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Hi All I joined the site to report what appears to be a very unusual event. I have not been able to find any reports of the following event anywhere on the web.
I own a 2014 SL 63 AMG with 29K on the clock. It is a weekend car and I drive to Les Mans every year to stretch its legs.
Yesterday I was driving with the top down and was about 3 minutes from home. My son was in the car with me and asked me if I could smell burning. I said I could but assumed it was coming from a building site I had driven past. The next thing smoke was coming from the dashboard to the right of the steering and from the vent to the right of the steering (see pics attached). I pulled over and the killed the engine and the next thing I can see a flame burning inside the air vent to the right of the steering wheel. Fortunately a shop nearby had a fire extinguisher and I put out the fire before any major damage could be done. The only damage was to the air vent which can easily be replaced.
It was clearly an electrical fire from the smell of the smoke. I have only ever driven Mercs over the last 3 decades and I have never come across any stories of electrical fires in Mercedes.Typically the stories of fires tend to have an engine component to them, I spoke to my mechanic and he was baffled as he had not come across any such incidents himself.
There are 3 fuse boxes in the SL 63 AMG. One in the engine, one behind the driver’s seat and one under the dashboard to the right of the steering. The fire originated in or near the fuse box to the right of the steering wheel. I have parked the car and disconnected the battery. What is more baffling is when I drove the car home yesterday I expected the dashboard to be lit up like a Xmas tree. Not a single error message. Everything works fine from what I could tell. No issues.
I can find no information on anyone experiencing something similar. The wiring can be fixed but my concern is understanding the source of the trigger that caused the wire to begin to burn and the eventual fire. The car is fastidiously maintained with a full Merc service history.
If anyone has any experience of such an event across any of the Mercedes range it would be great if they could share any information.
Wow, glad everyone is safe. You might just put it down to bad luck. Cars do catch on fire when their circuitry shorts, MB as well I guess. I was amazed the car still ran.
Anyway, good luck with the repair.
07-22-2023, 01:01 PM
SL63 AMG R231 Fire under dashboard
