Friends Edge caught on fire... on its own. Ideas?

[Talisman]

Before I say what happened, let me give a disclaimer. WE DO NOT YET KNOW THE CAUSE OF THIS. IT COULD OR COULD NOT BE FORDS FAULT. I personally own a CD3 product, A lincoln Zephyr and love my car to death and do not think this speakes on fords quality because there new products have been generally terrific. Anyway, here is a link to his post on a local board.

 

http://www.xceedspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94985

 

Got a call from my wife who is still in Detroit this morning in tears telling me her car is was fire.

2008 with less than 5k miles, V6 AWD.

Apparently, she went out to start it to warm it up, went back inside and when she came back out the entire front of the car was engulfed in flames!

Ruh Roh.

 

So RIP to the Edge..good thing we paid extra for the limited leather, rims and all the goodies. They are now black and melted.

 

Just aheads up for friends and family who own the Edge and Mazda CX-9...look into this or better yet, take anything of importiance and value out of the vehicle to be safe and get ready to bail out at any given moment.

 

Thankfully, the garage with the S2000 didnt catch fire and our CX-7 is on a different platform, but still raises some questions.

More info will follow if anyone is interested in the cause.

 

I read the thread below about the burning smell in the cold (its mighty freezing here in Detroit right now) upon startup and other leaking issues. Thats the only thing im able to even slightly come up with at this point. Even still, that should not have caused the front of her car to go up in Flames idiling in the morning. Any ideas?

[solas989]

That is bad news - I feel sorry. Hopefully investigators can determine the cause - obviously the Edge, but what in the Edge. How long was it warming up - 5 min, 10 15 etc? I would think Ford will want to look at it because I assume they are going to make a warranty claim. Think it is a lemon?

 

I agree it is a quality vehicle. On a note: any personal belongings WILL (at least should - does on mine) be covered by home owners insurance since it was in the garage. I have had ZERO issues with our 2008 Limited. My home owners insurance covered theft in LA in my car - I live in Ohio.

 

I have not hear of anything like this on the Edge.

 

Since it was a 2008, I dont *think* it was a PTU leak onto the exhaust - although it could (they should have been fixed on 2008's - TSB applies to 2007). But since it was at startup, the exhaust would not have been hot enough to ignite anything - I think. Usually it just gives a burning smell.

 

There have been 1 off's where users report not fully connected wires which cause other problems - like radiator boiling . Maybe there was a connector of sort that was not fully connected that created a spark - only thoughts. Of course, if wire sheathing is faulty, it could melt and catch fire - seen it before - not on Edges of course.

 

Oh ya, dont forget about dem gremlins - darn little buggers.

 

Keep us updated here please

 

Glad to hear no one was injured - even though there are many headaches involved.

 

Solas

[PrinzII]

Check the TSBs. There is a TSB for power steering fluid leakage.

[CreamEDGE.]

The CX-9 shouldn't even be mentioned, they share frame's & basic engine designs and not much more.

[DJ Starr]

So? What ever happened here?

[08edge08]

Maybe like mine...fire started in the micrisoft SYNC inner mid center console....

 

FORD WILL SOON GET SUED FOR THIS AND ISSUE A RECALL

[Paul79UF]

I'm sorry to hear about that.

 

I had a 2000 Ford Expedition that burned up due to the cruise control switch/relay recall.

 

I really miss that big beast.

 

[Grey]

At 5k miles, was the vehicle just serviced? Are aftermarket electrical accessories installed? By whom?

 

Likely the owner's insurance company will settle the claim and look for the cause of the fire in an attempt to share the cost of the vehicle replacement. If the vehicle was just serviced at the corner luber, they may have had an involvement (overfill the crankcase, spill oil down the side of the engine, power steering cap left off, etc.) If it was an electrical fire, everyone will want to know if anything has been added or modified from the factory design. If there was a fuel or oil leak it may be hard to tell why it would turn up after 5,000 miles.

 

So, I don't believe the sky is falling, but there may be a few dirty birds flying around.

[hill392]

I would like to know the problem was ever discovered? I have a 2007 Edge That is currently expierencing electrical problems. While driving at highway speeds I had sudden loss of power and missing. Code reader showed that 2 COP coils were bad. Upon examination The COP coil was melted, i replaced it and the code reader said the new COP coil was bad. Mind you I never started the car just turned the ignion to ACC. to read the code reader. I uninstalled the newly installed COP coil pack out for examination and it was very hot with a burnt smell. I could definetly see this catching on fire if the car was left unattended or if this went undetected. Seems the problem comes from a faulty PCM keeping the COP coils a constant on position.