Hey Guys,

I haven’t been active on these forums for years but I’m having a bit of trouble and hoping some of you may have an answer.

A couple years ago I helped a friends little sister buy a car that would get her through college. I got her in a 2009(I think) is250.
Today, they called me and said that they were driving and then a bunch of smoke started coming out of the dash and AC vents that smelled like burning plastic. The radio started flickering and then went dead along with the dash/gauge cluster.

Now I live 4 hours away fro them and have no way of looking at the car. I’m hoping you guys may have some answers as far as what shorted out or if this is a common thing on these cars.
I’ve searched around a bit but came up with nothing. If you guys can help an old CL guy out on this one it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

Sounds like the alternator got smoked and something else (connectors? Fusible Link?) may have melted along the way.

 

There is not enough info to make poor guess at best.
You might ask what currently works and what is offline? Typically low wattage things like the OEM head unit don't go up in smoke of any measurable amount while things like the controller for the fan speed motor draw 20 to 30 amps and if something goes wrong there is a smoke show.


Get answers for the working/not working and you may be ever slightly more prepared.

 

I'd agree that immediately I thought of the alternator. Perhaps clarify with a follow-up question about whether "battery" warning light was illuminated before the cluster stopped working.