So My Tractor Caught on Fire Tonight

adt2 · Nov 21, 2015

My son was moving a little dirt this evening and after just a few minutes, I heard the tractor quit and the hollering start. I stepped outside to see what the problem was, and the problem was that the right side of the tractor was in flames. As in "on fire."

Flames were coming from just below where the fuel fill is on my F24. My son said he saw some white "steam" coming from that area just before it started flaming. After I got the fire put out, I had him take some pictures of the area with his phone; I'll post them later (he's gone to bed and I don't know where his phone is).

The only thing recently changed on the tractor had to do with a small wire running to the starter solenoid. Tractor wouldn't start the other day, and a little digging around turned up a frayed wire that actually broke when I inspected it. I touched the wires together and got a very tiny spark and was then able to start the tractor, but all I did was move it from one part of the yard to another and then turned it off - only ran for about 2 minutes total. Today, I twisted those bare wires together (instead of just touching them) before my son started it up.

No idea whether the twisted solenoid wire (which, incidentally, is on the left-hand side of the motor) has anything to do with the fire (which was on the right-hand side of the motor). Any ideas? I have parked the tractor and am now scared to start it.

tractchores · Nov 21, 2015

I've heard of tractor fires caused by a hot wire melting the fuel line, often starter wires. Glad no one was hurt

davesl708 · Nov 21, 2015

Best to check all wiring if that solenoid wire was that frayed.
Must also have a loose or cracked fuel line or injector.

Todd8665 · Nov 22, 2015

I too am glad no one was hurt, and the tractor was not catastrophically damaged?

I'm shooting in the dark here (in more ways than one) as I am unclear on what was burning (wiring, fuel, other), but I would at this point bet that the fire was/is not coincidental with your other non-starting problem you had the other day. I'd want to know what that wire you twisted together did/does. If you had one wire that went bad could you have others?

CHECK YOUR GROUND(S)!! Your tractor isn't a high tech electric gizmo, but the electric power it produces STILL SEEKS GROUND MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE. I could definitely see additional frayed/cracked wires combined with poor grounds leading to a fire situation. Clean your battery posts and cable connections. Then check the negative (black) cable where it connects to your frame. Heck, unhook and clean that too.

Also check your fuse box - for corrosion and/or for something like someone bypassing a fuse with something solid. My tractor came with a fuse wrapped in tinfoil so that fuse wouldn't blow - corrosion can do the same thing...

Post fire I would bet that you are going to be replacing significant lengths of wire if not your entire wire harness. If you plan on replacing only sections of wire, and not the entire harness, I would purchase yourself good quality and appropriately sized wire connector crimps; and use heat shrink or waterproof(which are also heat shrink) butt joint connectors to piece it back together.

4570Man · Nov 22, 2015

If I understood the last part of your post correctly what you did was the equivalent of holding the key it the start position. I don't know if it would have caused a fire, but it certainly wasn't good for anything.

clemsonfor · Nov 22, 2015

4570Man said:
If I understood the last part of your post correctly what you did was the equivalent of holding the key it the start position. I don't know if it would have caused a fire, but it certainly wasn't good for anything.

.this is the same thing I aas thinking twisting them together caused power to be sent to somewhere that maybe should have had momentary power?? But the question was that if these wires pulled apart and were originally connected how could this be cause if they were connected before it would be no different than they are now in a temporary connection??? Also the thought that these are powder wires and if there bouncing around they could had e been hitting metal since they were bare and either sparked some fuel off or they laid against metal and grounded out and since its the starter circuit maybe not on a tiny fuse and the wire over heated and got red hot and melted their insulation and caught the wire and or something else on fire.

Glad he was not hurt and hope no major expensive plastic parts were ruined.

Jim Shooz · Nov 22, 2015

What actually was it that was burning ??Fuel ?? paint ?? plastic hood ?? and how did you put it out ??

Neat 1500 · Nov 22, 2015

The white smoke your son saw was insulation burning off wire somewhere. Won't be hard to find it now.....

teg · Nov 22, 2015

A friend had his tractor catch on Fire... It ended up to be a mouse nest on the exhaust. Wonder if the frayed wire was caused by a mouse also?

Which reminds me... need to mount a fire extinguisher on the tractor!!!

adt2 · Nov 22, 2015

Amen re: fire extinguisher on tractor. We kind of panicked when it happened. We were out in the middle of the property with no water or extinguisher handy. I ended up whipping off my sweatshirt and just smothering the flames. It was nearly dark when all of this happened, and we were in the middle of 47 other projects inside, so we just left it. I'll go back today and inspect the area and put up some photos in this thread this evening.

newbury · Nov 22, 2015

teg said:
A friend had his tractor catch on Fire... It ended up to be a mouse nest on the exhaust. Wonder if the frayed wire was caused by a mouse also?

Which reminds me... need to mount a fire extinguisher on the tractor!!!

And a cat!

Wagtail · Nov 22, 2015

Definitely mount a fire extinguisher on your tractor. I did within days of getting mine, but then I'm a pedantic retired Navy bloke... got two in the house, one in the ute and two in the workshop. I recommend mounting it using a cut-up foam neoprene stubbie-holder (I think you call them a koosie?) as an anti-vibration gasket. You can see mine behind me on my ROPS.

Incidentally, I've put a first aid kit in the 'document canister'... just in case.

You said that you twisted the wires together... did you then wrap the 'splice' with electrical tape?

adt2 · Dec 7, 2015

We've finally gotten all moved and (relatively) settled, and I've got some time to work on this now. Here's a photo of the "original" broken wire I spotted:

This is on the left-hand side of the engine, just in front of the starter solenoid. Notice that there is a plastic connector about 1" from each end of the broken wire; I have no idea why there would be such a short length of wire there. The two connections look like they'd easily be long enough to connect directly without the intermediate connection.

Next up are a couple of photos of the wire that burned. These are on the right-hand side of the engine, just below the fuel-fill:

Note the melted connector and the wire with the insulation melted off.

I've no idea where any of these wires come from or go to. The broken wire in the first photo appears to be white with a red stripe; the burned wire in the other photos looks like it may have been black, but it's hard to tell.

Trials · Dec 7, 2015

What's the big heatsink thing with all the cooling fins on it, is that the rectifier?

careyo63 · Dec 7, 2015

Regulator. White and Red + to the starter is what my Dia. are showing. Open like the link is most likely Grounded out there. I can't tell how thick or what gauge the link is but I believe that's what smoked the Harness at the Regulator. Fix that and hopefully the Starter will work and move on to the Reg.. With Burnt up connections may have to do the Reg. and the rest to even get to the starter to work. Finding a new Harness maybe Doubtful. You can Jump straight to the starter and try and get it to run or even start but most likely No alt, Lights etc. may work?

BertZegers · Dec 7, 2015

Once I was working with a 200HP John Deere tractor when it stalled. I then saw smoke coming from under the hood, were the wiring was burning.
I put out the fire with water from my water bottle. The fire started again right away. I than knew I had to disconnect the batteries (once there is a short ,the batteries will keep igniting the wiring).
First I had to take the battery cover of, than I had to disconnect the batteries, without tools, I had to use brute force!
At that moment there was a lot bigger fire to extinguish!
After this experience I have put disconnects in the ground wire of my Kubota L2900 tractor and my KX41 excavator. My Zetor was factory equipped with one. I now always disconnect the batteries when I park the equipment.

ufengineer · Dec 7, 2015

Bert, what kind of disconnecter

BertZegers · Dec 8, 2015

ufengineer said:
Bert, what kind of disconnecter

It is like a switch, but is normally not to be used under load. That is why I refer to it as a (battery)"disconnect".

Sells at Princess auto as "battery cut off switch" (and probably Harbour Freight) at $10 or so. It has a key that you can take out if you want to.

Neat 1500 · Dec 8, 2015

There would have been a fusible link between those connectors which has done it's job by melting protecting to a degree the wiring. It appears you have a problem with the regulator/ and or wiring to it. Sort that out first then replace the fusible link. A good auto electrician should be able to make you a new one in 5 minutes, you may be able to even buy one pre-made.