While away camping a few days ago, my wife came back from the shops with the boot of my EF Ghia on fire.

The loom feeding the factory amp has shorted and drawn so much current that it has melted the carpet from the dash to the boot. The heat caused by this short has set the insulation in the boot on fire! Smoke was comming from every gap in the trim inside the car. NOTHING now works on the car. The loom going to the rear of the car is stuffed! (including rear lights)

The car is in being assessed (fully insured) and will be fixed, but I have a few questions!

Is the factory amp fused?
Has any one else had this happen?
What could have caused it?

I didn't have much of a chance to explore or probe as the car was taken quickly by the insurance company. I am lucky that the fire has not damaged any paintwork, only trim.

I am interested in any info people can give me. Thanks in advance.
RS

Surely one of those big fuses in that fuse block would have had to of blown...

A fuse at the amp is pointless... As an electrician all fuses or circuit breakers should be placed at the very origin of the circuit as they are only there to protect the cable... the cable shorts out, a fuse at the amp isn't gonna stop it going up

I assume being factory it would have had to come off one of those fuses next to the water reservoir... Now the question is had it ever blown in the past and some tool has replaced it with too big of a fuse? maybe the fuse failed and wouldn't burn out... or someone has done a dodgy and bridged it out? Or simply, you were just very unlucky and the short was only enough current to keep the fuse in tact and not burn it out but enough current to turn the insulation to jelly...

thats about as much of an assistant as I can be... Hopefully the insurance pays for it for ya... Must be devastating seeing it come home with smoke billowing out...

good luck!

Unless somebody has modified it then it should have a fuse at the front to protect the cable, the fuse at the amp is for the amp's protection.
This is why when installing higher power gear into a car the fuse should be as close as possible to the battery....