- Location
- Green Valley, CA
So, I'm going in to work yesterday, driving down the freeway, talking on the phone with the girlfriend, and start smelling electrical burning. Then I lose power and decide to get off the freeway at the next off ramp. I had lost power going down the 5 a month or two ago, pulled off, and didn't see anything wrong. Felt like a vaccuum leak or something both then and now.
Well, driving off the offramp, the truck shuts off totally. By the time I came to a stop, the hood had warped and I realized it was on fire. Just after I realized that, to confirm it, smoke starts pouring out from under the hood.
I get out of the truck, run up to the Mimi's Cafe (on Mckinley and the 91), tell them my truck is on fire out front and ask for an extinguisher (apparently mine was in my YJ). Get the extinguisher and run back out. Tried to spray through the grill with no results, try to get it from underneath with minimal results. Then I try to pop the hood... and can't. So, I basically dump the whole extinguisher at it from under the hood.
Seeing that that didn't help, I call 911 and tell them what's up, they say they'll send a fire truck right away. I then decide if I'm going to lose the truck, at least I can take the stuff out from inside it. I yank the dash panel apart, use a ratchet to get the stereo out of the dash, cut the wires with my knife... and in the process cut my finger on some exposed wire or metal or something... then clean everthing out from behind the seats, console and glove box. About that time I hear the sirens from the fire dept... here's some pictures that take it from there.
Sorry bout the clarity of the pics, all I had was the cell phone.
Final damage, my finger, basically all of the plastic under the hood, including wiring, sensors, wiper fluid resevoir, PS pump resevoir and others... I really dunno what all is hammered. I had cut myself bad enough to need stitches. Of course, I didn't have time for that... so when I'm healed up enough where the finger doesn't bleed if I look at it, I'll try and figure out what to do about the truck.
And, no, insurance won't cover it, I've only got liability.
What would you guys do with it? Part it out, build another one, fix this one?
Well, driving off the offramp, the truck shuts off totally. By the time I came to a stop, the hood had warped and I realized it was on fire. Just after I realized that, to confirm it, smoke starts pouring out from under the hood.
I get out of the truck, run up to the Mimi's Cafe (on Mckinley and the 91), tell them my truck is on fire out front and ask for an extinguisher (apparently mine was in my YJ). Get the extinguisher and run back out. Tried to spray through the grill with no results, try to get it from underneath with minimal results. Then I try to pop the hood... and can't. So, I basically dump the whole extinguisher at it from under the hood.
Seeing that that didn't help, I call 911 and tell them what's up, they say they'll send a fire truck right away. I then decide if I'm going to lose the truck, at least I can take the stuff out from inside it. I yank the dash panel apart, use a ratchet to get the stereo out of the dash, cut the wires with my knife... and in the process cut my finger on some exposed wire or metal or something... then clean everthing out from behind the seats, console and glove box. About that time I hear the sirens from the fire dept... here's some pictures that take it from there.
Sorry bout the clarity of the pics, all I had was the cell phone.
Final damage, my finger, basically all of the plastic under the hood, including wiring, sensors, wiper fluid resevoir, PS pump resevoir and others... I really dunno what all is hammered. I had cut myself bad enough to need stitches. Of course, I didn't have time for that... so when I'm healed up enough where the finger doesn't bleed if I look at it, I'll try and figure out what to do about the truck.
And, no, insurance won't cover it, I've only got liability.
What would you guys do with it? Part it out, build another one, fix this one?
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