The wife's Escape started on fire this past weekend. Not your usual overheating, fuel or oil leak fire though. Other than a vacuum line, I can't see anything really burnt. They guy that helped her put it out said that it was flaming pretty good, but I see no evidence. It's a 3.0 and the fire was between the engine and the firewall on the passengers side. Near where the AC condensation drain is. There looks like a plastic pipe (about 1-1/4 to 1-1/2"d) down towards the bottom may have a spot melted out of it, but since I have no idea what that pipe is, I'm only speculating. I drove it and it ran fine. The battery light came on a few times, but went off when I floored it for a second. She drove it yesterday and got stranded with a dead battery. Is it possible that an alternator failure could start a fire?? I've never heard of suck a thing happening, but....

 

The fire occurred in the general area of the alternator. It is passenger side, towards the firewall, on the 'back' side of the engine. Loose connections, faulty rectifier diode(s), or failing brushes or bearings can cause bad things to happen. Were it mine, I'd be inspecting from underneath or using a mirror to see where the smoke came from. I suspect you will be replacing the alternator or trading the vehicle. They are not fun to do. It can be done from above if you remove the intake manifold(maybe both upper & lower), which I think easier than disconnecting the passenger side drive axle. If you have a mechanic do the work, make sure they replace the 'ducting' as it is there to improve cooling air circulation, no matter how much hooey they will spout 'that it is not needed...'. FoMoCo put it there for a reason. They don't add extra parts for fun.
tom

 

Lol. Thanks. I replaced the alternator a few years ago and it was a ****. From underneath. I'm 6-5 300#. Not a fun project at all. But I did put it all back the way it was. Been thinking about trading it, but kinda tough with the battery light on