95 q45, smoke coming out from under the passenger seat...?

[mista808]

So, I went home for lunch to get something then head back to work. I pull up in my driveway and leave the car running, a/c on low. When I jump in the car, I first smell something burning. If I had to describe the smell, like a burning motor, or like when you overpower a woofer with a overpowered amp and fry the coils, that's what it smelled like. Then I saw a faint stream of smoke coming out from under the passenger seat, forward corner towards the door.

So I shut the car off, jump out, open the passenger door and try to find whatever was the problem. By then it wasn't putting out smoke but I could still smell it. Visually, I couldn't see any signs of burning on any of the wires, all the seat motors weren't hot, all the seat functions still worked fine and properly.

I had a long drive to an eye app after work so I watched carefully, and smelled as hard as I could. There is still an odor in the car, not as strong so I hope its just lingering around... has anyone had this problem? My interior is all stock, no mods. So I haven't the slightest clue what it could be... all help is greatly appreciated in advance.....

[Infinitiguy19]

Could be the speaker in the door.

Sure it was'nt the President Conversion? ... Just kidding.

[maxnix]

Makes you wonder if there is any maintennace history after the last purchase. Well, maybe for a few seconds......

[mista808]

When I jump in the car (after letting it sit), there's a faint smell (the smell I'm talking about). Not very strong. I don't think its the speaker, it doesn't sound blown. And for a second I did think " the conversion? Nah, no way...." I guess I'll just have to observe and report.

[lpreston]

I'd check the connector under the seat....maybe pop the door sill up and check the wiring under the carpet just to make sure.

[MinisterofDOOM]

What you're describing, the electric burning smell, sounds like ozone. Anywhere you have arcing electricity in the atmosphere, you'll likely have ozone being produced. So when you smell ozone you can bet you either have a poorly performing motor around, or a short. Could also be a connector making poor contact. Ozone is the enemy of electical connectors since it's a very effective oxidizer and will quickly tarnish the contacts.

When one of my speaker amps died it produced a lot of ozone smell, but that was also accompanied with crackling from the speaker.

[mista808]

Well this morning when I got into the car after letting it sit over night, I could barely smell this "ozone" smell... some time this week after work or this weekend ill take the passenger seat out and inspect all connectors, plugs, and seat motors for any type of burns, etc. I suspect the underside of the seat has trapped this smell. Ill report my findings and let you all know..

[Q451990]

Are the seat belts still functional on that side? I would look in the direction of the seat belt pretensioners on that side...

Heath

[mista808]

well i was on my way home from my girlfriends house, after work and i could really smell it, all though it was faint. asked my girlfriend to look around her seat and see if she could see any smoke, or pinpoint where the smell might be coming from (known fact that females have better smelling sense that males, among other things...)

i got home and unbolted the passenger seat. propped it up on some tires and asked her to smell around....she said she could really smell it around the violet connector...



so i openned it up...

so i unscrewed the board and flipped it over...

[mista808]

where it melted the plastic casing

what trips me out is, with it fried like that, the seat still functions perfectly... oh well, problems solved. gonna hit the junkyard and try to get another one. does anyone know is a 90-93 unit will work? hopefully i can just find a 94-96.... thanks everyone....

[oldmako]

Threads and issues like this make me wish I was still driving my 67 microbus.

[Q451990]

I suspect you'll have to get one out of a 94-96. The earlier models worked on a very different electrical system (minus the LAN communications).

Heath

[lpreston]

Just thinking out loud here.....would a short in the seat not result in the damage shown? I think I would figure out what was plugged into that connector and check it before you throw a new module at it. Might be that you would do the exact same thing if there is a short.