Topic

Hi all,
Have just returned from a month away, with Roxy safely stored in a heated, rodent free (I think) garage. She started first turn of the key and ran normally as I reversed out of the garage and got her up to temperature.
I've just been for a run, and within a mile smelt burning, immediately followed by increasing levels of smoke coming from between the dashboard and transmission tunnel. I immediately turned around, got to the top of the hill, switched off and coasted home. When I switched off, the smoking stopped.
Home safely I opened the boot and there was a slight burning smell from the near side of the compartment and a faint smoke haze. Opening the bonnet, everything looks and smelt fine. I've restarted her and there's no smoke, she's running fine and everything seems to work.
Before I spend time at the weekend removing dash bits and the engine lid, has anyone got any ideas?
Winko

At first I thought it might have been an oil leak but , I find strange that it found its way into the cabin as you would think that when on the move any smoke would be blown away. Did it smell like oil or more like plastic burning , hopefully not the latter . If it was me I would be removing the earth lead on the battery until I fathom ed out what was going on .
John

Hi John,
Thanks for the reply.
In the 30 years I played rugby I broke my nose over 40 times so my sense of smell is very iffy. If I had to make a choice I’d say it was plastic. When the smoke first appeared I immediately pulled out the usb charger from the cigarette lighter, so maybe that tells us something about what my instincts were.
Winko

Well , in that case I would trust your instincts . Even more important that you remove the battery -ve terminal and find the source of the fault . I would hate the next post from you to include a shot of the charred remains of the car . Keep us all posted on what you find .
John

Hi there-
I have a idea on this one from experience -if its from the lower left dash area its probably the fan resistor pack .
it probably got damp then it would do the burning smell and smoke until it dried out..
I would check it out asap-there easy to replace.

Mike

Hi Mike,
Thanks very much for that suggestion. Thinking about it, it did indeed seem to be coming mainly from that area, and I’d just moved the heating control.
You might just have saved me a lot of trouble. I’ll look on Sunday and let you know.
Winko

Hi Winko,
the one in my old MGF had the electrical burning smell -the contacts on the resistor pack age and spark a bit

Mike

My first thought was "is the interior fan on?"

If so it'll be the resistor pack.