All, I need some help here.

A few minutes ago, I was enjoying lunch with my family when I heard my alarm go off. I look out the window to see white smoke curling out from under the hood It takes me maybe 30 seconds to get my sandals on and get out there. I use my key fob to unlock the car/cancel the alarm and I then open the hood. A few wisps of smoke curl out from what seems like the back of the engine compartment with a burnt plastic smell. Whatever was smoking though, has stopped and I could not locate a source.

So, what could it be? It has been raining hard so my guess is something got wet and shorted out and the plastic smell was from burning insulation. The car still starts up, goes into gear and all of the electronics seem to work. Has anyone had a similar issue? Why would the alarm go off? What should I do? Note that I had not driven the car since yesterday at 7pm (also in the rain).

The car is a 2001.

Thanks,

Bullman

 

It's really hard to say, there's a couple of thick wire looms that run in the back part of the engine bay. Hate to say it but the only way to find out what happened is by going through each harness and opening up the wire tubing and look around for burned wires.

 

Yeah, I was afraid of something like that. I do not intend to unravel all of the wires on the car searching for the source when it still works fine. I have never had anything smoke before that was not broken, so this may be a first for me.

I do have a theory. After careful examination, I think the seal between the plastic cowl piece and the body of the car is deteriorating so water was able to leak into the engine bay near the computers on the passenger side. I put some weatherstrip glue into the place where it looked like water was getting through, which I hope will at least slow down any water in the future. I am guessing that whatever shorted on the car, had to be an unfused circuit that is always hot. What could that be?

I am feeling brave enough to park in in the garage next to my C5. It may be foolish but since it is not getting rained on, I think there is a small chance of this happening again.

Bullman

 

Well if the alarm goes off in the middle of the night you better be prepared

 

No alarm tonight. I opened the door in the morning and both cars were still there! If something eventually fails, I'll get it checked out. For now though, I'll just cross my fingers.

 

So your car knows how to smoke and notify its owner, you can officially say you have one talented WS6.

 

Just an update for you guys in case you have something similar. I took the car to my local dealer (Ewing) and they discovered that the the battery cable had corroded and eventually just shorted out on the starter motor. The smoke was the insulation burning off the battery cable and the starter motor looked like it had been barbecued. Anyway, they put a new starter/cable on it and it has not caught fire since! The only downside is the repair cost me about $600, when, if I had done it myslef, would have cost me a little over $300 in parts. Oh well, it is still better than driving something ugly/slow.

Bullman

 

$600? Sorry but you definitely got the shaft, you could of gotten a starter for $80 and a cable for $20 at your local parts store, oh well atleast you know what caused everything now.

 

Nah, it is not that bad. Autozone had the rebuilt starter for ~$200. I did not price the cable. I paid $270 for the GM starter. What is funny is that they originally wanted to charge me $540 for the starter; I found it at another dealership for half, bought it, and brought it to them. So, it could have been over $800 if I had not done that Yeah, I know I could have saved money by doing it myself, but I just did not want to. Sometimes a weekend with my little boy is worth more than the $ I would save in the garage.