Hood liner caught on fire (82 245 DL)
 

Hi folks,

Strange thing happened this morning - I pull into work, shut the wagon off, and white smoke begins coming out from under the hood. Panic! - but it doesn't smell like fluids burning, so a little relief there :D. I open the hood up, and to my surprise, there's a quarter-sized smoldering hole in the hood liner. The hole is slowly smoking away and getting bigger, so I put it out with a pair work jeans and a coworker's bottle of water. The mystery: it's not in a spot that would touch anything - it lines up diagonally between the battery and the power steering pump. Nothing else in the engine compartment looks burned or scorched, nor does anything have the toast smell, or burnt fluid smell. Any ideas?

My best guess so far:
Cig was thrown from passing truck, hits windshield. I thought it went up, but maybe it could have gone down and under? The liner is a touch loose, maybe just enough...

That is strange. I think the positive cable runs around that spot.
How's the battery cables? It could have done it.
heat from engine Could have helped ignite it.
Or open cable could have sparked from contact with hood.

I don't use the hood liners on my cars.
I will eventually get around to using the IPD heat kit.

Other might have more experience with this.

if the battery isn't secured, and you hit a hard bump, it can fly up and hit the roof. if the positive terminal hits the roof, sparks will fly.