Wiring harness fire, what to do next..?

[Dino D]

Possible misunderstanding on my earlier question - has anybody done this on the Zed and if so what type/any recommendations?

BMW shipped these cars from the US with a battery isolators fitted for `transport safety' but then removed them prior to delivery. If you look on your build spec they are listed on there. No idea where they were fitted or what they looked like.

There must be plenty aftermarket options for race cars maybe @Stormy_be has one for his racing car?
It's a handy thing to have for sure could have saved me a minute or two (my BMW spanner was not in the boot tray but I discovered I had that elusive socket in my BMW tool tray and used that to disconnect the battery instead)

 

[Sailorbaz]

My money is on the looms being idendical to be honest, at £200+ I'd say it might be worth a punt but with respect to my car at 4000 miles, I felt it deserved a new loom.

Get in touch surely, BMminiparts sorted me with a windscreen direct from Germany, I have some parts leftover from my built, must look them out.

 

[Dino D]

The one on ebay is brand new and unused song was thinking the same (he ordered it but didn't realize there is a RHD and LHD loom so could not use it as his car is LHD).

However I've done a part number search and REALOEM says the loom is not interchangeable retrospectively unfortunately (mines an early 98).
Good call re BMminiparts, thanks.

 

[Stormy_be]

Hello,
All race-cars need to have a battery isolator switch.
There are also some remote isolator switches (where they operate like a very big relay)....but the price is higher too (of course).
If you google them, you will be able to find lot's of stores supplying them.

Now, these things only work to cut all power, so it would have stopped the fumes starting in this story.
It would have made it possible to cut all current with 1 single button.
In case a fire had already started, this would not stop it.
What would stop it is a fire extinguishing system.
I have this installed in my (race-)car.
http://www.sandtler24.de/sparco/101453/feuerloeschanlage.html

Regards, Koen

 

[zedwheels]

Really horrible reading about your bad luck Dino. I will say what I would do! Firstly, I would want a final settlement figure from the insurer
for consideration together with a buy back agreement from the assessor. I would wonder what I could buy for whatever that figure
would be and then think about all the updated parts that were fitted to your zed and could they then be reused on a replacement
zed. I would want all options before me before deciding on changing the loom because of the work involved in replacing the
burnt out lines. Would you have the same looks and trust on your zed knowing what happened,
Just take some time Dino over your decision so you know and are clear what you will be taking on!
Anyway, wish you all the best with your choice mate.

 

[Dino D]

Wow time has flown, bit of an update.
The car has been parked all this time as with work and life there hasn't been time. Lucky it happened at the end of the season otherwise I'd have been in a rush to do something with it.

The garage it was with were ultimately just too busy with regular work to do the rewiring so I got it back and started stripping out the interior to see for myself.
It's no where near as bad as I thought. It looks like just the part of the loom that runs from the from to the back to from along the passenger side is affected. The bigger mass of wires that goes to the dash etc appears untouched. It's clear the cause was the boot light wiring.

I then had the idea of looking for classic car restorers as they would likely be happy with 'fiddly' jobs and of course be well versed in wiring. I found a couple near me - one that does only classics and another that does classics as well as works on modern cars so has all the software for code clearing.
They both have rewired all sorts from M3's to Lambos (those catch fire a lot apparently).

It looks like I will be in for as little as 10hrs labour for a loom repair/partial replacement and up to 20hrs for a full loom (based on me taking out the carpets, stripping boot out etc, dash to stay in for now. The one charges £40ph and the other £54ph. The more expensive one has the software for code clearing (I have an EWS fault and the abs lights on due to the voltage drops, the ABS module is not likely affected as its not where the heat was).
They both don't thinks it necessary for a full loom as they have done plenty of cars but I'm planning for worst case.
So it would be as little £540 up to around £1600 (labour and new loom/fuse box) if it's a full loom job.

I have to take it in for a firm quote but we are probably not far off. I'd like to get it done before spring but no rush right now.

Interesting point that one garage made - as I didn't suffer an actual fire (I just have melted wires and reacted in time before any proper flames or damage) it's more than likely insurance would not have been liable to payout. The cover is for 'fire' and I didn't have one...He's seen this a few times.

 

[t-tony]

Hi @Dino D glad to hear it's not as bad as first though. Hope you can get a good repair done at a fair price and get your beauty back on the road for next year mate.

Tony.

 

[Brian H]

Hi Dino,

I have a loom out of my 3.0i that I would gladly send you if it helps at all, not sure of the compatibility etc. But the offer is there.

Cheers

Brian

 

[smiffy]

Interesting point that one garage made - as I didn't suffer an actual fire (I just have melted wires and reacted in time before any proper flames or damage) it's more than likely insurance would not have been liable to payout. The cover is for 'fire' and I didn't have one...He's seen this a few times.

maybe with Third Party, Fire & Theft, but if you are Fully Comp you need to submit a claim. Wiring loom isn't a "maintainable" or "serviceable" part that is subject to wear and tear. I'd also remind them that your swift actions saved them from a total loss. What's the worst they can say? If they do say no, you are no worse off.

You'll be back on the road before you know it!

 

[Dino D]

Hi Dino,

I have a loom out of my 3.0i that I would gladly send you if it helps at all, not sure of the compatibility etc. But the offer is there.

Cheers

Brian

Hi Brian,

That's very kind of you.
I know the facelift introduced different connectors for heated seats and dash switches but I don't think that the bit of loom that goes to the back carrying the wiring for the rear lights, boot lock, soft top motor pump etc would be any different.
So it's worth a try to see as it could save a lot of labour by just replacing that section instead of making new wires etc.

I'll drop you a pm and work something out.

Many thanks,
Dino

 

[NigeB]

Hi, I know I am a bit late, been off-line for a while. I had exactly the same thing - the boot light dropped out and shorted - unfortunately the fuse didn't blow, it just melted and took out the loom exactly as you described. It is terrifying and I am please that you all got out safely! We did too and luckily I had a spanner in the boot to disconnect the battery. After the smoke had cleared we limped the 2 miles home. I took the passenger seat out and then took up the carpet. it took ,me a whole day but I managed to untangle the melted mess and graft in new wires where required - been going fine for 18 months since. I did however put a new, highly insulated boot light in too! It isnt the end of the world if you can catch it quickly!

 

[Bazza]

Bloody hell Dino sorry to hear about the car but glad you and son are OK

 

[Grumps]

Don't know how I missed this thread. So sorry @Dino D to here about your zed. Really cool of @Brian H to offer a loom for you. Top bloke . Hope it all gets sorted and wi'll see you next season.

 

[littlefeller]

i missed this thread somehow, prob before i joined, not good electrical fires, but there not as bad to sort as some think. best way to avoid this boot light thingy is to do what i did - put a very low amp led strip about 5w in total. this wont stop the loom of doom though but if it was caused by the boot light it would be fairly straight forward to figure what else has been effected. do you have pics?

the problem you may have is the wires may have melted through the insulation somewhere. will have a looksie at the wiring diagrams to see what may have been effected, but first we need to establish which circuit has shorted.

 

[t-tony]

Hard to understand how the boot light caused Dino's "fire" as there are no moving parts in the light, so was it the "loom of Doom" shorting which caused it in the first place?

Tony.

 

[littlefeller]

where/what part is the look of doom?

 

[t-tony]

It's the part of the loom which exits the body to clip to the n/s boot hinge and enter into the boot for the boot locking, high level stop light etc.

Tony.

ps. As far as I can remember it was christened thus by @Brian H

 

[Dino D]

Hi, I know I am a bit late, been off-line for a while. I had exactly the same thing - the boot light dropped out and shorted - unfortunately the fuse didn't blow, it just melted and took out the loom exactly as you described. It is terrifying and I am please that you all got out safely! We did too and luckily I had a spanner in the boot to disconnect the battery. After the smoke had cleared we limped the 2 miles home. I took the passenger seat out and then took up the carpet. it took ,me a whole day but I managed to untangle the melted mess and graft in new wires where required - been going fine for 18 months since. I did however put a new, highly insulated boot light in too! It isnt the end of the world if you can catch it quickly!

Sounds exactly the same.
To answer @t-tony I think the boot light either dropped or it was dislodged and pushed inwards when putting stuff in the boot that day so the exposed contact on the back of the light was touching metal. Normally it would pop the fuse straight away but this time like it @NigeB didn't. The auto elec said it could have been just arcing a little to cause the wiring to heat but not blow the fuse.

To answer @littlefeller it wasn't the 'loom of doom' as I've repaired that ages ago.
The only other circuit affected is the soft top motor (the fuse has blown on that). This was from the heat/melting of the boot light wiring.
It's affected other wires at certain points where there are really tightly bunched. After the firewall and into the bottom of the fuse box it looks like just the boot light wiring is melted, nothing else as far as I can see. That is probably the fiddlest part to work on as there is not much slack to lift up the fuse box and work under it.

Looking at I think it will take a professional very little time really as now the car is stripped and access is easy. Ifbitvwas summer I might have had a go at doing this myself as @NigeB has done.

Ps @NigeB can you post up a link of the replacement light fitting you used?

 

[littlefeller]

heres my led boot, at the time i had a load of crap in the boot, will take a better pic tomorrow, you can disconect the original light, solder and heat shrink the join then no more fire causing shorts. have you checked the size of fuse feeding the boot light?

 

[Dino D]

heres my led boot, at the time i had a load of crap in the boot, will take a better pic tomorrow, you can disconect the original light, solder and heat shrink the join then no more fire causing shorts. have you checked the size of fuse feeding the boot light?View attachment 25343

That's nice, whatever light goes on there it will be insulated properly. Strange how BMW just left it exposed (the contact on the back of the light) yet over engineer all the other connectors in the car! Must have been some left over parts from the 507 roadster..
A battery operated LED torch is looking good right now.


The fuse was the correct rating (as are all the fuses on the car). One of the first things to be check so that wasn't the issue, it's only 10 or 7,5 amp if I recall correct.