Burning spots.....

[dt100]

Hi,

I've just got my van back on the road.... its a 1971 crossover, with standard 1600, everything original including heat exchangers and all connected and working....

Went out in it yesterday and my 7 year old son said he could smell burning.... stopped, checked everything, and later found that there are two hotspots underneath the rear seat. There was a cardboard box in there which was smouldered black.

Has anyone experienced this before?.... all that is the other side is the flexible heat tube before it goes to the Y connector. Is it likely the connector is blowing, but should there be enough heat to cause this much damage / effect? Not sure what I should be looking at doing, as all seems well other than this.... good oil pressure, and the engine isn't overheating.

 

[Tofufi]

I've got the heater outlets in the rear compartment in mine, but yes the heating can get hot enough to melt things.

So far I've had a tarpaulin come casualty to that. :lol:

A friend of mine left an unopened bottle of champagne on the heater ducts of his bus... made him jump when the heat made it pop

 

[dt100]

... and who said that the heating in these vans doesn't work!!

It's a bit worrying though that the metal can get this hot, It's got me a little worried especially as it was my 7 year old that smelled the burning.... I guess the answer is to simply not use the space underneath the seat, but with luggage space being so 'in demand' then having this area 'unused' would be such a waste.

Would wrapping the tubes underneath the van with exhaust wrap work to make it any better.... or would that just move the problem of excess heat further forward?

Regards,


Denys

 

[Tony123]

1st thing I would do is stop using the heating it could be your heat exchangers blowing hot gases through very dangerous.

Your burn marks are quite high up I would take a good look underneath its burnt through the metal from what I can see if it has might be obvious above the Y piece from the 2 heat exchanger pipes.

Good luck.

 

[Bluesnailman]

This looks (to me) like the burn marks are at the top of the engine compartment, just ahead of the petrol tank? Perhaps I've got it upside down, but it looks a long way from your heater pipes. Electrical short?

 

[Trikky2]

Heat enough to burn paint is not normal. It's also close to the fuel tank.

Investigate from underneath. Don't use the vehicle till its fixed.

 

[Tofufi]

Heat enough to burn paint is not normal. It's also close to the fuel tank.

Investigate from underneath. Don't use the vehicle till its fixed.

Sorry, I didn't even spot the burnt paint near the top of the photo

If it's those, that's not the heating. You need to investigate that before using the van in my opinion.

 

[aogrady]

The picture is upside-down? I can't see heating doing that in such a localised area, I wonder if if some wiring rubbing and shorting? Maybe leisure battery wiring underneath?

Good luck with it!

Cheers

Alistair

I certainly wouldn't want to use it until it's sorted, that kind of heat in the tank area!

Keep us posted with your findings!

 

[dt100]

Thankyou for all your replies on this.

Had a good look around from underneath today with the van up on axle stands, but haven't found anything amiss....

The area in question from underneath looks to be roughly in line with the output from the right flexible tube from the heat exchanger, just as it goes to a metal section that leads to the Y connector that brings in from the left hand side. I had the engine running for half an hour today with me underneath feeling around for leaks / blowing air, but nothing. Also, checking inside at the two points of 'scorch marks' it didn't even seem to get warm, although there was good warm air coming out of the vents in the cab area.

I think the scotch marks are a little low for the fuel tank area.... but I think I will measure again tomorrow.

I decided to rub the scorch mark area down, and repaint.... which I've done, so that I can check (very frequently!) if it is still happening.... but as I say after half an hour of engine running there wasn't any hint of excessive heat in the area.

Will keep updated if what it is, as I'm not exactly happy at the moment until I'm certain of what it was has been corrected.... as a agree it's a little too close to the tank for comfort!

 

[Trikky2]

How strange. Was there any sign of scorching on the outside?

If its only on the inside - maybe it was a very scared mouse.

 

[Dave.P]

Looks to me like those spots have been welded from the other side in the past?
Just a thought.
Were they definitely not there until now ?

 

[jonboylaw]

And try running the van with the heater vents closed to see if the back pressure makes it leak.


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[dt100]

Ok.... I'm feeling rather humbled by the replies that have been offered, especially as Dave.P made me start to think..... and what I now believe the problem has been is going to make me look a little stupid!!

I've been restoring the van for the last 6 years, been a bit of a hobby as not had the time (or money) to do it in one bug hit. I finished the internals of the van around 3 years ago, and part of this was painting the area that now has the scotch marks. Hence I knew that it hasn't always looked like this.... but since then I've done a principle sum of 15miles in the van (back and to the mot twice!). Now it's fully road legal as of a week ago ( ) I've done around 60 miles.... and checking everything over was when this area was found.... hence me assuming (wrongly I now think) that the problem happened during the 60 miles.

So, confession time, answer to Dave.P is that 'no', no welding has been done in that area. However my memory has been jogged that around a year ago I was trying to replace the right heater cable, but the tube was completely clogged up with gunge. I think I tried putting a blow torch to the end of the tube to try to soften up the gunge (it didn't work I ended up sawing it off and putting new 8mm copper pipe to replace the whole length the length of the chassis). The use of the blow torch was definitely in this area and would seem reasonable that I have inadherently caused the issue myself!

Sorry for wasting people's time..... but thankyou for putting your thought forward, without them I would still be so very nervous about the use of the van, and only by going through what the problem wasn't have I managed to convince myself what the real cause was.

Thankyou again, very much appreciate everyone's input..... now hanging my head in shame!!

Ps.... Just to close off loose ends.... my son saying he could small burning I've put down to the paint being burned off the new exhaust. Probably needs a new thread, but should I have rubbed down the exhaust and pained with heat resistant paint before installing.... I've installed as it was delivered!

 

[chad]

We've all made these sort of mistakes - just glad it wasn't anything in the end.

After reading about people losing their buses to fire I'm a bit paranoid about any burning smells, as my son can testify.

 

[Bluesnailman]

Excellent, glad you sorted it out. Always good to learn about the cause of a problem too - so 10 out of 10 from me.

 

[jonboylaw]

Ah, the memory does fade as you get older. Well done for fessing up and putting it to rest. An easy one to make.


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[Dave.P]

Nice one ,glad you've Sussed it out