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Why did my husband's Renault Safrane produce a puff of smoke when he started it?

My huband is driving his ageing Renault Safrane in France at the moment and wrote "It was 42 degrees when I started the car, and I got a brief puff of smoke and a smell of burning when I started it. It went away pretty quickly and did not recur. May have been the extreme heat but I seem to recall from HJ that this is generally not good news in an old car. I'm quite prepared for this being the big expensive terminal problem we've been waiting for but I just want to know how quickly it will deteriorate." What do you think?

Asked on 8 July 2010 by Hyundai Hun

Answered by Honest John
The sun will have heated up the bonnet, and when you started the fan will have blown hot air from under the bonnet into the car. Once it got going the ventilation system will have cooled everything down. But take a precautionary look for any melted under-bonnet wiring insulation.
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