Burnt JK

[Mikes off road]

I was wondering if any of guys have heard about any issues with the new JK's catching on fire? I friend of mine in Alberta had a 2008 rescue green JK unlimited with 1000km on it and it just went up in flames. From what he said happened he and his wife were driving down a trail and all of a sudden the Jeep quit running. After a few seconds of wondering what happened he saw smoke coming up from under the Jeep. They both got out to see what was going on. They tried to throw sand on it but within 5 minutes it was basically burnt to the ground. Now he is not sure what caused it and if it is a warranty thing or a insurance thing. Any ideas?I have gone to a few JK sites to see what I could find and it seems that there have been at least 7 cases of the same thing.

[SmilinVamp]

I've read this b4:

http://www.jk-forum.com/showthread.php?t=55159&highlight=fire

[Mikes off road]

Thats the one I found aswell. I can't see it being dry grass or mud. I have been playing in the muskeg up here for years and the tall cat tails and I have never had a fire or seen any one else burn up.

[BlackYJ]

I have known of a few TJ rubis that had electrical fires that we right-offs

[EVOLUTION]

He can try entering in his VIN and see if there are any recalls listed here:  http://www-5.jeep.com/webselfservice/jeep/index.jsp?screenName=recall&country=us&emailUrl=goToEmailForm(%27R%27)

[Tinkerer]

Without more information, this is sheer conjecture, however I know of one very recent model Ford pickup that the operator shall we say oopsed by coming straight across a ditch instead of angled, got high centered and the cat converter (which runs *very* hot and they keep adding *MORE* of them!!!!) lit the grass on fire.  From there, Ford in their infinite wisdom used plastic fuel lines... which melted... thank goodness the fuel pump shut off when the motor quit due to fuel starvation.  It was rebuilt, but wow, what a mess.  This isn't the first issue like that we've seen, but the most recent that comes to mind.

So it's not all that uncommon, but not all that common either.  More or less, sitting in a great fuel source (dry grass etc.) with the engine running or sometimes just shutdown has done it. 

That said, perhaps there is a design issue involved (plastic fuel lines?? something in proximity to a heat source that is more of a problem offroad where testing may not have been as thorough??), I haven't examined one of these beasts all that closely to avoid the desire to get one so my family can go out in one vehicle, not two.

[sn4cktime]

I've got a manual JK and am on another board for just JK's.  It's apparently an issue with the auto's tranny getting WAY overheated.  Quite a few of the "random" fires throw up a check engine error code and/or stall out.  People notice smoke from under the hood, and then usually have to back off as they go up.  Some of the 4 Door JK driver's are adding extra tranny coolers (ford models I believe) to avoid the situation.  They jam em in front of the rad.

I've read about 2 electrical fires as well, but in both cases their computers went berserk just before sparking up.  Both of those drivers had extinguishers though.

[Tinkerer]

Niiiiccceeee... and I wanted a 4 door for the family?  I think we may stay Cherokee ... with the added benefit of more parts, more parts vehicles and more inexpensive to buy etc.

The main benefit of the JK's are that they are still body-on-frame, a *major* benefit to this type of usage/repair cycle