This is an exact repeat of a posting I put on mini2 yesterday for anyone who may have already come across it there.

My son (10 weeks) and I were in town enjoying a cup of coffee when man came in anouncing that a MINI Cooper parked outside was smoking badly. We quickly got outside and opened the bonnet to see white smoke coming from the ABS actuator. I sent a bystander back inside to call the fire department and to get an extinguisher. I disconnected the battery with needle-nosed pliers borrowed from the coffee shop (The Little Dog, Brunswick, Maine, USA), and watched as smoke turned to flames. The flames were quickly doused thanks to the availability of a fire extinguisher courtesy of either The Little Dog or the Adjacent Midcoast Multi Sport (triathalon equipment). the fire department arrived shortly thereafter and soaked the ABS unit with water to bring the cool the unit down fully.

The only external bodywork affected was the cowl/scuttle(?) panel, the cowl vent, and the windscreen surround. I didn't have a camera with me but I did get two pictures on my phone. I'll happily post them if a more tech-savvy MINI2er would lend guidance on how to do this.

MINI Roadside Assistance arranged for collection of the vehicle, which took place well within 30 minutes. With 33K miles on the clock, the car is happily still under warrantee.

I'll answer two questions before they are asked: (1) the car is UNmodified, save for the addition of an ICE-Link unit, and (2) Yes; I'd buy another one in a minute if I had to do it all over again.

So, has anyone out there heard of this occurring? If so, what was the end result? I'd love to think that I've got a brand new car coming to me, but my assumption is that MINI will choose to repair it (should have let it burn a bit longer).

I will certainly start carrying an extinguisher in all vehicles, and will either install quick disconnect switches or carry an appropriately sized wrench to facilitate battery isolation. The remotely located battery of the MCS proved to be very beneficial feature today.

 

Sorry to hear about your difficulty.... glad you and your son are okay. Will by a car fire extinguisher based on your post.

Good Luck resolving this all....

- Charlie

 

Yes, this has happened. It happened to Donna/Mike's 2002 MCS, Scooter. I'll find the link to the thread for you.....here we go. It's a long thread, but you need to read through all of Donna's posts:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...Tragedy+Struck

Sorry about this. Best wishes getting things sorted and repaired ASAP.

Oh, and welcome to NAM!

 

Should've. Could've. Would've.

 

Thanks for referring me to this thread. From their photos, it appears that their fire originated from the same part of the engine bay. It's likely to be the same part that started the fire as there is not much else there.

 

Thanks for the PM or I might have never seen this thread...........

I am speechless........... here is another thread you might find of interest - the cause of the fire:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ire+determined

As of today - BMW still HAS NOT settled with USAA. I'm so sorry...I absolutely know how you are feeling....

I can tell you, we cried for months over the loss of Scooter....

Like I said in my PM to you, if you have ANY questions, please, please don't hesitate to ask. We've been going down this road for over a year now....

Donna

 

Chris asked me to visit his car at MINI of Peabody and take some pictures, which I was happy to do.
Because Chris was able to extinguish and mostly "save" the car, it's very easy to see where the damage originated ...

Outside:


Hood open:


Close-up of the ABS/DSC unit:



More pics and comments on my website - and click any picture for a bigger version.

(and I'm glad NAM is working again so I can finally make this post!)

 

As the saying goes - A picture is worth a thousand words.... So sad to see..........

On a good note - I know USAA will take good care of you..

Donna

 

From what I can remember, there is some sort of technical bulletin saying to downsize the ABS system fuse from 40 amps to 30. By the looks of things, something shorted out in the ABS/ASC/DSC control unit and continued to draw current enough to ignite the plastic and the wiring. I am wondering if the fact that this unit sits under the open cowling like it does that water somehow infiltrates this otherwise sealed assembly over time and might case corrosion and a short. Any instances of fire that I can recall seemed to happen when the car is shut off, rather than in use. Such an occurance is consistent with a corrosion-induced short.

Even though the ignition is off in these cars, almost all the subsystems have power available to them, they are in a 'sleep' mode rather than entirely switched off. The ECU, BCM, EHPS, radio, Nav, instruments, these are all in 'standby' with the key off. Any one of these modules or systems can still draw power if they malfunction (the EHPS, or power steering is famous for failing in a 'powered on' state and running down the battery). Many of these systems, including the EHPS and ABS, combine high-powered electrical components controlled by intricate, low power electronics. Each of these areas is separately, and appropriately fused. If a short should occur between these two areas, the high powered section can easily overload the lower powered section and fry it without even blowing the high-power fuse, with the possibility of some nasty consequences like this. It's my wonder what this trigger is, since no one seems to have any problem with their car whatsoever prior to the burnout.

Do note that it's not just MINIs with this problem or with such high and low powered circuitry.

 

What I found interesting was Chris saying there was an ABS fault light before the problem - so maybe the module had detected the beginnings of a failure ... I wonder if the fault code was logged; or would that data be lost when the battery was disconnected?

 

Ah, I didnt catch where that was said. Indeed if he had a ABS light, trouble was being detected beforehand.

Sadly, though, since trouble codes are stored in the system that generated them, I'm afraid that even if the code was stored in non-volatile memory, it went up in smoke with the unit itself. I know that any code set and held by the ECU and the SRS stays there if the bettery is disconnected. Not sure the ABS.

 

I re-read my original post, and see that I neglected to mention this. The yellow ABS and ASC/DSC lights had come on during our 8 mile drive into town. According to the user manual, solid yellow indicates "check as soon as possible" and "Please have the system inspected at your MINI dealer". Assurance is also given that "conventional braking efficiency is available".

My advice to anyone who has an ABS and or DSC/ASC warning light come on would be to pull over ASAP and disconnect your battery's positive lead (you will need to carry a small wrench or install a switch in order to be able to do this.

 

Probaly sound advice. As for the wrench, most MINIs have a toolkit with them which included a wrench with the proper 10mm size to disconnect the battery