# :sigh: what a lovely morning... hmm, what's that smell?



## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

hmm... who are all those people?

















hey, that looks like my car...

















































AND THE CULPRIT IS: Optima Red Top Battery


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## Gimp (Jun 9, 2002)

HOLY SHIT!!!! HOW?!!


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## Wufaded (Oct 15, 2003)

damn that sucks major ass...wth happened? battery just spontaneously combust??!! what about your garage, major damage in there?

whats next? insurance? can optima be held responsible? 

crazy, you had such a nice B13. these pics break my heart...


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## 95 SentraB13 (Jun 14, 2002)

Holy DAMN Sno, I don't know what to say. Any possibility JCI(Optima) can cover the damage? Like Timbo said, any idea how it happened??


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## LIUSPEED (May 29, 2002)

holy hell what happened?! and HOW?!


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

this car was my baby. i bought it when i was 15 and have been workin on it ever since. i always said i'd drive it till the wheels fell off, i'm so depressed right now.

i woke up this morning (10:30 or so) to my mom yelling, "the fire department is out there trying to get into your garage!" the fire chief said that the battery shorted out, or something caused the battery to short out, and caused the fire.

liability insurance won't cover it. renters insurance won't cover it, but they'll cover everything else. fortunatly my car was the only thing damaged, everything else is fine. 

i have an appointment with a lawyer tomorrow so i can see what my options are for going after optima. 

i really don't know what else to do. i have no way to work (i work about 12 miles away) and taking the bus sucks ass when it's raining (2 hours round trip on the bus).


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

Wufaded said:


> crazy, you had such a nice B13. these pics break my heart...


thanks wu. i've got so many things going through my head right now. i've never had to deal with anything like this before.


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## Coco (Apr 30, 2002)

that sucks man!!


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## JayL1967 (Apr 30, 2002)

sorry about youre car.....that really sux


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## B11sleeper (Oct 15, 2003)

Not to be an ass, but how did the battery make your car catch on fire. 

I sympathize, but exactly what caused that? since batteries don't usually catch fire spontaneously.

I'm Looking at the big image is the negative post the one at the bottom of the picture?


Did you have any sleeving over the cable that goes to the starter? or any other un-fused things? Seems like perhaps that cable to the starter rubbed through and shorted perhaps.

Did you have terminal cover on the positive terminal?


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

a short in the battery = heat = fire


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

holy crap! that sux dude, I hope insurance or optima covers your losses. do you know how the short happened since they are sealed?


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## new94 (Jan 9, 2004)

Sorry about your car sno, and for the B11 sleeper just a minor short can cause the coating on a wire to heat up and melt and in this case enough heat and/or spark was created to start a nasty fire. Too bad it was a nice car but car's can be replaced live's can't, thank god the fire was contained to the car!


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## B11sleeper (Oct 15, 2003)

the positive terminal thingy is completely melted and gone and the battery isn't destroyed like the fire started inside.


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## nong (May 4, 2002)

Damn. Sorry about your car. So much time and money spent on it.


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## Honest Bob (Nov 7, 2002)

That sucks man.




I'd take this opportunity to get a classic SE-R. :fluffy:


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Holee crap.

Good luck with the coverage. It's a good time to get a new car as it happens, end of the month and all that. You can get some good deals.
There has to be a way that you're covered, that's the point of coverage.

Seth


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

b11, the terminal that's completely melted away is the neg terminal. 

honest bob, i'd like to get another classic but i can't afford anything. this car was paid off 100% and now i'm left with nothing except for what i can get from parting it out.

seth, i wish i were covered but i'm not. only thing i can do is go after optima. 

the way i look at it is there is no way a fire could be started at the battery unless the battery itself shorted out or there was a short accross the terminals some how. everything that was hooked up to my electrical system was on a fuse. this whole thing just doesn't make sense.


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## Nismo1997 (Dec 26, 2003)

That really blows was a very sweet looking ride, wish you the best of luck with everything

I felt the same way, just keep your head up :thumbup:


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

sno said:


> b11, the terminal that's completely melted away is the neg terminal.
> 
> honest bob, i'd like to get another classic but i can't afford anything. this car was paid off 100% and now i'm left with nothing except for what i can get from parting it out.
> 
> ...


Sorry about your car man. Going after them is the wrong thing to do, if it was the battery it has to be related to install. I seriously doubt you can prove the optima is what caused it and which part of the battery failed. And without that proff you have no legel leg to stand on. 

Hope you find something new and you mod it the way you modded this car.


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## chucky200 (Jan 3, 2003)

God Damn man! My heart goes out to ya! I hope you can go after optima on this and get at least something. What a nightmare. Keep us posted.


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## Nismo1997 (Dec 26, 2003)

wes said:


> Sorry about your car man. Going after them is the wrong thing to do, if it was the battery it has to be related to install. I seriously doubt you can prove the optima is what caused it and which part of the battery failed. And without that proff you have no legel leg to stand on.
> 
> Hope you find something new and you mod it the way you modded this car.


Sorry to say but Wes does have a point


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

chucky200 said:


> God Damn man! My heart goes out to ya! I hope you can go after optima on this and get at least something. What a nightmare. Keep us posted.



How can people just come out and say this. I'm sorry to hijack this thread and I'm sorry about your ride bro but I gotta say this. 

People are SOOOOOOO quick to blame others and try and take other people money. Does anyone point the finger at themselves anymore???? 

I am not saying it is impossible the battery failed however with Optima's quality control it is highly unlikely. Optima's are one of the most trusted batteris in production today, hell they use them in ambulances and many police and other vehicles.....


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## chucky200 (Jan 3, 2003)

wes said:


> How can people just come out and say this. I'm sorry to hijack this thread and I'm sorry about your ride bro but I gotta say this.
> 
> People are SOOOOOOO quick to blame others and try and take other people money. Does anyone point the finger at themselves anymore????
> 
> I am not saying it is impossible the battery failed however with Optima's quality control it is highly unlikely. Optima's are one of the most trusted batteris in production today, hell they use them in ambulances and many police and other vehicles.....


I have no background on batteries and faults that can occur. All was was trying to say is that I feel for what has happened, and that I hope it can somehow be covered. If it ends up that it's there was something wrong with the battery, then so-be-it. If not, then that's a different story. That's why I say "I hope" he can go after Optima. I didn't mean that he should blame it just to get coverage when it's not the cause of the mishap.


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## Exalta (Jan 21, 2003)

Sorry to see the sentra in that way...at least the SR20 fire engine is still salvageable


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

so they have great quality standards, are you to say that they have a 100% perfect record? that they wouldn't make even 1 faulty product? that seems highly unlikely. 

blame myself? sure, but for what? for having professional electrical installations done for almost everything? for having everything on a fuse? i just don't see how anything that i've done would cause a fire. if something was going to short out it would blow the fuse. the only thing that makes sense, since the fire was started AT the battery, is that the battery arced/shorted, got really hot, and started a fire.


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## hotshtsr20 (Feb 1, 2003)

sorry about your car man.

what i see when i look at this are a LOT of wires connected to the positive terminal, with no evidence of protection of any sort. there may have been something covering the positive terminal, but i dont see it. was there anything there? were each of those wires connected to the positive terminal completely covered to prevent grounding?

they may have had fuses, but if the ground happens before the fuse, you have a fire. sorry to say this, but with all those wires there, i wouldnt be blaming optima, but would be looking at each of those wires to see if there was a chance of a ground. it sucks to have your car totally destroyed like that, i feel for you man.


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

there's only 5 wires coming off the positive battery post. that terminal is a rockford fosgate terminal, coated in 24k gold, it has 5 openings for wires. the 5 wires are 2 accessory wires, 1 starter power wire, and 2 amp wires. only 1 of the amp wires were in use. both amp power wires had inline fuses 18"s from the battery and the power wire that wasn't in use had the fuse removed.

there's no insulation on the wires anymore because of obvious reasons.


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

i have to apologize because i feel that i'm becoming very defensive on the subject of going after optima. i do appreciate everyones sympathy and everyones points of view, it's just not what i want to hear.


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## B14_Stealth (Aug 14, 2003)

Howly Fuck man.. that sucks so much


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## Radioaktiv (Feb 12, 2004)

damn man
i hope you can find out what caused it

my condolences


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

sno said:


> i have to apologize because i feel that i'm becoming very defensive on the subject of going after optima. i do appreciate everyones sympathy and everyones points of view, it's just not what i want to hear.


Believe me I understand, but you should think about probable causes once the feelings die down and your ready to look at it as objectively as possible. Like I said before, hope it works out for you in the end.


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## NotAnotherHonda (Aug 7, 2003)

wow man...im sorry...i have that exact same battery too....yikes :jawdrop:


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## Pat200sx (Jan 29, 2004)

WOW, that is really bad, sorry sn0, but yes as far as i can see the only thing that could have started this would have been a short in the battery. And yes we do use these Batteries in Ambulances and police cars. They are very trusted but nothing is perfect. You are lucky that your house didn't catch fire.

Good luck man.


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## STRATTON (Sep 10, 2003)

i feel for you man, thats a terrible and i mean terrible thing to wake up too ! but u should thank god or whoever that your house didnt catch fire and hurt anyone in your house. like an earlier member said before cars can be replaced lives cant. eventually ull get a new wip and mod it better than the previous, but i feel for u, good luck with whatever actions u take


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

Or he could thank god it's a detached garage!


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## Nuskool (Jan 5, 2004)

Firemen are also usualy right on the point of the fire...If thats what they said the cause was then I would go after Optima also...Think about this..What if that car was in a garage conected to a house and burnt it down..People could die....


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## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

thats terrible! im so sorry. dosent it suck that when something happens you find out the people you have been paying just incase something like this happens wont help you out?


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## McLaren F1 2003 (Jan 2, 2003)

dude, that really does suck...i hope you get it all sorted out soon


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## Twiz (Aug 24, 2004)

That's very sad... I'm sure you put a lot of time and money in that little sentra. Are you going to try to rebuild it ?


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## blk240sxgp (Jan 24, 2004)

Nah gives him a good reason to get a 240sx  j/k man i feel for ya, best of luck!


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

thank you all for your replies and sympathy, it's definatly making this easier. my current situation is this: at the end of july i had a guy install a device. i'm not gonna say what exactly it is because it would reveal information that i don't want to get out, assume what you will. at the time of the installation i didn't really think much of the things that had happened. for one: he had to install the device inline with the power wire to the igntion and he blew the ignition switch fuse (which is located right next to the battery). he caused a short underneath the dash that was arcing on the fire shroud around the steering column. once he figured out that an exposed wire (not knowing which wire it was) was shorting out on the fire shroud he removed it and replaced the fuse and that was his solution to the problem. now i, being the do-it-yourselfer that i am, re-installed the fire shroud after he had left. since it is a saftey device and it's legally required by the manufacturer to be installed i thought it'd be best to have it in. couple weeks went by and the fuse blew again. luckly i had a spare fuse in the car at the time, got it back to my house, and began looking for exposed wires. i found a wire underneath the dash, close enough to the fire shroud, that had a single wire hair exposed. i shrink tubed and electrical taped it up and called it good. i hadn't thought of the potential damage to the rest of the wire, igntion switch plug, or any other electrical components along the way. after a little more the a month after he installed this device it was determined that it wasn't necessary. so, he came back out to my house and removed the device, it literally took him less then 2 minutes to uninstall, MEANING that whatever wires he had spliced into were left hanging there/exposed.

now, here's where the legal stuff begins. i'm in the process of finding a fire investigator that can come out and give me a further diagnosis of what the cause of the fire was. from looking at my car, and for those of you looking at the pictures, it's obvious that the part of the battery closest to the drivers side fender is more burnt then the passenger side. this suggests that the fire started either on that side of the battery or at the fuse box which houses the ignition switch fuse.

hear me out when i say this: i no longer believe that the optima battery failed. in all the confusion and stress i had forgotten about this installer and his sketchy tactics. everything thing that i've said about where i believe the fire to have started is just my speculation. once i can find an expert whitness to finger point the exact cause (if that's even possible) then i can continue persueing a law suit against this company. 

other then all that i'm trying to find a car. se-r's are hard to come by and so are s13's. so right now i'm just trying to find a junker 'till i can find something better.

i will be salvaging parts from my car. parts that will be listed for sale are (and yes these will be posted in the classifieds section):
rear active tuning stabilizer bar
ad22vf calipers & slotted rotors
u.r. crank pulley (ga16)
h.s. header 5th gen (ga16)
prestige pab-1500d amplifier
three jl audio w0 12" sub woofers
and oh yeah, a 1993 crispy engine'd nissan sentra se (junk yard)

please keep in mind that there is fire damage and i won't know the extent of it untill i get the parts pulled off the car, i'll probably get that done tomorrow.


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

good luck on finding another car man...it sucks ass that it happened. i hope you get a new one that makes you as happy or happier than the old.


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

Twiz said:


> That's very sad... I'm sure you put a lot of time and money in that little sentra. Are you going to try to rebuild it ?


rebuilding is out of the question. everything that can melt under the hood is melted. from the fan to the brake master cylinder to the power steering reservoir, everything.


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

NickZac said:


> good luck on finding another car man...it sucks ass that it happened. i hope you get a new one that makes you as happy or happier than the old.


i hope so too. it's gonna be hard and it'll take awhile. when i bought this car it was 4 years old and had 48k miles on it. it was in perfect condition, very well taken care of. i don't think i'll find the same love from another used car and i definatly can't afford a new one.


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

Nuskool said:


> Firemen are also usualy right on the point of the fire...If thats what they said the cause was then I would go after Optima also...Think about this..What if that car was in a garage conected to a house and burnt it down..People could die....


the one thing out of this that i am very glad about is that my car was the only thing damaged. the garages next to mine are okay and even the other items in my garage are okay (there was a propane tank and a milk jug full of used motor oil in there as well). it definatly could have been a lot worse. i thank the intuition of my neighbors and the speedy repsonse of gladstone fire.


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

sno said:


> the one thing out of this that i am very glad about is that my car was the only thing damaged. the garages next to mine are okay and even the other items in my garage are okay (there was a propane tank and a milk jug full of used motor oil in there as well). it definatly could have been a lot worse. i thank the intuition of my neighbors and the speedy repsonse of gladstone fire.


Even better being no one was hurt. That may sound corney but you are ok, and that is important.


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## 1slowZ (Jul 8, 2004)

dude i'd break down and cry if that was my car.........that sucks dude major loss


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## Spelchy (Jun 24, 1987)

:jawdrop: That blows man. I hope things work out for you... fuck that was a nice car


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

It sounds as if the person installing the "device" should ge a thorough once over. Those tactics sound questionable at best. I firmly believe you are approaching this the right way. Good luck bro.


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## niky (Jul 20, 2002)

good luck with everything, sno... sucks to have that happen... condolences.

Is there any way you can go after the guy? I mean, was this deal with the installer on the up-and-up, with receipts and all?


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

yeah the installation is documented with receipts and an installation report. 

i just found out today that hiring a fire investigator would cost upwards of $1000. the blue book on my car is only $3200 and with court costs and everything else it looks like i'm going to lose money on this either way. 

i'm thinking that this isn't going to be worth it unless i can get them to settle out of court.


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## B11sleeper (Oct 15, 2003)

I hope you work something out it's the worst to have someone work on your car then something bad happens and they want to make it seem like it's someone else's fault. I had that happen a lot, so I do nearly all my work myself. :cheers:


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## 7875 (Apr 3, 2003)

sno, sorry to hear about your loss. GL with everything and keep us posted..


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