Not much to say kinda still in shock. Was driving home last night and smelled smoke. Pulled over to see where it was coming from and saw flames. Tried to hit it with an dry chem but no luck.

was everyone ok?? Any idea what caused it??

Yeah I was alone. And have no clue.

Holy crap!

Makes me feel better about hitting Bambi in my Geo last night! Glad nobody was hurt!

Man, talk about out of nowhere!

Damn Paul, good thing you're alright! Any idea on what you're going to do?

Vehicle fires are tops in things I never want to see.

Where did you first see the smoke/ fire?

Damn. Where initially on/in the vehicle was the smoke and flame?

Wow, Glad you are ok!

jesus christ! That sucks

Good God! I am glad you are OK. Sorry about your Xterra.

Damn!

Sorry to here about it!!! Glad you are OK.

Paul,

Sorry to hear about this.....looks like a set of salvage tires

Glad nobody was hurt Paul. So sorry about your X... that's aweful

Thank God your all right.

Damn dude...

That sucks...

Glad to see no one was injured...

Man, glad you were not harmed or anyone else for that matter.

Looks like it sure burned HOT... was there any fireman response before it was all gone?

Maybe we'll see you in a new X for the Disney run ????

Good luck whatever route you go!

Holy shit, Paul! That's unbelieveable. I can't believe the tires survived unscathed. Did you lose any valuables inside the truck (besides the truck itself)?

Thanks everyone. Now off to the questions.

I first saw the smoke coming from under the dash near the center. Pulled over then flames. Was very fast. Luckily most of my stuff was in the back and was able to grab it before it went up. Living in a small town we have a volunteer fire department. They are great but at 1AM it takes a bit longer to respond. Even if they were full time it wouldn't have mattered.

Tires are toast too. They look ok in the pic and held air still but the tread is melted.

I lost a few things but nothing of huge value. Got most out the back. I retarded went back for the car seat while the flames were rolling in the front. A 5 dollar booster seat at that. Not the brightest moment.

Hope I answered all the questions. Now it is a waiting game on the insurance. I am pimping in my rental Neon now. I am teh shizzle.

Thanks for all the warm wishes.

Oh Chris can you fix my account on hxoc. Won't let me log in.

Makes we want to install some sort of quick disconnect for the electrical system since 99.9 % of the time any fire in the passenger compartment will be electrical in nature ( at least at the start)

Did you have an aftermarket radio installed or any other aftermarket wiring back there?

Yeah - they ought to have a big knife switch on the main battery cables so you can kill power more easily. It might not help in a situation like this - but if nothing else it would make vehicle repairs a little more convenient.

Man, glad to hear your okay! I hope the insurance company can set you up with a new X or something else.

Sorry to hear about your truck but at least your OK, thats why we pay the insurance compaines so much...Good luck and best wishes.

Tim

Wow...I am Speechless...That does Suck the big one !!!...Thank God, you came out of it Ok...you can always get another X....

Those are easy to install and aren't very expensive. However you'd have to pop the hood to get to it which may not be an option or be safe (engine fire) in order to get to it.

Hard to believe that a simple self install radio or lights could cause that. A short would fry the fuse, keeping that from happen. Would have to be something much more powerful like a main harness short to do that. Wouldn't it?

Assuming the short happened on the right side of the fuse.

If something broke the shield before the fuse there would be nothing to stop it from sparking.

Damn Paul Glad to see you're alright. Good luck w/ whatever you decide to do. Do you remember hearing the Powertank blow out?

Thank god your alright. Thats just insane.

Theres fuses on the main harness near the battery. If it drew enough to spark a fire you'd think it would melt the fuse.

My daughter's 2000 Intrepid caught fire at the fuse box but didn't go up like that.

Had a lot yes. Sirius, CB, blue lights for fire department, All fused and wired and soldered properly and shielded I thought.

I was able to grab it out of the bracket real quick so luckily no. The airbags were loud and the loudes was the rear gas shocks for the hatch. Blew the metal right out of the way. You can see it in the first pic the gap in the rear hatch.

Is the Front Axle in Good shape ?...maybe you can salvage that...

Unknown. Going to ask insurance if I can take stuff off of it when I talk to them. Filed initial report waiting for claims agent now.

Dude, that really sucks! Glad to see you are ok, the X is replaceable.....

Well did you attempt to use the Powertank as as CO2 fire extinguisher?? Glad your alright, hate you lost your truck!

Good God!!! I got all choked up!!! THANK GOD YOURE OK!!!

Hope the insurance bull**** is smooth as silk for you and you can get another X.

ROCK ON IN THE NEON!!!!!!!!

WTF! Good Lord man?! I can't believe this happened?! Man, glad your ok....so sorry for your loss...that was a nice X you had. Dang, that is just crazy....I feel terrible for you. Let us know at HXOC how things are going...md

R.I.P.

Holy cow! Man, I'm really sorry for your loss but glad you're okay and no one was hurt.

Good luck with everything.

Damn Paul, well glad you are okay and hope everything works out for ya.

I hope everyone is OK.
but what happend.

As everybody else has said, for the umpty-googlth time, glad you're OK!

I am going to get an Xtinguisher ASAP. Yours didn't help in this case, but if you don't try...

On the bright side - maybe you can get a 2nd Gen now!

How did the mods make out? Do the Calmini sliders and bumper just need to be cleaned up and painted? Winch burn up? What happened to your steel horse console? Anything salvagable?

Sliders and bumper appear ok. Just hope I can get them. Insurance moved the vehicle today so don't know how that will work out. Winch looked ok just the cables to the battery were melted. Not hard to replace.

Look at the third pic for what is not left of the steelhorse console.

Damn, that sucks. All bullshit aside, I feel for ya...

Wow...Paul that sucks! I don't know how I would react to that situation, but damn...

wow...thats a huge bummer man. Glad to hear everybody is ok. Hope all goes well with the insurance co. I think there is an 06 with your name on it now!

Talked to the insurance today finally. They seem to think it was caused by the power wire for my Sirius radio that I ran in 2002. Somehow the wire got caught up in the emergency brake handle mechanism. He thinks that over time as I set and released the e brake it might have wore down the cable causing an arc of some sort. That is where the investigators think they found the start of the fire but based on the interior they are not 100%. In any event even though I wired it they are not placing blame on me since if what they think happened did it would just be a freak circumstance. My advice to everyone is if you ran wires under your dash take an hour or so and make sure they do not come in contact with any moving items. If that is something we learn from this and it helps maybe save someone else from the loss later or even worse an injury or death then my sacrifice will not be in vain.

They are taking pretty good care of me in terms of payment. I will be back in an xterra again soon!!!

My turn signal started letting out wisps of smoke occasionally when I used it a couple weeks ago and I was thinking about replacing it "sometime"... seeing your thread motivated me to go ahead and order and install a new switch (which turned out to be super easy and only $50)

Dang...it does make me rethink the rats nest of wiring I have to accessories...the good thing is that the wires are harnessed and away from moving parts, but wow.

Coincidentally, I watched a Corolla go up just as bad on the freeway on the way to work this morning. Nothing left.

As for sliders, bumper, etc...unless the insurance is going to compensate you for the aftermarket items you had on there, those *should* be yours for the taking....a few hundred bucks in salvage parts is better than just getting the low KBB on the truck, I figure.

Sucks man.

They did.

I'd be cautions about trying to re-use anything left on the truck. I watched a company truck (93 Jeep Cherokee) go up in flames (with a cool movie-type explosion, even) a couple of years ago. There were several items that looked "ok" but when we attempted to salvage them closer inspection revealed small cracks and metalurgical damage due to the high heat.

Yeah I am not going to. Not sure what I will do with the new Xterra yet. (When I get one)

Save some money, get one from an auction that rolled over (seems to be a good number of those) and still runs good. Then either fix it up or chop it up.

Or just get one the normal way.

At least you're thinking of getting another one.

Damn... that sucks. Glad no one was hurt.

Well I didn't make it to the nissan lot. I found a monster deal on a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. I had to take the deal. I kinda always wanted a truck and am glad I have one now but will miss the Xterra. I feel like a traitor lol.

Ban him. :p

Not sure how I missed this thread, but holy shit - that's a nasty fire.

Congrats on the new truck - got any details on it? Just curious. It should be a solid truck for you, and I bet the mileage will be about the same.

j/k

as long as it makes you happy paul, fuck what anyone else thinks.

And in the news today, Paul H had his second car fire in less than a month. Details at 10.

Just kidding.

Good luck with the new truck!