Fire... Fire... FIRE!... IT'S ON FIRE!!!!!!!!!

[ZOA NOM]

Almost lost the '88 this morning.

My son is using the car to get to/from work these days, and he comes in the house from the curb this morning where the car is idling, and says, "Dad, can you come take a look at something, something doesn't seem right."

When I get out front, I can see a little smoke coming out of the engine lid, and I think I see dripping molten metal under the rear end, and a flicker of flame!

Turn it off! Quick! I tell the kid, and then I tell him to go get the fire extinguisher under the sink in the kitchen. I'm bent over at the back end looking underneath when he comes back out and says he can't find it. Now the flames are getting bigger, and I can see that something up near the starter is on fire. I realize I don't have time to go looking for the extinguisher, so I start grabbing the hose off the front of the house. Of course, the last person to use it (guess who) broke the plastic lever on the damned thing that opens the flow, so I'm trying to twist it with my thumbnail. I yell at him at this point to call 911 for the fire dept, as my heart starts to sink, thinking I'm gonna watch this thing burn to the ground in front of my house.

I finally get the water flowing and jam the nozzle up under the rear fender at the starter and just let it flood the area. Then finally open the engine bay and jam the nozzle over the manifold towards the back corner by the airbox. No flames up top, and the smoke dies down just as the fire truck pulls up. The guy says "Good job, I don't think we would have been here in time to keep it from being burned pretty bad."

I haven't put her up on jackstands yet, but I'm not expecting to find much. I did find a piece of one of the heater box cables that had been melted through and fell on the ground, so I'm speculating that it broke, and fell onto the starter lug and shorted out.

I'm all calmed down now, but it was a scenario loaded with lessons learned.

I need to establish a better fire extinguisher location.
I need to pay attention to little details on the car that could be a problem waiting to happen.
I need to put rubber covers on the starter lugs.
I need to replace the hose nozzle with one that's not so damned cheap.
I need a drink, I woulda really missed that car, even though I don't drive it anymore.

Oh, and the silver lining?: My wife comes out after all the excitement and says, "So lemme guess, you have another race car, just like that?"

[azasadny]

I'm just glad that nobody was hurt!! Burns are the worst!!

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by ZOA NOM

I need to establish a better fire extinguisher location.

In the passenger compartment.

[A930Rocket]

Wow! Sounds like a close call.

[Rick V]

Phew

[Bill Douglas]

Man, phew, I can breathe again.

Close call. I'm pleased the heat/fire didn't find gasoline.

[ZOA NOM]

Originally Posted by Heel n Toe

In the passenger compartment.

Here's some irony. There's one under the driver's seat.

never crossed my mind.


It's a sign that it's time to pull the motor for a rebuild. She's turned about 250k miles now, and she's a little greasy under there. Good project for me and the kid to do some learnin.

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by zoa nom

here's some irony. There's one under the driver's seat.

Never crossed my mind.

d o h !

[ZOA NOM]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Man, phew, I can breathe again.

Close call. I'm pleased the heat/fire didn't find gasoline.

Yeah, I was hyperventilating for a few minutes after I put it out.

[rusnak]

I was only reading this and my heart rate was spiking viscerally. Glad your 911 is ok.

Buy the kid a sacrificial Prius or something....

[fanaudical]

I'm sorry to hear about this but am glad it didn't end worst than it could have. Please post an update if you find a definitive cause. I think we'd all like to learn from this.

[Don Plumley]

Yikes! I have a couple of extinguishers in the garage just in case...

[BE911SC]

I accidentally set a car on fire once. Once.

Luckily the other car had an extinguisher mounted or the whole house would have gone up. There is no panic quite like "the car is on fire" panic. Okay, "I'm on fire" panic would be worse.

[Buckterrier]

Glad it's all out and the car is still in one piece & you guys are unharmed. Build a rocket!!

[fastfredracing]

Glad to hear your car, family, and house are still intact. That really gets your blood pumping. My sc caught fire before. I was lucky, it was in shop, and I had a fire extinguisher right next to me, got it out quick, but like you , I nearly had a heart attack and took a while to settle down after getting it out.
I learned about car fires early in my life. After I lost this one,
This was a really clean, rust free copper colored hot rod 77 camaro with a hopped up 327, built trans, and rear. It was a total loss

[Baz]

Glad to hear it wasn't worse! WHEW!

I was working on the teener this afternoon and used a little starter fluid down the throttle body but before I turned the key - I mentally reminded myself where my extinguisher was.

I keep one in my work truck in one of the door pockets too.

You never know...

[ZOA NOM]

Originally Posted by fanaudical

I'm sorry to hear about this but am glad it didn't end worst than it could have. Please post an update if you find a definitive cause. I think we'd all like to learn from this.

I found the spiral metal cable sheath for the passenger side heater lever had somehow rubbed the rubber starter lug cover away, and welded itself to the lug, creating a nice long filament, essentially. It was glowing red all the way from the starter down beside the tranny next to the speedo sensor. It had melted through the rubber cover for that, and melted the brake sensor wire that crossed over it as well. Not much damage other than melted plastic, rubber, and some charring up near the starter.

The car started and ran fine once I cleared all the goo away from the starter. I couldn't really tell if the routing for the heater box cable was originally run close to the starter or not, but you may wanna take a peek to see if it is, because it makes a nice filament when it gets across the starter terminal.

[Shadetree930]

This might be a good place for the extinguisher?

[legion]

After I set the 944S on fire, I now keep an extinguisher in each vehicle, and on every wall in the garage.

[Jim Bremner]

CAR B Que!