Well, I'm slightly frightened of driving / riding in / being near a Chevy Venture now

My grandmothers 2003 Chevrolet Venture decided to perform a feat of spontaneous combustion this morning at 2:30AM. There where no prior signs, the van had not been driven in more than twelve hours. We had used it the previous morning when I was taken to work, I cannot drive the van myself because the insurance will not cover anyone under 25 (I'm 24, don't ya love legalities, they are afraid of me due to age and the van kills its self!). Anyway, as I said and wish to make clear, there where no prior signs of this happening. I know what smoldering electrical systems smell like, and I know what burning plastic smells like, both have a piercing, horrid smell that I would have noticed. The fire happened and spread quickly. My mother only noticed it because she went out to smoke, and noticed a glow in the back of the van.

We think it was electrical, but neither the firemen nor police who arrived would confirm or deny what it was. The fire started in the rear around the 12v axillary outlet on the drivers side, but did not melt the outlet its self. They did cut the main power wire to the van, and my grandma did recently have the battery replaced. The van had just shy of 60k miles on it, seemed really clean and solid, seemed like the only car I'd ever seen come from the dealership it came from that wasn't a lemon scented turd. I was wrong, very, very wrong.

The firemen asked if we did business with a certain woman over at the dealership, evidently whoever they where asking about is exactly who sold my grandma and mom the van. The vehicle was bought from The Rod Shop in Salem, VA about a year ago. I highly recommend you avoid that place as if it is infested with rats carrying the second coming of the bubonic plague. I have other horror stories of cars bought from there, though this will be the worst by far.

So... Yeah... THAT happened.. Oh, here's some pictures of the damage, van is totaled. Tee-Totally-Totaled. Wasn't even paid off yet, bah!

http://s55.photobucket.com/user/Dead...?sort=3&page=1

 

Wow man that totally sucks! Too bad such a clean van had to parish in such a nasty fashion. I know GM around 00' to about 05' recalled a wiring situation on the fuel pump module on most vehicles, all the aftermarket pumps I sell come with a reconfigured wiring harness that adapts from and under over plug to a horizontal one. The plug on the original pump with the over under wiring were tending to melt then eventually a short out and kill the pump or cause a fire. Looking at the pics it almost looks like that, the access panel is right below the spare tire well.

What I can't figure out is there is no constant power to the pump unless the relay malfunctioned and fed it power until it overheated.

 

So sorry to hear about your Grandma's van. What will she do for a car now?

 

I'm not sure, she's pretty ill, she has a hard time getting in and out of most cars. When the insurance money comes through I'm gonna try to find her a roomy mid sized sedan at a reputable dealership. I have a lifetime of stories about the Rod Shop, to drop the appearance of intelligence I throw up on the internet, and use my actual accent. "Any'a my kin stupid'nuff to buy from 'em get what they deserve after the Venture cooked its self."

This does not help the fact that I do not want to ride in one of these vans again.

As I said, battery was replaced, relay block sits over said battery, idiot who replaced said battery probably knocked something around, or crossed a wire, jingled something that, a few bumps later caused the fuel pump to have a nuclear melt down, something of that nature. Oh well, when the insurance money gets here I'll try to find a sedan like I said, something boring, reliable, and less flammable like a Toyota Camry, I'll try to get a wagon if I can, even my mom likes wagons, and she does most of the driving.

I figure, if I show up on the lot with about 5k in pocket, anything up too 8k I can negotiate for just 'cause of the whole "Our last car burnt with our towels, some of my moms laundry, and I think my socks went up in flames or off to the land of lost socks 'cause I haven't seen 'em since." story. Speaking of socks, all I have to say about that is, DAMN IT! Those where warm, comfy, and fairly new socks, and that van turned them into ash!

I am a simple man, who enjoys simple things, warm feet fall into that category. That van has deprived me of warm feet, if for some odd reason we do not get insurance money, I'm liable to take a sledge hammer too it before I sell it for the engine. Who wants a crispy quarter panel with window goo melted down it anyway?

On a serious note, I'm glad my niece wasn't in the car, if you look, you can see her car seat in some of the pictures. I usually carry a pocket knife on me, and I suck at getting those seats undone, so I'd have cut the damn belt loose if that thing had gone up with her in the car. That's what bothers me the most, my niece could have been in that van, and if this was negligence on the part of the guy who installed the battery, the dealership, or both, either, or both will pay their due. If this is negligence on the part of the dealership, I expect the cash paid refunded including interest, or I will be coming up with a lawyer. Same goes for the shop that put the battery in, if it's both, then I expect them BOTH to pay that amount, that's about $4,000-5,000 each, maybe more, not 100% sure. Could buy my grandma and mom a REAL nice car for that plus the insurance money.

Oh, and if either of those two are responsible, by damn, the laundry, my socks included, will be paid for, I will not stand for smelly or cold feet!

 

Not trying to make you drive a minivan just offering a possible explination for the carbeque, Im not a fan either.

 

Something to consider is that many sedans and wagons are lower to the ground than minivans and may be more difficult for egress for her so be sure to check that out. Not a big fan of minivans or small SUV/crossovers but some might be just the ticket for those of limited mobility. Just a thought.

Of course a mid fifties vintage wagon or sedan ought to be just the ticket. Cars were made for the human body back then.

mike

 

Yep. Either that or somebody in the local area melted down a powertrain and needs a gently used, low mileage lump. Torch the van. Local scrapper surely gets the hulk. They buy powertrain for 800 bucks and have their tweaker uncle Tommy install it for 200. Tweaker uncle Tommy probably torched the thing to help the project along in the first place.

 

Around here, a great number of these vans have hit the wreckers or are about to. The intake manifold gaskets tend to spring nasty leaks, and it is not a cheap fix, and the rocker panels are doing the Great Disappearing Act! Most of these things are starting to sag in the middle!

 

GM-Mark of Excellence

 

G.M.: Got MONEY? LOL Unfortunately, 2 of the 3 G.M.s I've owned have been "Got Money" cars. My 84 Delta cost G.M. big time, since the warranty repairs came to a lot more money than I paid for the car, including tax!

 

Hey now, I've had good luck with most of my GM's, newer ones suck though. I mean don't get me wrong, the 3.4 and 3.1's are great engines, but they ALL leak like a old Land Rover when they hit about 80k miles, I told my mother before the van burned that it was being sold at about 70k miles, about 12k miles from then, because it was going to start leaking soon after. I also told her if she didn't believe me, I could take her to some local wrecking yards with cars with the same engine and show her how they leak. The one in my fathers '92 Camaro was resealed, and had some other things done, and my younger brothers '92 Camaro needs to be pulled and resealed, it's gone British on us.


Anyway, as bad as this is, it has me laughing. I bought a $650 car that has a 350 with minor lifter noise, a solid, smooth, and strong transmission, new radiator, alternator, starter, good tires, and working AC. I'm guessing at this point if they don't listen too me, I'm just not gonna ride in whatever they buy next. No thanks, I'll walk, I don't want to end up crispy.

 

That's a real bummer, DR. Really glad this happened with no one in it, and (apparently?) not in a garage.

Unfortunately, you are probably never going to know the actual cause, because unless there's a good potential for recovery of their money from another party, the insurance company is not going to want to spend hundreds of dollars (or possibly more) for a forensic fire investigator.

As for the replacement, you might want to give a shot at the private party market. Just look for somebody that has a lot of maintenance documentation - maybe a one-owner. You avoid the middleman, and just might be able to get her a newer car. I've got some ideas for vehicles, but I'll withhold them until later.

 

Yeah, this was a real shock, van finally got towed off on Thursday the 9th, cleaned up the mess left behind yesterday. Had to shop-vac the glass up out of the yard, sucked up more yard than glass though.

I've got a few ideas myself, though anything I buy will be based on what the common opinion of that cars drive line is.

Anyway, gotta leave for work in ten minutes, so this one is gonna be short I suppose, you got off lucky.