Potential fire hazard, 99 Forester

#1

About a week ago the power windows quit on our '99 Fartster, so while I had
it in for a regular lube, oil and filter, tranny flush etc. I had the
wrench look at that.

There was no juice to the switch panel in the drivers' door, so he started
back-tracking the wiring to find out why. While he was jiggling the
harness as it goes from the door through the door frame smoke started
pouring out from the kick-panel next to the drivers' leg.

If he hadn't been quick disconnecting the battery we'd have probably lost
the car. With the kick panel off you could see where the harness had been
chafing on a sharp edge of sheet metal to the extent that it had worn
through the insulation on about 4 wires. A substantial portion of the
wiring there has melted down and is now replaced.

There were no signs of either the wiring harness or the sheet metal ever
having been chafe-protected in there, so presumably the potential hazard is
there with all the '99 Foresters and perhaps others.

I was lucky in having it smoke itself while in the shop. Could have been a
real problem a long way from home or even in my own garage.

KH

#2

Kevin Hall wrote:

Quote:

About a week ago the power windows quit on our '99 Fartster, so while I had
it in for a regular lube, oil and filter, tranny flush etc. I had the
wrench look at that.

There was no juice to the switch panel in the drivers' door, so he started
back-tracking the wiring to find out why. While he was jiggling the
harness as it goes from the door through the door frame smoke started
pouring out from the kick-panel next to the drivers' leg.

If he hadn't been quick disconnecting the battery we'd have probably lost
the car. With the kick panel off you could see where the harness had been
chafing on a sharp edge of sheet metal to the extent that it had worn
through the insulation on about 4 wires. A substantial portion of the
wiring there has melted down and is now replaced.

There were no signs of either the wiring harness or the sheet metal ever
having been chafe-protected in there, so presumably the potential hazard is
there with all the '99 Foresters and perhaps others.

I was lucky in having it smoke itself while in the shop. Could have been a
real problem a long way from home or even in my own garage.

KH

KH,

Try reporting this to the fearless leaders:
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/
Sparky

#3

Kevin Hall wrote:

Quote:

About a week ago the power windows quit on our '99 Fartster,

I love it! That sounds better than a Outfart....

#4

"Kevin Hall" <timberline (AT) webhart (DOT) net> wrote

Quote:

About a week ago the power windows quit on our '99 Fartster, so while I
had it in for a regular lube, oil and filter, tranny flush etc. I had the
wrench look at that.

There was no juice to the switch panel in the drivers' door, so he
started back-tracking the wiring to find out why. While he was jiggling
the harness as it goes from the door through the door frame smoke started
pouring out from the kick-panel next to the drivers' leg.

If he hadn't been quick disconnecting the battery we'd have probably lost
the car. With the kick panel off you could see where the harness had
been chafing on a sharp edge of sheet metal to the extent that it had worn
through the insulation on about 4 wires. A substantial portion of the
wiring there has melted down and is now replaced.

There were no signs of either the wiring harness or the sheet metal ever
having been chafe-protected in there, so presumably the potential hazard
is there with all the '99 Foresters and perhaps others.

I was lucky in having it smoke itself while in the shop. Could have been
a real problem a long way from home or even in my own garage.

KH

Subaru is not alone on this one, VW beetle (late model) has a wiring harness

under the fuse block in the engine compartment. It too shorts out BEFORE the
fuse. Many have burned from this...

#5

On Mon, 8 Jan 2007 22:38:22 -0800, "Porgy Tirebiter"
<biteme (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

Quote:

"Kevin Hall" <timberline (AT) webhart (DOT) net> wrote in message
news:12q5o6anc1opo46 (AT) corp (DOT) supernews.com...
About a week ago the power windows quit on our '99 Fartster, so while I
had it in for a regular lube, oil and filter, tranny flush etc. I had the
wrench look at that.

There was no juice to the switch panel in the drivers' door, so he
started back-tracking the wiring to find out why. While he was jiggling
the harness as it goes from the door through the door frame smoke started
pouring out from the kick-panel next to the drivers' leg.

If he hadn't been quick disconnecting the battery we'd have probably lost
the car. With the kick panel off you could see where the harness had
been chafing on a sharp edge of sheet metal to the extent that it had worn
through the insulation on about 4 wires. A substantial portion of the
wiring there has melted down and is now replaced.

There were no signs of either the wiring harness or the sheet metal ever
having been chafe-protected in there, so presumably the potential hazard
is there with all the '99 Foresters and perhaps others.

I was lucky in having it smoke itself while in the shop. Could have been
a real problem a long way from home or even in my own garage.

KH

Subaru is not alone on this one, VW beetle (late model) has a wiring harness
under the fuse block in the engine compartment. It too shorts out BEFORE the
fuse. Many have burned from this...

I had a similar problem with a 1986 or 88 Plymouth Voyager.
We ordered the car with manual transmission, which was
unusual for that model.

Some years later the radio stopped working and when I was
moving wires around under the dash to check the connections
there was a bright flash and then smoke.

The clutch bracket, which was normally not present, had a
sharp edge that pushed on a wiring harness. Over the years
that edge had cut through the insulation on many of the
wires in the harness.

--
Vic Roberts
Replace xxx with vdr in e-mail address.

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Potential fire hazard, 99 Forester

Subaru Subaru vehicles (alt.autos.subaru)

Potential fire hazard, 99 Forester - 01-08-2007 , 07:24 PM

Re: Potential fire hazard, 99 Forester - 01-08-2007 , 09:19 PM

Re: Potential fire hazard, 99 Forester - 01-09-2007 , 12:58 AM

Re: Potential fire hazard, 99 Forester - 01-09-2007 , 01:38 AM

Re: Potential fire hazard, 99 Forester - 01-09-2007 , 09:13 AM