smoke from dash

[leehill139 0]

i had a mobile audio tech guy come and install my alpine headunit and amps etc today. he seemed to do a great job, all neat and tidy etc. however when i went to take the car for a quick blast with my new tunes blairing, my headunit stopped working all of a sudden and then smoke started appearing from steering wheel area....

HELP!!!!!

everytime i turned the ignition on thereafter, smoke continued to fill my car.

after half an hour or so, i pulled the headunit out, then it started working again & there was no smoke!!!

No fuses had blown whatsoever....

What can it be???????

Suggestions plz

[b road blaster 0]

live wire further back in the loom rubing on something ???????

[vr6stormt 0]

like russ says sounds like a short....

[b road blaster 0]

sounds like it must be on the switched power (ignition) wire if its only doing it when its turned on if it was on perm live it would have burnt out by now

[leehill139 0]

IM REALLY CONFUSED LOL#

I TOOK THE STEERING COWLING APART TO FIND A MELTED OUT CABLE GOING INTO IGNITION BARREL. ( BROWN & RED ) IM ASSUMING THE SMOKE WAS THE PLASTIC MELTING AS ITS BARE COPPER NOW.

I ALSO REMOVED THE HEADUNIT AGAIN, TO FIND THAT THE BROWN & RED CABLE AT THIS END GOING INTO MY ALPINE BLOCK WAS FRAYED, POSSIBLY WHERE HEADUNIT HAS CRUSHED IT????

ANYWAY IVE TAPED UP THE FRRAYED AREAS, NO PROBLEM SEEMS TO ARISE NOW, NO MORE SMOKE ETC. WOULD THIS BE BECAUSE IVE FOUND THE PROBLEM IN THE FRAYED END...???

ALSO, HEADUNIT HAS STARTED WORKING AGAIN... WHY DID A FUSE NOT POP, OR THE HEADUNIT FRY...

TOOK IT FOR A BLAST INTO CHELTENHAM TONIGHT FOR A FEW HOURS WITHOUT A SINGLE PROBLEM...

HOW DO I GO ABOUT GETTING THE MELTED CABLE REPAIRED??? ITS SO HARD TO REACH

[b19drg 0]

I would call your audio guy and tell hike that he trapped the wires and nearly caused a fire and get him to rectify it !

[b road blaster 0]

yep as above thats what i would but i bet he will say that he never went into the barrel the wire was allready in place but yes that would have been your problem mate

if you have to sort it yourself is not a hard job to do mate just disconect the battery on car cut the wire at the barrel end leaveing as much of the wire as you can, then take out the headunit and find the same wire that end get your new wire(you can buy a small roll in most halfords or motor factors cheap) and tape it to the old wire at the barrel end (tape it well ) then pull old wire from headunit end (gently) and it should pull the new wire through with it then just use some conectors to join new wire at each end to the old wire

hope that makes sence to you

[vr6stormt 0]

if it is on a mk3 the brown and red goes to the fuse box then a feed comes off for the stereo you could cut out the burnt wire because now its got hot it will be a week point in the circuit cut out solder in new bit the same thickness but make sure you get some heat shrink to cover where you soldered or better get back to the fitter he does`nt realy have a leg to stand on his c**k up his prob rearlly

[b road blaster 0]

ah ok if it go's into fuse box first then forget my plan lol lol lol

amazed it didn't pop the fuse tho

i supose you could bypass the fuse box and run a new wire from barrel to headunit but make sure you put a inline fuse in it

then disconect the old wire from barrel and fusebox

[leehill139 0]

Right guys. I took your advice & contacted TAYLOR ICE DESIGNS of Cheltenham to let him know that I had traced this cable back & that the whole length needed to be repaired.

Here is his text reply

Hi Scott, Lee Hill here with the silver golf you worked on yesterday. After a lot of messing about, it's been confirmed that the problem was caused when the headunit was pushed back in, it got caught on the brown/red switch wire to ignition. Obviously the metal cage has caused it to short & set fire.

Unfortunately it goes to the fuse box 1st so needs to be completely re run. Where do we stand with costs etc for repair? Do you have your insurance details to hand mate. ??

I did try calling earlier however it may of come up as withheld.

I could do with getting this sorted ASAP

Regards

Lee

Reply was

Ok well I would need to know who you got this checked by and I would need to see their report as all the years I have worked on stereos I've never had this problem before. The stereo was working fine prior to me leaving I would also like to add that I didn't put the headunit back in.

..........................

So I sent him this back.

Am I being fair???

Who did then? When I returned back from collecting my girlfriend you stated that it went back ok. Also when I called you back out after smoke you confirmed that " you pushed it back easily enough " please don't lie now, it's a simple mistake. Yes it did work for a couple of minutes, that's not the point.

I have traced the cable back to fuse box. I have asked a few knowledgeable chaps on VW forums who have told me what cable it is, and every1 has stated 1 thing. The headunit end must be bare. ( which it was when we removed together to check )

If you want me to take it to VW then I will, but the bills will all be taken to citizens advice. You have given me a receipt for work which has caused an electrical problem.

How do you want to play this

[b19drg 0]

I think your being fair mate , just hope he plays ball.

[leehill139 0]

He has just contacted mr asking for a written quote from VW

Will they quote for a whole new ignition loom? I doubt they will supply individual cables....

[squid1 0]

well said fella i like it have they said anything more to you

[vr6stormt 0]

he sounds like a bit of a messer any other audio/alarm place would have it back in an repaired its not really a big deal for him to say sorry and replace it least you caught it in time and never came out to find your pride an joy in flames.....

[b road blaster 0]

sounds like your being fair to me fella hope it all works out for you