The car was parked in the driveway. In the middle of the night it burst into flames. Our dogs woke us up. The fire started in the front passenger compartment. By the time the fire department arrived 7 minutes later there was nothing left to the interior of the car. The engine and underside of the car were undamaged by the fire. A tree near the car also caught fire. Chevrolet said there were no recalls on our car. They do not seem interested in examining the car since we settled with our insurance company. Neither the fire department nor the police suspect arson. It would appear to be electrical. If the car had been parked in our garage we would have lost our house.
1997 Chevrolet Suburban: fire, smoke or burning smell
7 of the 414 complaints about the 1997 Chevrolet Suburban describe fire, smoke or burning smell.
- owner complaints
- 7
- of this car's complaints
- 2%
- recalls
- 0
Is there a fix? 6 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below
Fire, smoke or burning smell by model year
What owners say
1997 chevy suburban in-tank fuel sending unit fire: bought vehicle used with 88000 miles. Events leading up to the failure / burn up of the unit included intermittent fuel pump and fuel gauge failure, had pump replaced by patrick gmc, problem persisted, had dealer wolf chevrolet check fuel pressure throughout system (ok). Also noticed an intermittent burning smell. I then purchased from the dealer a replacement sending unit and another fuel pump, as soon as I took the sender out of the tank it was obviously charred and the modular connector burnt to a crisp, wires completely exposed with the insulation gone partially disintegrated the ABS plug. This thing got really hot repeatedly. The lower explosive limit was luckily never reached within the tank or there could have been a spontaneous explosion, especially if the tank lost its seal and allowed outside air inside, (such as when the tank is empty and is pulling vacuum), for instance unscrewing the gas cap in ideal conditions next to a gas pump with a 44 gallon tank void sucking in as much oxygen in as the filler tube will allow, and hitting that glowing red hot sending unit. Old part is in my possession and is the original factory sender. Incident date is approx. When I performed the repair and discovered the burned up sender.
Wire harness caught on fire in fuel tank without warning.
While driving side view mirror motor caught on fire, causing consumer to pull over. Dealer notified.
Engine check light came on 1st then a various other probles began occuring as we tried to get our vehicle home. When we got it to the dealer's repair shop we were told that the #2 fuel injector had started leaking and filled the whole electrical system with gas. This happened again 4 monthes later when the #5 injector started leaking. Both times the dealer told us that we were lucky that the vehicle didn't start on fire.
The vehicle had caught fire twice due to an electrical short in the wires & being overloaded. Also, fuse box caught fire twice & had to be replaced.
Consumer turned vehicle off, went into store then heard a store page that there was a truck on fire. The fire was in the engine compartment. (fire dept. Incident #97013984 riverside fire dept., city of riverside 3601 ninth street riverside ca 92501, gary fiegener 909‑782‑5804). *ak consumer has not heard anything from chevrolet.
Service bulletins that may apply
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the 1997 Chevrolet Suburban fire or smoke
Is fire, smoke or burning smell a common problem on the 1997 Chevrolet Suburban?
7 of 414 owner complaints about the 1997 Chevrolet Suburban (2%) mention fire, smoke or burning smell. The model year with the most reports is 1996.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 1997 Chevrolet Suburban?
There are 0 recalls and 6 service bulletins for the same area of the car. Check them below with your VIN.
Other symptoms on the 1997 Chevrolet Suburban
Wipers 34ABS 27Fuel pump 24Pulling 20Brake failure 17Power steering loss 16Stalling 16Jerking 14Tire blowout 14Grinding brakes 11Loss of power 11Transmission failure 11Overheating 10Harsh shifting 7Slipping 5
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