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MG MGF Technical - Smoke in cockpit - MGTF 160 VVC 2002

I would appreciate it if anyone could throw any light on the following:-

Upon starting my car and leaving work last night, I traveled only a few yards when I noticed, a lot of smoke coming from the passenger side footwell. It appeared and smelt like severe electrical burning.

I stopped the car and turned off the engine, opened the boot in order to get to the bonnet release and check the battery and main fuse box, but could see no evidence of any fault.

By this time the smoked had cleared and I tried the car again and it started OK without the smoke this time. I managed the 30 mile journey home without any further problem, but with no idea how the fault had cured itself.

I had a look behind the glove box area for any wiring faults, but could not find any.I also checked all the fuses in both boxes and none had failed.

Are there any known fault areas on this model to look out for?.

I cannot understand why this problem occurred when no work or disruption has been carried out recently, and the car is used daily without any problems.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

IR Sever

is your heater blower working on all speeds could be resistor burning out new resistors are available on e bay easy to fit and cheap hope this helps richard
tg hardwick

Second that - almost definitely the fan resistors.
Charless

Thanks for the suggestions. I've since tried the resistors, all 3 speeds are working and the coils look in good condition.
I think its wiring somewhere but cannot find any signs of damage.
Ian Sever

There should be 4 speeds! Speed 1 resistor is usually the first to go because it is always in circuit except on fan speed 4. There is tons about it in the archives - easy fix using big ceramic resistors or resistive wire.
Charless

Smoke leakage from wire is never a good thing. I'd suspect a chaffing cable somewhere causing a short - although why it hasn't blown any fuses is a mystery.

I'd get it looked at ASAP as a serious potential safety issue. An autoelectrician is going to be worth his weight in gold IMO.
Rob Bell

This thread was discussed between 06/07/2010 and 08/07/2010

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