GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

What an exciting weekend for me! Let me start.... I was picking up product at another store for work and loading it up and I half glanced at the front of my car and noticed smoke coming out from underneath the hood. I ran around to the driver’s side to pop the hood and noticed that a mixture of antifreeze and oil was running out of the bottom my car! Scared to see what I was going to witness, I opened the hood to a huge cloud of white smoke! It was so hot underneath my hood that the casing from the power wire to my aftermarket amp melted! Then after awhile of trying to figure out what happened I talked AAA and to get a tow!.....The best part this was 6:30, Saturday and the dealership was closed of course (just my luck) .....So I am waiting it out to reacquaint at the dealership with my car, first thing Monday morning. Obviously this is a major problem!! Any comments?

Uhh... ouch? I hate to restate the obvious, but that doesn't sound too good. Please keep us posted on the findings. Good luck, I hope all turns out well. It does sounds headgasket'ish. Hopefully that's all it is.

Sorry to hear about that! Especially to such a new and nice car. -Slink

quote: It was so hot underneath my hood that the casing from the power wire to my aftermarket amp melted! They are trying to say that's what caused it.....Can this void my warranty? HELP!

quote: It was so hot underneath my hood that the casing from the power wire to my aftermarket amp melted! They are trying to say that's what caused it.....Can this void my warranty? HELP!If I were you, I'd try to remove all your amp. stuff before going to the dealer and don't talk about this.

quote:Where was your wiring? I put it in the exact spot as..... http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=2524

RESULTS:The dealership stated that the “power wire” caused it!!! To make a long story short, I will have to REPLACE the master-cylinder, because that is what was leaking (break fluid)! How wonderful!!

But can you tell me how the hell your wire metled?????What gauge were you using??? And why the fuse didn't passed away?

quote:But can you tell me how the hell your wire metled?????Not sure....The wire itself was fine, just the coating melted! quote: What gauge were you using??? 8 gauge wiring to an slightly bigger battery terminal connector!quote:And why the fuse didn't passed away?Good Question!

But I was wondering if the coating of the wire melted due to the brake fluid on it. Brake fluid is very abrasive and it can destroy it.May be the master cylinder leaked first and then the coating of the wire melted.

That thought passed my mind also. My Amp still works, that would have blown if that was the case!

quote: If I were you, I'd try to remove all your amp. stuff before going to the dealer and don't talk about this. Yeh, a lot of tech support folks (computer as well as auto) get lazy and will point the finger at the first thing they see. This gets them off the hook to really dig in and figure out the real cause. I find it hard to believe your amp melted down 8 guage wire unless you have a huge amp or had a short circuit. Just for a point of reference, 8 ga wire will handle 40 amps at 220 V. (I realize voltage and AC vs. DC factors in.)

Lorin is wright. To melt a wire like this, you'd probably kill the alternator by far before melted the 8 gauge wire and blow up few fuses

If there is a short circuit, then it's completely believable that the wire (even 8 gauge) could get hot enough to melt the insulation. Where is the fuse located within the circuit? By the amp or by the battery? If it's by the amp, and something between the fuse and battery broke through the insulation, then the fuse isn't going to do $hit. If the fuse is near the amp, it will only protect against power surges from the amp, but not against worn/broken wires and such.

Your wright. To protect the entire installation, you need to put the fuse very close the power source. It is not necessary to put the fuse near the amp. as this one already has its own fuse.But as Msmyer said, to wire melted near the brake master cylinder and he also said that his intallation is exaclty as mine. I put the fuse at about 8 inchs from the battery. So if it is installed that way, the fuse was suppose to brake by far before the wire melted (unless you put a 150A fuse).

quote: Where is the fuse located within the circuit? By the amp or by the battery? Actually the power cable was not the same set-up, the fuse was in the line....Maybe it wasn't close enough!

The idea with the fuse is to keep a short somewhere in the wire or the amp from feeding back to the battery or charging system. It should blow if the power draw or backflow excedes it's tolerance. That is assuming the proper fuse is used of course.

THE VIBE IS BACK!.....It was only gone for a week, but it felt like a lifetime!

That is great you got it back. So what had to be fixed and and was it covered by dealer?

quote:That is great you got it back. Yep![quote]So what had to be fixed? [QUOTE]New battery, master-cylinder, Fuses, & a couple of covers [QUOTE]Was it covered by dealer?[quote]Nope...Insurance.