On May 1, 2002 I left my office which is six miles from my home. When I started my car I heard a whining sound coming from under the hood. As the car started fine I decided to drive home. I had not had any problems with the car at this point. As I was driving home the whining sound increased. All the gauges read normal, the temperature gauge included. About 4 miles from home the whining sound increased so I turned off the A/C and the radio. I began to feel a sllight vibration when shifting gears. About 2 miles from home I began to smell a sickly-sweet odor. Approx. 3/10 of a mile from my home the battery light came on the car began to run very roughly. The sicly sweet smell became much stronger and I had a sense that my car was goin to catch on fire. The temperature gauge still read normal so I thought maybe I was wrong and possibly the alternator was failing. I drove the car home and parked it down by the road, the odor was becoming very strong. I grabbed the car keys and some of my work items and ran to get the water hose about 25 ft. From the car. I turned around, havig been out of the car possibly no more than 10 seconds and brown smoke was coming from under the right front of the hood. I called for my son to bring the cordless phone and told him the car was on fire. He began to spray water on the car in an effort to contain the fire. I called 911. Two fire engines responded but they were unable to save the car. The vehicle was a total loss, the engine was completely destroyed, everything under the hood had melted or fused together, the fire burned through the drivers side fire wall melting the dash and the radio, the hood liner and visors completely burned, the windshield cracked and melted, the fire began to burn through the passenger side front wheel well, the hood latch had melted shut so the fire dept had to use a chain saw to open the hood when the fire was out. The paint burned off the hood of the car. I have pictures to verify the fire damage.

- Orange City, FL, USA