truck could have easily been torched because of this.
I am sharing this experience with you all to bring awareness to this weakness I discovered the hard way to make sure you will not have the same misfortune. Please check your trays, and make sure your terminals are adequately protected.
Here are some photos of the incident, including the remains of the tray. You can see where the mount is still bolted on the side to the ripped portion of the tray.