Engine Compartment Fire on a Recently Restored SUV, South Texas (2023)

In 2022 a vehicle restoration shop asked us to look into a fire that gutted the engine compartment of an older four wheel drive SUV it had restored and sold. Our report was issued in 2023. Neither the shop nor the buyer is named.

Two days after delivery

The vehicle reached its buyer two days before the fire. Earlier photos from the buyer had shown small amounts of oil under the engine. The day after delivery, the buyer and a mechanic took it on a test drive of about ten miles and found drops of oil on the transmission, the oil pan and the brake booster. It was then parked in a lot next to where the buyer worked, and it burned about 16 hours after it was last driven.

A joint examination

We examined the vehicle together with investigators for two other parties. The engine compartment and the dashboard were badly burned, parts of both sides of the hood had burned away, and most hoses and belts were gone. The dipstick showed no oil. The battery, under the driver seat, read almost zero volts. Three conductors that shared the battery cable terminal on the starter solenoid ran over the transmission, and all three showed arcing.

Hypotheses tested

We ruled out ignition from the engine or its systems in operation, because the vehicle had not run for about 16 hours. Human involvement could not be ruled out, since it sat unattended in a parking lot for that long. The arcing over the transmission could not be shown to be a cause rather than a result of the fire. Those conductors had no fuse or similar protection, so they would likely arc either way, and NFPA 921 notes that arc mapping may not be effective for finding the origin of a vehicle fire.

Where the evidence stopped

The area of origin was the engine compartment. The damage there was too severe to identify the point of origin, the first fuel ignited or the ignition source, so the cause was classified as undetermined. We reported it that way rather than stretch the evidence. To assign us a vehicle fire, use the forensic assignment form.