Ah, that complicates the guesswork figuring out the root cause.

On the one hand, smoke billowing out from behind and under, and not necessarily the end of the tail pipes, opens up many possibilities, as you were moving at highway speeds at the time, and the air currents under the vehicle and the vacuum behind the vehicle would draw underhood smoke in that direction.

This leaves open the possibility of the master cylinder brake switch, commonly known as the speed control disable switch that disengages the speed control when the brake pedal is pressed. The switch itself was made by Texas Instruments with a membrane that tears, allowing brake fluid to pass through to a constant hot unfused circuit as originally designed. The brake fluid catches on fire, and quickly burns down the truck. It is interesting that you said "it smelled like brakes".

This is the recall referenced in the post above this one. The recall effected millions of Ford vehicles spanning over nearly a decade's time. The first fix was a replacement harness with an inline fuse. The second fix was a replacement harness with a fusible link, and the final fix had the latter and a newly designed switch to replace the failure prone switch in the master cylinder.

Did you have this recall done? If you are not the original owner, have your dealer check your VIN via Ford's OASIS system to see if a previous owner had the recall done. That would be one possibility.

But in your particular case, another possibility comes to mind. You just recently replaced your turbo housing with an ATS model that you had to modify in order to fit. Somehow, in all the finagling that you needed to do to put the turbo back together, I wonder if you had an oil or fuel fed fire from a misalignment or break in a normally closed and pressurized flammable fluid system near a heat source (hot turbo towing a loaded toy hauler).

Everyone will benefit if you ever find out what the root cause was, so please keep us updated if and when you find out more. Glad your internal quick reaction forces kicked into high gear to save your wife and children, with enough energy left over to also save all your big boy toys.

 

Not sure if the recall was done. I bought the truck used in 03 and don't recall ever having it done. Ill check w/ Ford and see.


My first thought was I screwed something up fighting that compressor housing but I couldn't see any obvious signs of leaking in that area. The valley seemed pretty dry compared to all the oil on my fire wall an the rest of my truck and trailer.


I also thought that it could have been my HPX because I really had to crank it down past where I was comfortable to get it to stop leaking.


Everything was such a mess it was impossible for me to diagnose without tearing it down bit.


I will update everyone as I hear. Stealership says there not being asked to find the cause of fire just price out the repairs. Total BS.
I will try to speak with their tech directly.

 

I highly recommend that you have a qualified person other than Ford inspect your vehicle in the area of the master cylinder. Ford has a vested interest in disproving the master cylinder membrane switch (that is known and proven to leak and cause catastrophic fires) as the cause for your fire. I would highly recommend photographing your engine bay thoroughly. Just like you acted quickly and decisively in saving your family, take the same bold initiative in discovering the root cause of your fire. Read up on the recall. Plenty of information online. Take photos and videos of your vehicle. Take your VIN to a Ford service writer (at a different dealer if necessary) and have them look up an OASIS report to see if the recall was ever done to your truck. It could have been done in service without you being aware of it. If you are not the original owner of record in Ford's books, it is possible that you never received any written notice of the recall, which probably by design was described by Ford as a "Speed Control" recall. "Speed Control" aka cruise control, sounds innocuous compared to "BRAKES"... but the recall is essentially due to leaking brake fluid contacting a constantly hot circuit which usually engulfs the engine compartment into flames.

 

Glad you and yours are all ok, that's the important part. I do want to thank you, because of this post I found out my 02 F350 has not had the recall done for the possible cuase of your fire. Recall 09S09 Speed Control Deactivation Switch Fire. I went out and found the recall letter still in my glovebox, dated April 2014. No excuse for putting this one off. Got it scheduled for Monday.

Endobear is a neat user name - hope you didn't earn it from doing endos. I used to race Motocross and have done a few endos myself.
Thanks for the reminder.
Bill

 

I will be looking into weather or not the recall was done.
Unfortunately I have no advocate on my side 450 miles away to take pictures and video.

 

Happy my misfortune could be of use.
Ive been riding dirt bikes for 37 years. Done my fair share of endos and flying w's.


Endo was the name for one of my best Rotties ever. Bitchin dog. She used to fall on her face when she would play as a pup.
We called her Endobear as she got older because she looked like a bear.
Think about her everyday. Shes been gone for 9 years

 

Stealership cant tell where the fire started! BS
I had the OASIS report done at another dealership and they said there are no open recalls on the truck. Only recall done was the CPS in 2012.
I havnt done anything with this info. I have been waiting to hear what my insurance company had to say first.
Finally got the call today that stealership wants $16,800$$$$ to fix her and insurance is paying to fix it!!!!
Waiting now for the repair estimate from the dealer so I can see exactly what they are doing.


Not sure what to do about the cruise control recall. Any thoughts.
They did mention replacing the brake booster and master cylinder.

 

Stealership cant tell where the fire started! BS

Is it possible to get the local fire marshal/investigator to look into this for you? After all this is what they do as a profession.

 

 

The fact that the insurance is paying $16,800 to fix it says a lot for the value of these trucks, it had to have booked out higher than that for them to fix it. I might have missed it but how many miles on her?

 

 

Had a customer with similar fire . His tranny overheated while hauling a tractor and Puked ATF out the dipstick tube ! He was not happy , nor was his insurance company .. I post this because of the red fluid on your filter top . After all was repaired , he needed a tranny also .

 

Insurance said I was $1,000 from totaling it. Im sure they will hit that extra $1000 before I even get my truck back once they tear into it. Im hoping that once they get going on it they wont stop in the middle and say its totaled.


She only has 117,000 miles.

 

Bummer.
All of my gauges looked good when I smelled smoke. IDK
I don't think it was the tranny but I could be wrong.
I believe that the red fluid on top of the the fuel filter is my Chevron Delo.

 

Too bad you can't get it home and do it yourself. With that kind of money, you could, again, get the best of everything...