I had a fire in my truck yesterday!!

[Orsalak]

As it is getting colder here in Idaho I turned the heat on in my 73 camper 7500 yesterday morning for the first time this year. Last winter while using the heat I would only use the defrost setting, yesterday I slid the heat setting to vent and almost instantly I smelled smoke like leaves were burning. Then the cab was full of smoke coming in from every vent. I pulled over opened the hood no fire in there so I pulled off the negative cable as I thought it may be a short somewhere in the electrical system (I had burned a wire up once before). Still smoking. I pulled out the glove box no fire down there. I then touched the black plastic box that covers the heater core and ouch it was very hot. I could then see that the plastic box was melting. I pushed a hole throught the box and there were smoldering leaves. I used a fire extinguisher that I keep in the cab to put out the flames and finally I was able to drive it home. I am guessing it either jammed up with leaves or a mouse made a nest in there. I was scared for a minute I thought I was going to lose my truck. The moral of the story is remember to clear out your heater box and have a fire extinguisher in the cab.

[CSCameron]

Glad you were able to quickly figure it out and had an extinguisher on hand! Thanks for posting.

[04 Diesel]

Yes, I just cleaned mine out, leaves, pine needles. All clean, ready for winter.

[04 Diesel]

Wow! with all the leaves flying around, I thought I would look again. There was more in there!

[Andydodgegeek]

What do you guys do to clean out the heater boxes on the 81-93 trucks. Aside from removing the whole unit and disassembling it I cant seem to get rid of the mice nests in mine. I've tried vacuuming and blow guns in all the vents and just cant get it all out. What should I do. **** mice anyways.

[KRB64]

Most cut a circular hole and install a deck plate.