Rain may have caused an arc somewhere. 98 2500 automatic diesel started itself at 4am under a light rain. Truck ran at a normal idle for a while then tried igniting again with it already running. No key in ignition. No automatic start. The truck never quit igniting until starter smoked and died. Fire started under pickup. Burnt starter and electrical panel put out by fire extinguisher. Scary! Does anyone have an idea as what may have caused all this damage?

 

Welcome to DF.

First, before anything else, please read this:
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-ra...s-section.html

I will move this to the diesel section for you.

 

Nope, but a buddy recently bought a 2nd gen and it burned to the ground while sitting on a lift less than a week after he bought it... unknown electrical fire while his trans was getting rebuilt.

Seems like that time of year when trucks start spontaneously combusting.

 

wow, i have never heard of that, heard of them burning from behind the dash. but this is a new one.

please keep us informend if you find the cause. does seems possible that the water could jump the solenoid without proper insulation over the terminals. but that seems a bit unlikely