electrical fire and smoke!

[Downfall]

well this happened 2 times to my car. once i was driving and when while i was parking smoke and flames were coming out of the steering column...some of the wires that connect to the light switch and signal light switch were melted and the switch got fried in the process. now my headlights, tailights, and side marker lights do not work but when i signal the right signal works front and back and the left rear signal works but not the front.

i continued to drive the car for a couple weeks after this happened without fixing it yet.bad idea i know.

after this i noticed everytime i stepped on the gas while the vent fan was blowing the fan would speed up as well. and when i let off the gas the vent fan would slow down to the normal speed.

i was driving on the highway and all of a sudden the vent fan went crazy. it started blowing 10 times the speed as usual. it was pretty scary i thought it was going to blow up. i would say it was around 70psi blowing through the air vents. and then smoke started coming out from my cd deck and then i heard a little pop and the car died and would not start. after i had my car towed about 4 hours later i tried starting my car and it started.

i'm just wondering what i should check. i have the center console off so i can get to the wires and the steering column cover off as well right now. a friend is helping with the electrical stuff but i wanted to know if anyone had similar problems or anything.

[Ivan]

Originally posted by Downfall

well this happened 2 times to my car. once i was driving and when while i was parking smoke and flames were coming out of the steering column...some of the wires that connect to the light switch and signal light switch were melted and the switch got fried in the process.

This happened to me on Sun while rewiring the lights and etc. My problem was the light/indicator structure was connected to the steering column incorrectly and shorted out on the ignition structure.

[2ManyZs]

I'm wondering if you don't have a voltage regulator problem that is causing too much voltage...the fan speeding up with the RPM's seems to point in that direction... all your problems could be caused by too high a voltage from the alternator, you should verify your voltage regulator before you do any more driving as if it is what I'm suspicious of, it could result in a battery explosion.:cross-eye

[Downfall]

a friend and i looked at the wiring today and it looked like the previous owner had wired the stereo up really crappy...there were some open solder joints that could have easily have touched the metal of the car or the dash frame or even each other so that may have caused the shorts. how would i check to see if the voltage regulator is working properly or not?