This time it's not as easy a fix as when Ariel got keyed....The pictures below basically tell it all..... We have a ton more pixs but just too darn tired and drained to post them all at this point.......

We went out to dinner with my parents last night to celebrate their 49th wedding anniversary. Parked Scooter in front of their house around 4:00. Left at 4:45 - returned at 7:30 to find the fire engines had left about 30 minutes earlier....Scooter burned to the ground.....

I cannot explain to you the shock we all encountered when the headlights of my parents car came upon this ugly scene. We simply could not believe our eyes....

We have TONS of questions and really no answers at this point. It was obviously dark when we returned so we spent all day today in the pouring rain taking pictures and retrieving what little we could. We spent several hours and several different calls with USAA. They totalled it over the phone based on the various conversations we had with them last night and this morning...

We are so sad I can't even begin to put it into words. SO many memories in this MINI........

We do have several things to be happy about. We weren't in the car when it happened. We weren't driving on the FREEWAY when it happened. It wasn't parked in the garage. And......with all the tragedy from the rain out here, that basically saved my parents house from catching on fire. The neighbors saw flames about 10 feet high. There is a large tree that we were parked under and if it had been a typical So Cal day, that tree would have been dry as a bone and gone up in flames in a second!!!

We do plan on contacting MINI USA because there is obviously some sort of safety hazard going on here. The car had 62K trouble free miles. We had NO indication that anything was wrong. No idiots lights, no funky smell of anything burning, nada..........

So now we wait for USAA to come tow her away and settle the claim. We have no idea what a replacement is going to be at this point. We are both still in shock and disbelief over it all. It's been a very long 24 hours....

Donna
Scooter is gone

 

Oh no!

I'm so sorry for this. It is awful, and nothing I could say could change anything. I do hope you find out what happened, and hopefully it might stop it from happening again if a problem is found.

The main thing is that you are okay, your homes and others around you are safe and no one was hurt. A Mini can be replaced, people can't.

Best wishes and high hopes for arriving at a solution, and soon.

*hugs*

 

Was it just sitting there and caught fire just randomly?

That is very weird. I almost wonder if someone did not set the fire on purpose. I mean I have heard of cars catching fire from fuel injector leaks while driving but never one catching fire while just sitting not running.

 

My condolences. Very sad. Wierd that you saw nothing 45 mins after parking it. Did the FD investigate possible arson?

 

The FD did not think it was Arson. We will have their full report tomorrow. We spoke with the Fire Captain today and just based on how it was burned, it looks to be electrical in some way.

It was just sitting parked with literally no indication of anything wrong. My parents live in a very nice area (Del Mar) for those familiar with So Cal and arson is just NOT common there. The drivers window had to be broken out by the FD - they were trying to get to the bonnet release. Not knowing it was on the passenger side. The air bag on the passenger side went off. We found the hard plastic cover in the boot. But the other air bags did not deploy.

Donna

 

Wow....make my earlier conplaint about someone stealing my wife's front MINI emblem seem so insignificant.

Did the Fire Dept try and determine the source of the fire? If not, can you ask that their investistigators try and determine the cause before it's too far down the road?

An uneducated guess says it started in the engine compartment; but I'm sure the Fire Dept will be able to make a better determination. Ask that they go by the tow yard. They've got the expertise...and I'm sure they will assist you.

Was the car worked on recently? How soon after you parked the car did the fire start? Gasoline leaking on a hot catalytic converter? Or could the source of ignition have been external to the car, as in arson?

Perhaps others on NAM know of similar occurrances. I'd also post on MINI2 with this, and ask if any of their members knows of a similar occurrance. Also contact NHITSA and make an inquiry.

Again, so sorry for your loss.

Charlie

 

Yeah I agree...cars don't just randomly catch fire, and I would find it hard to beleive its something that went wrong with your MINI!! A parked car that is not running is not likely to catch fire, so before you tell MINI USA I would have the FD investigate it thoroughly, hate to say it smells like arson.

 

Let us know (obviously) what happened. Glad to hear you are all safe - after all, that IS the important thing.

 

Just awful - glad no one was hurt.

Let us know how things go.

PS: I do recall a rash of X5s catching fire while parked. A quick Google turned up this: http://bimmer.roadfly.org/x5/message...w22/42101.html

Other brands of cars/trucks also pop up sometimes with this issue but I have no idea if there is any commonality with regards to the cause.

 

The car has not been worked on at all so that was ruled out right away. Mike will be having a more in depth conversation with the Fire Captain tomorrow morning. But his intial conversation with us was it was not arson.

We parked the car at around 4:00 - left for dinner at 4:45. No sign of anything at that point. The note the Fire Captain left on my parents front door was at 6:45. We arrived back at 7:30. So somewhere after 5:00 and before 6:45.

Donna

 

Sorry to hear about this.

 

Older 300ZXs and older maximas had this problem I think from the late 80's up untill 91 or 92 but I am not sure of the exact years. They would develop fuel injector leaks over time from cracked o-rings. The fuel would spill out slowly over time and with the tremodous heat that the 300ZX put out even more when turbocharged it did not take much to cause a fire.

They had a recall on it but again I don't remember all the details.

 

Oh, Donna, I am so sorry I can sympathize with you. We lost our old Porsche in exactly the same way. It was parked in our driveway & we came home to find it burned to the ground. The police investigated it & could only come up with possible tampering by a neighborhood teenager. The fire almost caught our house on fire. You may never find out what happened Be thankful no one was injured & your parent's house was not destroyed.

Lois

 

Mike/Donna

You guys say the car was not worked on, but I see driving lights on it.

Were the driving lights the only addition to the car? (Please be sure). Was there anything else that the factory did not put in, in the car?

Sorry about your loss. If that happened to me where I park my MINI, there would be a very very very big problem right now that my insurance company wont be able to pay for, and me being a dead man walking.

Also, the fire investigators are awesome, they should be able to tell you exactly where the fire started after they take a good look.

That sucks.

 

Really sorry to hear about Scooter! At least you are not MINIless and it didn't happen while you were driving. Now for the "thrill" of the hunt to replace Red Scooter.
Maybe you need to think about moving more toward the East where those random mean things don't happen so often.... . You might be able to dry out too!
Our condolences,
Mick and Jan

 

Let me re-phrase - there has been no engine work lately (like for over a year and a half at least). And the driving lights have been on (dealer installed) since we bought the car in May of 02' so we don't really think those were the issue.

Donna

 

LOL!!! Yes - the hunt is on - for what? We aren't quite sure yet.

And we have both said to each other that somebody "Up There" is pissed that we moved here....and with all the rain we've had lately, we often think we are still back in Virginia... But at least we aren't shoveling and scraping....

 

So shocked to hear this, especially after just having gone through the key'ing ordeal. Kim will be horrified....

VERY glad you guys weren't hurt though.... and you are lucky enough to have insurance from a good company like USAA, so that will make it a little easier to work through.

 

There have been instances where fires have started in early MINIs due to a defect in the wiring harness at the power steering pump. This sits behind the engineand under the exhaust. By the looks of things, this could be a probable cause.

I just hope you can get through this as painless and as fast as possible.

Best of luck!

 

Ugh! I'm so sorry to hear of this. At least it wasn't any worse - as others have mentioned, it doesn't take too much imagination to see how the outcome could have been far worse at another time and place. I hope that the cause is eventually pinpointed. Glad you guys are OK, and hope the wait for the new MINI isn't too long!

Chris

 

yea, insurance is great and all, But Scooter2(or whatever you name the next), will NEVER be Scooter; SO VERY SORRY!

 

Wow... I'm so sorry to hear this but relieved you guys were unhurt.

Best wishes with everything that comes next.



- Gabe

 

Yup this is true.........I was actually in a 1988 300zx turbo while it caught on fire.....we stopped middle of the road and ran.......front of the car exploded 30 sec later.

Keep us posted on the status.......

 

So sorry to see and hear about Scooter.

 

Donna/Mike, glad everything is alright and that you guys were unhurt. Please keep us updated, I'm extremely anxious to know what happened.