Well I have stumbled across this thread after my Mahindra 4035 PST caught on fire today. I have not had a chance to contact the dealer yet, and am trying to find some guidance on taking the next step. My tractor is a 2011 and has 372 hours on it. Throughout the time I have owned the tractor I have had a number of problems, the latest of which was a starter issue( this is the 2nd time I have had an issue with the starter). After finding out the a new starter would be over $400 dollars I took the starter to be rebuilt, when this did not fix the problem I ended up taking the tractor to the dealership and they said that the cable that runs between the battery and the starter was bad(go figure), they replaced it and I went on my way. Since getting the tractor back I have put less than 2 hours(maybe even less than one, they did not print the hours reading on my receipt when i picked it up) on the tractor, and today after bushhogging with the tractor for about an hour, I got off the tractor to replace the shear pin when i noticed a bad smell and a small wisp of smoke coming out of the dash by the hand throttle next to the steering wheel. I immediately turned off the tractor and called the fire department first, then I called my father to bring me a fire extinguisher. The flames were coming from the direct vicinity of the starter motor. The fire department believes it was an electrical fire, and the tractor is not looking too good. Also, some how during the fire the tractor turned itself back on? My warranty is out, and I do not have insurance on the tractor, but being that the tractor was just in the shop I wonder if the dealership messed something up. Should I first take the tractor to a different dealership to get an unbiased opinion or should I wait until they tell me what they think and then take it somewhere else?
