This past weekend I experience an event that I hope nobody ever has to experience. Jill was re-arranging items behind the backseat of the bug and all of the sudden, there was smoke billowing from under the seat. I quickly pulled the bottom of the seat out to find that she happened to kneel down right on top of the positive battery post of the battery. The coils of the seat were touching the battery post which in turn shorted it out and the coils got super hot. Once the coils were hot enough, they started to burn the horsehair on the underside of the upholstry. So the lessen to learn here is to get some sort of rubber post protector installed on the positive lead of your battery. This will put a piece of rubber between the two metals and hopefully protect you from a future fire. We got lucky.
It wouldn’t be such a bad idea to look at or have a qualified techincian look at the whole electrical system on your car. Check to make sure that all connections are tight and not arcing. Pay close attention to your battery connections. If the terminals are loose, they can sometime arc and with enough arcing, the battery can actually fail when you need it the most.
Another good area to check out is your fuse block. From the trunk side of the dash, inspect that the wires are all connected and that the terminals are tight on the fuse block. On some older cars, the terminals can loosen with age and you’ll notice that some lights, your horn, or whatever won’t work right anymore. You can simply cut the terminal off and crimp on a different one. Of course, before you do any work with your electrical system, make sure that you disconnect the battery. From the interior of your car, take the fuses out one by one to inspect. Take some scotchbrite wool and clean up the ends of the fuses or the fuse holders to make sure you have good continuity between the two items.
If you for some reason have something that isn’t working right, first check your electrical connections, then check your grounds. If it isn’t one of the two, then look into it a little farther.
Good luck and be safe. We want you all around as long as you can be for all the fun we will have throughout the years.
– Joel