406 2.1 Electricals, burning SMOKE!!

[Stewart(oily)]

Hi there, my mates R plate 2.1 TD Estate filled with acrid smoke coming out of the heater vents, evil, stopped, switched off, restarted and its gone ! fans work normally but other electrical problems appeared at the same time, sidelights, rear wiper, rear fogs will now blow fuses, we can find no evidence of where the smoke came from ??? no toasted wiring < butter wouldnt melt ? anyone had similar ?

[Oldpug]

Well something has burned and caused the electrical problems so you better find it quick.Could be so many things,relay? resistor? earth? a bit of a nightmare.
I would suggest you take it to a good auto electrician,preferably Peugeot/Citroen and get it diagnosed before the rest goes up in smoke.

[Peter.N.]

Have a good look round the engine bay for signs of melted plastic on the wiring. You obviously had a short circuit somewhere which has now cleared but could come back.

Did you mate notice anything unusual at the time, did the lights go dim or any warning lights come on?

Peter

[moizeau]

Just a quick thought. If it was coming out of heater vents, then it must be getting into the ducting. This is a closed system starting at the pollen filter and ending at the vents with various heating and cooling stuff in between. The first point of call would be the pollen filter under the cowling between the engine bay and windscreen (drivers side). The wiper motor and presumably other bits of wiring are also tucked in there. It would be very unlikely to be in the engine bay without seeing smoke coming from under the bonnet (if stationary) I know this because the bonnet insulation caught fire on mine whilst driving and I didn't realise until I stopped, no smells inside.
Good luck

[Stewart(oily)]

Thanks for the ideas, theres still residual stink coming out of the vents, where is the heater blower resistor located on these ? no visual sign of anything anywhere ?

[Peter.N.]

Usually on the side of the blower motor under the glove box (RHD)

Peter

[ecohouse1]

I had this in a BX 1.7 D and it was the a high current wire running through the bulkhead and it shorted to earth and there was loads of smoke and the elctrics went dead as it took out a few wires at the same time due to melting insulation, melting adjacent wires which then shorted! An auto electrician sorted mine suprisingly quickly and it wasn't too expensive.