<VV> Oops! Set my CORSA on fire......

[J R Read_HML]

The lighter socket is un-fused.
Later, JR

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ray Rodriguez III" <ravensong13 at verizon.net>
To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 06, 2009 10:24 PM
Subject: <VV> Oops! Set my CORSA on fire......


> Well, only a tiny bit.....  no fire damage.
>
> Today I found my cigarettee lighter was inoperative.  I looked underneath 
> the dash and discovered the wire was off.  I hooked the wire back up and 
> pushed the lighter in....  pulled it out after 30 seconds, but before it 
> popped and found it was still stone cold.
>
> Just to test the socket I plugged in a 12 device to the socket.... no 
> power.  I pulled out the adapter, pushed the lighter back in and started 
> driving the car...
>
> About 20 minutes later I started picking up a little whiff of something I 
> thought might be the belt....  started to pull over....   my fiance' 
> started to panic a bit at this point as smoke started pouring out of the 
> dash....   I tilted my head sideways to ponder the situation while I 
> switched off the ignition and reached for the chrome fire extinguisher 
> mounted between my front seats......
>
> I then noticed that the smoke was coming from the area of the lighter.... 
> I reached up, carefully gripped the wire and yanked it off the back of the 
> lighter socket....   the wire... which had gotten hot enough to melt the 
> insulator off of it.....  struck metal on its way out and set fire to the 
> insulator....   scared me a sec but I gave it a good huff and a puff and 
> it went out....
>
> I had my fiance' run back to the engine compartment and disconnect my 
> battery quick release....  looked for any futher sign of damage (found 
> none), duct taped the exposed wire all up to make sure it couldnt short 
> out....... reconnected the battery and went on my way.... things seem to 
> be ok.
>
> Much to her credit my girl didn't make an undue fuss about it.
>
>
> Now my question is......   shouldn't this have blown a fuse rather than 
> start a fire?
>
>
>
> Ray Rodriguez III
> click here for a pic of me and my car 
> http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f90/Swiftblade13/?action=view&current=sigphoto3.jpg
> Lake Ariel, PA
> CORSA member
> 66' Corsa 140/4 hot rodded coupe
> 65' Corsa 140/4 coupe (under construction)
> _______________________________________________
> This message was sent by the VirtualVairs mailing list, all copyrights are 
> the property
> of the writer, please attribute properly. For help, 
> mailto:vv-help at corvair.org
> This list sponsored by the Corvair Society of America, 
> http://www.corvair.org/
> Post messages to: VirtualVairs at corvair.org
> Change your options: 
> http://www.vv.corvair.org/mailman/options/virtualvairs
> _______________________________________________