Question on vehicle fire?

Well today my work vehicle a 07 Tacoma shut off while driving down road and smoke coming out good turns out the vehicle caught on fire by the time I pulled of the road. It burnt the entire fuse box under the hood from the bottom up and the bottom of the left side of battery was busted through leaking. The battery was replaced by a previous person who used the truck. A clear shipping plastic appeared to be surrounding the battery. Anyone knows if that could be the cause of anyone knows if that has happened before?

 

Yeah that's what I thought to basically I was just given this truck to use till my regular trucks at was fixed. Seemed kind of weird for like a plastic wrap to be on it only the post were exposed on the battery

 

Ummm... yeah... the battery should not be in a plastic bag. Whether that is absolutely your source of the fire or not I couldn't say though. But that's definitely a hazard. Heat causes plastic to melt...

 

I don't think the plastic caused a fire... Sounds like a shorted battery ( but that will usually explode ) or a short on the supply side of the fuse block... I hope you or your company has good insurance. Not going to be a cheap fix.

 

Sounds like some sort of short to me.

 

A plastic wrap on a plastic case battery is not going to hurt anything if the temperatures at the battery are hot enough to melt the plastic you have more problems.

Did you notice anything before this happened.

Did you hear the battery explode??

Shorted battery caused the melt down.

 

subd for outcome. I've always had this fear and would like to know what the cause ended up being. At least you were able to make it out before things got too bad off. I've seen some pretty nasty car fires on the interstates while traveling.

 

I was actually on the service road south of interstate and basically all the lights flashed and vehicle went dead but then ac blower turned on and I got to pull it off into a parking lot. Ran into a fast food place and grabbed a fire extinguisher and put it out before it was a total loss. I didn't hear any loud noise just that as soon as I opened door I seen battery acid all over the ground and dripping from the underside

 

That's crazy but I agree with others. Most likely a short but guess we won't really know for sure until it gets investigated. I've told my wife I need to find a small fire extinguisher to put behind or under the seat.

 

Pay the money get a decent Fire extinguisher a good bracket that secures it .

 

plastic wrap can collect hydrogen gas which all lead-acid batteries emit. one tiny spark or source of ignition and flame on


I totally suspect the plastic wrap captured some hydrogen gas and it sparked,
maybe from static from the plastic itself

 

/\/\ This. If not short, second possibility is hydrogen gas although that would have resulted in explosion more than fire.
Acid batteries can not be covered by anything, they need to vent.

 

not always explosion as in loud, it can be a quiet small explosion
you need a big bubble of hydrogen gas for a serious explosion, and a tight container.

inside loose plastic wrap a little bubble of hydrogen
is a little fart and just enough to light the plastic with no other fireworks

 

He is lucky, explosion would take his hood off clean.

 

Interesting I have had plastic wrap on my batteries for years with no problems.

But batteries freezing when I forget about them.

Even insulation in colder climates

Where do these batteries vent out the bottom ??

Is it related to the brand of battery ??

 

Took a few of the work truck today

 

I'd have gotten out and just watched it burn.