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ATV caught fire

1K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  slowleak 
#1 ·
I have an unusual Three car garage, Two normal bays for cars and a third side load bay for ATVs.

I was working in my shop which is 50' from my atv garage door. The door was open and I looked at the garage door and heavy black smoke was rolling out the door and I could hear flames crackling.

Maybe 10 minutes prior I had walked by my ATV (04 Kawasaki Prairie 700) and everything was fine, I had not ridden it in 24 hours.

I grabbed a fire extinguisher pulled the pin and gave the fire a good knock down then left my garage to call 911. After calling I went back in and hit a couple more spots with the extinguisher then again got out of the garage. At this point, the flames were out but my Atv was still smoking.

I released the Atvs parking brake and pushed it outside then opened my other garage door to get some of the smoke out.

The fire department came, ventilated garage and inspected the house for fire and damage. My garage has a bunch of smoke damage but no structural damage.

The Fire investigator came took photos etc. He stated he had not scene anything like this.

He had issues with gasoline equipment stored in a attached garage but I pointed out it was an electrical fire that then caught the plastic and seat on fire turning it into a petroleum fire.

The cause of the fire is unknown but something under the mid front part of the seat fried then got the seat burning then the plastic. I had no issues with the machine and it was running great the day before. Could be wiring chafed over time then shorted???

I sure am glad I was home, If not the room over the garage would have been gone and perhaps the entire house. I may have to re-think where I park my Atvs.

Here are the Pics.
 

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#2 ·
Damn dude sorry to hear, glad it didnt burn the house though! Insurance on the atv? or does homeowners cover that?
 
#3 ·
Thanks, we have homeowners and we listed the Atvs under that policy. Don't know how we will turn out after depreciation etc.
 
#5 ·
don't worry too much about where you park your stuff, just take care of everything best you can, most likely was a chaffed, unfused wire that caused the problem, glad your house wasn't damaged.
 
#6 ·
Yes the battery is right behind and under the air box. It looks like something (maybe a relay) was closest to the ignition point. It is something that remains powered up after the key is switched off.

Here is a picture of my wife's Prarie. Hers is a 2003. The relay that is even with the fuel tank may be the culprit.
 

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#9 ·
Tank, I am glad I changed my mind and didn't go golfing.

Insurance is still trying to figure out what to do. Apparently the Atv is insured as contents of the house.
 
#10 ·
How comforting... Now I'm gonna worry even more about our ATVs in our garage. One of them is an '03 Prairie 650. Definetly a bunch of electrical stuff crammed under the seat on that one.:doh:

I'm a little surprised, with the potential there, something hasn't happened to mine. It gets rode HARD everyday here on the farm. The thing is showing 5400 miles on the odo. In my experience, if something CAN happen to one of these things, it will. Between our three machines we've seen some strange stuff.

Thanks for the heads up!!!

Sorry to hear about your garage...:(

edit: I just realized that part of the fuel tank protrudes right under that area (the section with the fuel level sender). Was you fuel tank still in tact? Could the fire have started in the sender unit wiring I wonder?

edit #2- Never mind, I see that your fire was definetly centered around the battery area. It doesn't look like it was far enough back to get the tank.
 
#11 ·
The fire was actually closer to the fuel tank then the battery. The relay that is even with the fuel tank is near the source of ignition.

I also have a 650 Prairie 2002 model with 1000 miles on it.

What had to have happened was the positive cable chafed and grounded. Why it took 36 hours before it caught fire is a mystery. A local guy that works on Atvs around here thinks rats or mice chewed the insulation and created a ground into the cable. He said he sees that cable damage on a regular basis. IDK our cat is a good mouser (3 baby bunnies, (2) birds, (3) rats in the past four months.

I will continue to park my Atvs in the garage, but will look over the cables more often.

I also have a 2003 Mule 3000 that had a chafed + battery cable. It was killing the battery overnight.
I think all the beating around will find a design weakness, and now It will be my job to do better inspections and add zip ties and chafing gear as needed.

I will be adding a smoke detector in the garage and tying it into the smoke alarm system. The insurance company may also demand other parking arrangements.
 
#12 ·
Well the insurance paid off and we came out alright. Hopefully we won't ever go through that again.

Here is the replacement for the Prairie. 2010 Brute Force 750I. The independent suspension takes a little getting used to (feels tippy) but it really smooths out the ride.
 

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#15 ·
In my experience with kawasaki electronics....

This doesnt seem to out of place. If you can get some better pics of the ignition area I could most likely tell you what caused it. Good save on the house though, most people dont have fire extinguishers, and as you proved, they do come in super handy.
 
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