Phoenix Gold Phorum

One of the ZX catched fire today on the car, rear seat is burned, top is burned, the two amp are dead, sub seems ok, car won't start, happy day...

wow, I keep fire ext in both of my vehicles but not for that reason. Any idea what happened? You can always get the case custom powdered now...

You just put those in didn't ya?

Sorry to hear that......

I guess this is the public service anouncment of the day....
OLDER AMPS NEED CAP SWAPS!!!!!!

dam sorry to hear that man!...was it the one you changed the caps in?...or was it another one?

Trying to see to good about this...

At least the RSDC65CS ain't burned, neither did the rear speakers or the subs. The HU is still fine.

I've found another Cavalier, same model as mine, with brand new tires for summer, and i've got my old winter tires that are also brand new. He's asking 1000$ for it, no rust and A1 mecanic, manual as mine. I'm going to check it later today, if it's ok i'll get it, and everything will be fine!

I'm now looking for a roadster 66, BNIB. One of the ZX burned real bad, but the other one seems okay. But i don't feel like installing it anymore. I'll try to save what can be saved from the car, but i don't expect much. All the cables are melted together, i might be able to save some 1/0. The battery terminals are still intact. I'll probably keep the battery too since it works well.

Funny part is, when i discovered all this this morning, i was ready to give up on car audio, but the more i think about it, all i can say is that i learn from every mistakes i've done in this install, and i'm sure it won't ever happen again! And, to see the good side of the story, it just means i'm ready to upgrade to a more powerful and reliable system!

Some pics of the damages :


As you can see, one ZX is totaled, the other one suffered from minor damage due to fire. The capacitor didn't blown, but as you can see on pictures the back took direct fire, so it's going to the trash, won't risk using it again. From the battery to the back, the 1/0 is still fine, so i'll probably re-use it in a new install, probably to do the big 3 upgrade. The distro block and ground distro block seems intact, but they smell like burn, so if anyone have a trick to remove the smell i'll probably re-use them too. As stated before, the HU is intact, and so are all the speakers. Again they smell bad so i'll have to find a way to clean them.

If i get the other Cavalier, i'll just keep most of the parts from this one (like the alt, lights, fuses, relay, dash, etc) and send the rest to the junkyard.

Damn man ...sooooo sorry to hear about the loss , at least your ok and you can rebuild .

Well i always wanted to paint the Cavalier in black, and the one i'm about to buy is black, so i guess it's a bad for a good! Nothing happen for nothing in life they say... It's like destiny tried to help me by ¨painting¨ the interior in black to see if it fits well...

Were these the re-capped ones?
Sorry to see this happen to anyone.

str3atwarrior wrote:One of the ZX catched fire today on the car, rear seat is burned, top is burned, the two amp are dead, sub seems ok, car won't start, happy day...

does it do anything when you turn the key?

if not check the fuseable link...should be right off the main battery somewheres...

is this the same amp you just did the caps in that cought fire?

dam....pics make me think about my 2001 monte carlo that had a similar thing happen with my catalytic converter! dam...do you have any clue why it caught fire?

I recapped the two amps, but the traces were badly eated on the one that catched fire.

For the won't start part, it's because the fire damaged the fuel pump's wires. The ABS relay and the fuel pump relay went dead, and the fuel pump's cover went torn out because of the fire. That and the smell just don't make me want to fix it. I already removed the front stage, still have to remove the HU and the rear speakers. I removed the battery and the PODBI terminals. I still have to remove the alarm too, but i decided to wait until i get the other Cavalier. Everything is set up, i'm going to check it tonight, i have a rendez-vous at 4pm with my ex boss for the money, the only thing is plate transfert, if i can get a transit i'll be able to get the car tonight, else i will have to wait tomorrow...

And knowing myself, if i get the car tonight, i'll probably reinstall the HU and the alarm on the spot

Man, sorry to hear. At least no one was hurt.

jbob0124 wrote:Man, sorry to hear. At least no one was hurt.

Yep, that's the good part! I can't stop thinking about how bad it would have been if the 1.7farad cap would have blown! Man the back was burned, but it didn't blow, when i went to start the car this morning it came on as if nothing happened, but still i can't trust it anymore so it's going to junk!

Better to be safe then sorry.

jbob0124 wrote:Better to be safe then sorry.

In this case, it would be :

Better to be safe then sorry again.

it doesn't look so much like the amp caught fire it looks more like the cap and power wires did.

Yeah but the fire totalled the amp, and damaged the other one.

Just talked to the guy for the other car, if my ex boss pass me the cash, i'll leave with it tonight, we found a transit guy for 98$! So tomorrow all this should only be a bad souvenir!

so what happend though to catch the power wires on fire? just for kicks what did you have the power wire fused at up front? Those amps should not have been able to pull more then 150 amps total so anything over that was probably just too much.

150amp fuse in the front. But the fuse in the distro did her job and blowed. My guess is that some wire went on fire before the fuse blown, and just kept burning...

something just aint right there/

You've got me worried now, and I don't even have anything installed

jbob0124 wrote:You've got me worried now, and I don't even have anything installed

LOL...

The new car is just an awesome project waiting to be done!

No rust, i mean no rust at all. Paint is clean as hell, just some spot on the hood from rocks when rolling, but still clean as hell. Tinted windows, but the rear one have some bubble, i'll have to find a way to fix this. The interior is black and clean. It came with a kenwood HU, mp3 and wma, but as you all know i won't be using it! Nice rims too, and brand new toyo tires.

Some little things to fix, like the rear suspension that is kinda soft, i'll just swap the one in the old cavalier, wiper are ripped so i'll take the old ones too. I'll install my air intake tomorow. I also have to bleed the clutch, as it's kinda soft, but it don't leak so it's nice. Apart from that mecanic is A1.

So this day ends up with a nice note! Tomorrow will be the start of a new project! Pics to come tomorrow!

Wow! That sucks to see that happen. Looking at your pictures makes me nervous about this happening to me. I'm glad to see you have a positive outlook on things and are prepared for a new install in a new vehicle.