Engine Fire

[nuts4nine14s]

Ok, after many days of sorting through wires, ordering parts from PP and replacing all the fuel lines I had a very heart pounding experience today.

I am still waiting on my fuel pump so I have become very impatient waiting to see if the engine will fire. I install all my new parts for a tune up, new fuel lines, changed oil/filter and go buy some starting fluid . I have my wife sit in the car and crank it while i spray some fluid into the throttle body. She fired up quickly and a huge puff of smoke/dust shoots out of the heat exchangers (no muffler on). Car dies because i was shoked at the puff so i spray some more in and have her crack it over while i continue to spray little bursts. Needless to say the car backfired out the TB and of course some fluid was on the outside of the TB and it catches fire. Not a big fire but enough for me to fly over the car to where the fire extingusher is and put it out. Everything looks ok, i pulled the TB and check out the TB sensor and it was singed ever so slightly but still looks good.

Moral of the story is I better be patient for parts to arrive LOL

Luke

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

If the extinguisher is one of the "dry chemical" type, go back out there right now and clean ALL of the powder up! The popular dry chem agents not only eat aluminum (over time), but they also destroy electrical insulation! And they're a real pain to clean up completely...

CO2 and Halon do not have this problem. They have their own, but they can come in quite handy...

--DD

[nuts4nine14s]

I gave it one quick shaort burst to put the flame out because I didn't want to clean up all the dust. After words i used my shop vac and a soft bristle brush end to get 99% of it out. I will go back over it and use a paint brush and vacuum to get all the nooks and cranys

Luke

[Jake Raby]

Thats the most corrosive stuff known to man.. PKP or "purple potassium powder" is the only thing worse...

dowse that sucker and get it all out of there...

[sean_V8_914]

spoken like a well trained military man. PKP is evil. Does baking soda & water solution neutralize it as it does other corrosives? Jakes right, ive seen it's evil metal munching ways. "dowse that sucker"

[nuts4nine14s]

What do you mean by dowse? Use water?

[Jake Raby]

Water, and alot of it... We were trained to neutralize it with coca cola and then rinse it with water...

I have seen that stuff attack an airframe and eat through it in 2 days when it wasn't cleaned correctly...

[mike95125]

PKP is much more invasive, but comercial dry powder is no joke either.
PKP: for A,B fires! man that brings back memeories.

[TEKWS01]

I would like to add from my experience, I'm a proffessional motorcycle jetski mechanic of over 20 years... and after putting out a jetki fire.. extiguisher material intered into the intake.. and the motor was locked within hours, all the bearings ,cylinder,piston,crank were destroyed.. if I were in your shoes Ii would see if I could turn engine over by hand and if so take some evation action as soon as you can..

[tat2dphreak]

so which kind of fire ext. should we all carry? just to be sure...

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by Jake Raby
I have seen that stuff attack an airframe and eat through it in 2 days when it wasn't cleaned correctly...

2 days?? Holy s**t!! I didn't think it worked that fast...


Tat, I would suggest a large CO2 extinguisher for garage use, and a Halon one to keep in the car. CO2 is generally not as effective as the others, but it is pretty harmless unless you use it in an enclosed area and you keep breathing it.

Halon is $$$, but sometimes that's worth it. Oh, and the little "spray-can" sized Halon bottles are almost useless. You want a 2.5 lb bottle at least for the car. There's a rating for extinguishers as to how much fire they can put out; 10 BC is a good large-ish size to keep in the car. The next size lower (is it 5 BC or 8 BC?) is a good small-ish size to keep in the car.

--DD

[tat2dphreak]

thanks dave, the one in there is a small white one, I think it's dry chem to boot! I was planning on getting a new one anyway... just wanted to get the right can for the job...

[lmcchesney]

DD,
Is not Halon banned by SCCA or to be banned?
What is our alternative and what properties does the alternative have?
L. McChesney

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

I haven't heard of SCCA banning Halon. Its manufacture has been banned by international treaty for a while, because it's a CFC and depletes the ozone layer, but mostly that means it's expensive to get.

If they have banned Halon, they probably have alternate suggestions that aren't going to harm the cars as much.

--DD

[campbellcj]

I think the "way to go" is a Halon hand-held; AHD an AFFF plumbed-in system to save your hide when the s**t really hits the fan.