Cub Cadet caught Fire! Use with caution!
 

My 2 year old Cub Cadet LT1045 lawn tractor burst into flames after using it for about 20 minutes. Has something like this happened to anyone before? Very dissatisfied with Cub Cadet / MTD's response...which was they don't warranty fires! I know, that's just a bogus excuse to get out of honoring their warranty. But at the moment I own a burnt carcass of a mower and my grass is growing higher. Anyone got any input or suggestions on the matter?

Sorry, to see your misfortune. I've seen videos on YouTube of other Cub Cadets being on fire.

Where did the fire start?
Did you buy it new?
How clean was it under the hood?

I just got done reading three pages on this topic on MTF.

The question I have, but didn't see addressed was.......what caused the fire...???

:Huh:

I can't tell you what caused the fire. The best conclusion is that it was either a faulty wiring harness as a cub cadet dealer has suggested or perhaps just too much heat from the exhaust and engine underneath a plastic hood. (they have since remodeled this area on their newer tractors) But even without finding out a reason for the fire first, Cub Cadet immediately came back with a reply of fires are not covered, submit to your homeowners policy. That is unacceptable. I'm just tying to find other people in my situation ( which I have found already).

Was it leaking oil? I know they have been replacing the cork gaskets under the valve covers with RTV on A lot of these.

The fire started in the front...on top??
It was purchased new and was still within the original warranty period.
It was very clean prior to this incident

In my line of work, I have seen a lot of burnt wires. I would find it hard to see, that wires would start that kind of fire.

However, the heat from a Muffler or Exhaust is a tremendous source of heat. I can't visualize this design, in that all my Cubs are older models (all metal hoods).

Was there a Heat Shield to protect the plastic hood? Was it intact & in good shape?

I only stated the faulty wiring because that was a suggestion from a Cub Cadet dealer. I think it's just poor design to have hot exhaust and an engine with a plastic cover over it. And no, there isn't any heat shield...if there was one, it probably wouldn't have caught fire. I guess they figured they could save themselves a few bucks by eliminating this important safety feature.

I agree with Bill...odds are it was an oil or gas that cause the fire. Number #1 problem is how you going to fix or replace it????

I would be checking with my home owners insurance to see if they will cover it. You can get a lawyer to help...long run it will cost you more than what it is worth to replace or repair. Cub Cadet can claim the fuel line has wear on the outside and finally rub deep enough to allow fuel to leak. Another possibility is the oil filter work loose and leaked oil. Oil sending unit could have sprung a leak and cause the fire.

There was a posting on Facebook about a Cub like yours that caught on fire. Not sure if it was yours.....

One thing I do know is a party that keeps bad mouthing a product they better have good proof. They could open themselves up to a lawsuit that will cost more than getting a lawn mower repaired or replaced.

I've got a '07 LT1045 just like yours... without the melted stuff... sorry.

I guess you would call it a "heat shield" but mine has a plastic scoop on the inside of the hood that helps draw heat away from the engine. I don't have a pic, but I can get one. How effective it is, I dunno... How many hours did it have on it? I've got about 138 on this one....

That's a real bummer man. Did it make any weird sounds before it started on fire? Like was it running poorly or perhaps maybe a little to hyperactive is what i like to say if it runs at higher idle.

that looks like it was one heck of a fire/conflagration caused by something more than faulty wiring. must have happened rather quickly too:bigthink:

Boy, sad to see that esp. on such a new tractor! Now, heres some thoughts. Oil, even hot is hard to catch on fire unless there is fire! Fuel is hard to ignite without spark in raw form. It is the fumes more, and again with spark. Mufflers if good, being only 2 years old, should still be good dont create a ton of heat. Now, if there is a hot wire thats shorting, it alone wont do that either. But it will cause the engine and muffler/exhaust to run much hotter! Then if there is a fuel leak cause by a quickly deteriorating fuel line(from the heat) that allows the gas to leak out and the arc from the shorted out wire would start a fire. So ultimately, there probably is no one thing that caused it! If the wire got shorted out, it could be considered a factory issue. However they could very easily still say poor maintenance. You should have checked those! LOL. Inferior parts is what caused it in any sense! Also as much as you hate hearing it, home owners insurance if you have it is the only good way to replace this machine! Not a satisfying answere at all. But thats beurocracy at its finest. If you do not have home owners insurance, Then I really do pitty you! I can say, my 805 I bought used in good running condition. They had a car battery in it. Well after using it for a couple of weeks, it stopped running. Would not start back up. I figured a bad wire and I jumped the starter selenoid and it ran and I rode it back to my truck to see what was wrong with it as the PTO did not work to run the mower. Well, come to find out when I got it home, the car battery had been sitting on top of a red wire and broke through the insulation and it melted the wire and the adjacent wire. No fires. Even ran when I jumped the starter selenoid! So that does say something about the wireing by itself! I wish you the best of luck on replacing it and may you have a better experiance the next time. I would not suggest buying a newer MTD machine!

This poster has posted this situation on numerous forums over the net.

From being a Volunteer FireFighter for 15+ yrs, I have seen some strange situations where you scratch your head. :HeadScratch:The possibility exists that the fire was intentionally set to get out from under the product. One just doesn't know and never will.

This has been a controversial situation to say the least.

It is best to let this guy handle this situation as he sees fit.

The original poster only has 4 posts - all in this thread. And his last post was August 19, over a month ago. I doubt if he will post again.

I agree with Roland. Something just seems strange about the fire. :bigthink: