Hey everyone...
Well, here's a big cautionary tale (and a few questions to follow). Tonight I had the car running with the air filter off the car and was trying to find the vacuum leak around the new pop-off valve I installed last weekend, per this thread:
Pop-off Valve Popping Question
Well, after several minitues of looking (and spraying) no leak made itself appearent. But, I guess in my frustration I got a little overzealous in my search to try and find the problem, and got a little too much carb cleaner in the airbox. Well, 1 backfire later, and the engine caught on fire.
Fortunately, the garage fire extinguisher was nearby, and I was able to put the car out in seconds. There was no visible damage ( the airbox plastic wasn't even hot). However, even though I was was judicious in my use of the extinguisher (I was trying to avoid a cleanup afterwards) I still got a sizable amount of the white powdery stuff over the engine. The engine was running while this happened, and while I did get it shut off, I'm pretty sure some of the powder has been sucked into the engine.
So far, (after a tall Guiness to calm down - thank God I still had one left in the fridge) I washed and wiped out the airbox, and hosed off the entire engine. I have not attempted to restart the car since this happened. What else should I do to clean up this mess? Do I need to worry about it in the engine? Any other advice (besides don't do it again!)
Also, I still don't have my stupid pop-off valve issue fixed.. but I do know it's not a vacuum leak around the base of the vavle
Finally, let this be another lesson for us all. This week I have been looking at fire extinguishers for the car, and this will cause me to redouble my efforts to find a good extinguisher. I know I would have lost my car, and probably the house if I had not had the extinguisher at hand. Its amazing what goes though your mind and how time slows when you see flame on a car:
"Oh, wow, flame"
... a few seconds later..
"Oh $h!t... FLAME!!!"
and after it's out: "This is NOT going to be cheap."
Thanks all for your support guys (and gals). I know w/o pelican I would be freaking out twice as much as I am now, but I have somehow maintained zen through this.
Thanks!!!
Chuck
