Help ASAP, Mustang almost caught on fire!!!

Any help you guys can give me right now would be great, im a little pissed to say the least. Heres what happened...

I was driving down the highway today and noticed my check engine light came on, no biggy... car wasnt down on power and it wasnt flashing like its indicating a misfire. So I was just going to stop by Advanced or Autozone later to get the codes scanned.

SO I get off the highway and pull up to a stop light where I smell a very faint smell like a hot clutch or something, didnt think anything about it because it wasnt a strong smell. So fast forward to about 4-5 miles down the road where I pull up to another light. As soon as I stop (my vents were on, so it was blowing air from around the engine bay at me) I smell a wretched burning plastic smell and it kept getting worse every second. I figured it was me this time, and not the car in front of me.

So I pulled over into a parking lot right off the highway and opened the door, where the burning plastic smell flooded my nose. I shut the car off immediatly and popped the hood expecting to see flames. I popped it and a small poof of smoke shot out when I opened the hood, and luckily there was no fire.

But, the nasty burning smell was definatly still there and I seemed to pinpoint it closest to the rear passenger side of the engine bay... While I was looking around I noticed that the one line coming from the back of the plenum (its kind of close to the EGR) looked like it had been burning from the inside out, it was turning kind of white and had gotten brittle. Its also the line that runs right next to a fuel line, or return fuel line if im not mistaken.

I dont know wtf caused it, but im almost positive its directly related to the CEL. So I plan on buying a code reader tonight and pulling them. I dont feel safe driving the car at all untill I know whats what.

The only possible thing I have came up with is that the EGR valve got stuck open and it was dumping extremley hot air into the plenum and started burning stuff...? I dunno, probaly not the case but any suggestions are great.

:SNSign:

As of right now I think its the EGR valve. The guy who towed it is also a mechanic and I asked him if the EGR got stuck open if it would suck that ultra hot exhaust back into the plenum, and then into one of the vaccum lines. He agreed with my thought on that, its an emissions line that looks like its been melted, or starting to. I havnt had a chance to look at it yet, but as of right now thats what im leaning towards.

Pulling the codes will tell me if thats it or not I guess. Does anyone know if ill be able to read the code off the odometer (there was a big thread on this if anyone remembers) or if it wont pull up CEL codes and I need a scanner to get them? If I need a scanner Ill probaly buy a less expensive one and post the codes on here, it would be nice to have one that reads them out but they are damn expensive.

It definatly scared me a bit, I could tell it was pretty close to igniting whatever it was from the intensity of the smell. Hopefully its something I can do myself and wont put a huge drain on my wallet...

If I pull the codes tonight Ill post them up, and keep you guys with the same issue updated.

DTNODYA said:

Just by reading your description of what happened, it sounds hella unsafe, sketchy, and down right scary to know that something could be (potentialy) catching on fire. Keep us updated.

The thing with the odometer is something like; turn the key on and hold down the trip button ... but from what I understand, those aren't OBDII codes so they really won't help. You need a code reader/scanner ...

But besides the code reader, you should find out what was burning. A code reader is not going to tell you what was burning, know what I'm sayin?

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Yeah I know, it freaked me the hell out cause car fires are one of my bigger fears, haha.

Pics should be on the way tomarrow morning, it happened on my way to work and I havnt even had time to look at it since it happened.

I know the code reader wont tell me what was burning, but I do beleive firmly that the CEL and the burning are related to eachother, so if I can tell what triggered the CEL I will know if its related to the EGR or not.

What kind of code reader would you guys suggest? I dont have a ton of money to spend on one, especially if this repair isnt gonna be cheap. I know they sell some at Walmart for varying prices... I might see how much the ones they use at Advanced/Autozone are, they tell you what the code is instead of just flashing the code, guess thats not something you want to cheap out on though.

Thanks for the help so far.

01Steeda said:

Sounds like you might have a carbon buildup in the path for the EGR gas flow. it could have gotten hot enough to start burning the plastic line running to the EGR. Just a guess though. I had a similar problem with my f-150

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Is that line connected to the EGR, or is it the line thats on the back side of the plenum close to the EGR? Thats the line that looked like it had been burning, or close it it. I know the line is part of the emissions stuff, but I dont know if its some kind of return line or what...

If you guys can see that I should have pics in the morning.

Chitty quality, but im whitey... starting to pull ahead...

ultrashock2112 said:

I don't think it's EGR related, the line that goes to the EGR is metal since it recirculates very hot exhaust gases. If the line you are talking about is attached to the back of the plenum then it is likely the fuel vapour return line that comes from the EVAP system. I definitely wouldn't drive it until you know what's going on...

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Pretty sure thats the one im talking about.

Dont worry, I dont plan on driving it untill Ive figured it out. I dont really want to burn it down just figuring out the problem.

This is gonna drive me nuts...

Here are some pics...

First pic is in relation to the A/C as marked. You can see where the line runs into a connector, then continues on. It looks like the line got alot hotter before the connector. Notice its marked GAS/FUEL.


The arrow in the middle of the picture is pointing out the line, the two on the right are pointing to the intake plenum and where the line runs out of the plenum.


Arrow on the left pointing out the line again. Look at the COP with the arrow pointing on it. That was clean before yesterday, all the dirt on it is really burnt rubber.


Arrow on left pointing to line, middle arrow pointing to wire harness with burnt rubber on it, right one pointing to intake manifold with burnt rubber... kinda hard to see in pics but definatly noticable under the hood.


Pic was taken sideways, but arrow on the left points out the line, arrow on right is pointing at dirty COP again.


This was taken from the drivers side next to the plenum. Arrow on the bottom points out where the line is coming from out of the plenum. Other two arrows are pointing where the line runs.


Hope that helps out... im going to get the code read soon as I can. Obviously its an emissions issue, but hopefully its nothing too big to fix.

SwAmPf0x said:

Put a 5.0 in there, with a carb

problem solved

Seriously once you figure it out if you need help fixing it let me know

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That sounds good right about now. Thanks for the offer man, if I need any help with it ill let you know.




I tried Advance but they dont rent code scanners out, so thats not a big help.

If thats just an air line why would it start to burn up and trigger a CEL? The car still runs fine, it just wants to burn that line up. After it goes into that connector it runs down near the fender and dissapears. Ill go pull it apart and see if its all clogged up.