Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 06:08:23 GMT From: "ctbucky69" <ctbucky69nopsam.net> Subject: Re: Fire?
I completely agree with KeithG's assessment - I too had a fire on my '85 900 Turbo. The circumstances were similar - I had just completed a minor tune-up (plugs, cap and rotor). Upon completion of the "tune-up", I took the car out for a ride. As I approached a traffic signal on a highway off-ramp, I downshifted and a load "pop" sound. At this point I was travelling approximately 45 MPH and the car was running extremely rough/missing. In that I was almost home, I attempted to continue driving the car back to my home, which was less than a mile. As I "pushed" the car, it appeared to running on 2 cylinders. A local police detective just happened to be following behind me and pulled me over when he noticed a fire burning from underneath the car. I pulled over and shut the car down. He had notified the fire department who was there within minutes. They were ready to respond to a car fire, but luckily the fire went out when I shut it down. Apparently, the new rotor I had just put in was defective and busted in pieces, but not enough to completely disable the car. The raw fuel mixture was ignited by the catalytic converter and caught the undercoating on fire. When I shut the vehicle down (which saved the vehicle from total destruction), the fire went out. I aired the car out, replaced the rotor and cap, as well as the wires and that was 15,000 miles ago. The car runs great!! "KeithG" <noonenopsamdnet.att.net> wrote in message news:B8ZB7.140577$3d2.4512407nopsamsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net... > I take issue with your assessment. It was the water, but not IN the > cylinders. The cause was by a couple of dead cylinders. The water shorted > the plug wires. You were dumping extra raw gas into the catalytic converter > which superheated the catalytic converter which caught something else on > fire (rubber hangars is probable). I sincerely doubt that you got water into > the cylinders via the sparkplugs. > > If a car is missing it is best not to drive it due to the possibility of > fire or damaging a catalytic converter. > > Regards, > > KeithG > > > "Yaofeng" <ychennopsam30.net> wrote in message > news:e89d1e3e.0110251030.3ac0332dnopsaming.google.com... > > DanB <meld_bnopsamo.com> wrote in message > news:<3BD5F7DE.E78CFA10nopsamo.com>... > > > Fire? so what happened? Was it the SAAB's fault? My neighbor's truck > burst into flames a few > > > weeks back. When the tires blew out it got us neighbors looking around > and someone called the > > > fire dept. It just kills me that he bought another Ford! Since everyone > just said it was > > > "electrical" > > > > > > -Dan > > > > > > > No. It was my own stupidity, on hind sight. It was a '89 900S 5 > > speed at 155k miles. Rose Quartz in color, perfect body. > > > > Washed the engine one Saturday afternoon under the bright August sun. > > I do this at least once a year. Noticed the distributor and the block > > around it was particularly grimy. This is the area I used to ignore > > in the past. Also noticed there is a vent hole at the front of the > > block for the spark plugs on the 16v engine. Sprayed engine degreaser > > liberally and aimed the garden hose squarely at the hole to wash it. > > > > The car started right up after washing. I did not let it idle. Just > > backed it out of the driveway onto the street and then shut the engine > > off. > > > > Took the car out 2 hours later. It idled very rough about 500 yards > > from home. Thinking I'd got water in the system, I floored the gas > > pedal trying to get water out of the system. It still idled extremely > > rough with my foot on the floor for a mile and half. That's when I > > saw smoke coming out of the shift console. > > > > Stop the car on the side of the road and got out. I saw fire in the > > rear of the car near the passenger side wheel. When I realized the > > fire was near the gas tank, I immediately backed off to 50 feet away. > > Someone then called 911. Once fire started, there is not much I can > > do but to see it slowly burns. By the time fire department came, it > > was in full blaze. > > > > When I finishing dousing the engine using the garden hose, the spark > > plugs recess were likely fully immersed in water. The water then > > slowly seeped into the cylinders. By flooring the gas pedal all the > > way for about two miles, my guess is gas got ignited in the cat > > converter and made the exhaust extremely hot. The hot exhaust pipe > > set the rubber hangers ablaze. > >
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