Engine Fire

[BamaFan]

Had a bit of a scare this afternoon. I took my steel lady out for a cruise and when I returned home, I saw smoke coming through the grill and thought, "That's odd!"

I opened the hood and had a small fire under the air cleaner in front of the carb. Luckily, the FD is literally up the road and they were here in two minutes, and were able to put it out in short order. It wasn't a huge fire, but enough to be scary. Turned out a fuel hose developed a leak and sprayed gas on the intake.

I'm thinking new coil, probably a few new plug wires (and these probably had less than 100 miles on them from a recent tune up), carb gasket, maybe intake manifold gasket, of course new fuel hoses and hopefully the carb itself is okay. And I think my insurance covers it. Just may take awhile to get it fixed.

What else should I look out for / tell the adjuster? I'm not sure they're all classic car experts. I don't want to con the guy; that's not me; but I don't want to get screwed either.

 

[3175375]

Had a bit of a scare this afternoon. I took my steel lady out for a cruise and when I returned home, I saw smoke coming through the grill and thought, "That's odd!"

I opened the hood and had a small fire under the air cleaner in front of the carb. Luckily, the FD is literally up the road and they were here in two minutes, and were able to put it out in short order. It wasn't a huge fire, but enough to be scary. Turned out a fuel hose developed a leak and sprayed gas on the intake.

I'm thinking new coil, probably a few new plug wires (and these probably had less than 100 miles on them from a recent tune up), carb gasket, maybe intake manifold gasket, of course new fuel hoses and hopefully the carb itself is okay. And I think my insurance covers it. Just may take awhile to get it fixed.

What else should I look out for / tell the adjuster? I'm not sure they're all classic car experts. I don't want to con the guy; that's not me; but I don't want to get screwed either.
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Glad that you are ok!

Make a complete list of the components around the area (temp sending unit, wiring, hoses, refinishing the metal components, valve cover gaskets, etc).

 

[413]

Looks minor from here. You got lucky. PCV hose, vac advance hose, plug wires, air filter. Coil wires look ok. Follow the wiring harness and make sure it’s not melted.

this is a good example of why a rubber fuel supply hose is a bad idea. Look at the cracks in the rubber. Is this the leak?

what is this by the distributor hold down? A hose clamped to ?

 

[I84885]

Looks minor from here. You got lucky. PCV hose, vac advance hose, plug wires, air filter. Coil wires look ok. Follow the wiring harness and make sure it’s not melted.

this is a good example of why a rubber fuel supply hose is a bad idea. Look at the cracks in the rubber. Is this the leak?

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what is this by the distributor hold down? A hose clamped to ?

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Glad you are safe. Good luck with your repairs

 

[CBODY67]

Glad it can be fixed and you are fine.

In ADDITION to the rubber items under the hood . . . ALSO inspect the drilled holes in the carb body which are sealed with a small ball bearing and solder, then crimped shut around that. Ethanol'd gasoline will eventually dissolve that solder, then the ball bearing falls out, as gasoline then flows onto the hot intake manifold from the float bowl. Not good!

Also replace all of the other rubber fuel line sections, too, for good measure, all the way back to the tank. Ethanol dries out the rubber from the inside of the rubber hose (the part the gasoline actually touches) outward. Until the outer layer of the rubber hose flakes off from drying out, it can look to be in good condition. YouTube videos on this.

When done, it'll be all better again!

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[furious70]

Close call for sure! Glad it turned out ok. Modern efi hose from the parts store doesn't cost much more than the cheap hose and offers better corn and pressure protection.
Hose barb ends rather than just cut off tubing.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Glad you're OK, and that the car can be repaired.

Respectfully, as you now know - rubber fuel line and engines don't mix. Use steel except the three bits - 1 before the fuel pump, and the two bits on either side of the fuel filter, which should be located at the front of the engine block, not above it, just a few inches from the pump.

 

[73Coupe]

Replace the fuel hose on top of the engine with steel line, the way is was designed to be. This is an example of why you should never have rubber fuel line on top of an engine.

 

[1970FuryConv]

Had a bit of a scare this afternoon. I took my steel lady out for a cruise and when I returned home, I saw smoke coming through the grill and thought, "That's odd!"

I opened the hood and had a small fire under the air cleaner in front of the carb. Luckily, the FD is literally up the road and they were here in two minutes, and were able to put it out in short order. It wasn't a huge fire, but enough to be scary. Turned out a fuel hose developed a leak and sprayed gas on the intake.

I'm thinking new coil, probably a few new plug wires (and these probably had less than 100 miles on them from a recent tune up), carb gasket, maybe intake manifold gasket, of course new fuel hoses and hopefully the carb itself is okay. And I think my insurance covers it. Just may take awhile to get it fixed.

What else should I look out for / tell the adjuster? I'm not sure they're all classic car experts. I don't want to con the guy; that's not me; but I don't want to get screwed either.
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I don't know what your deductible is, but if it's $500 it may not be worth getting the insurance people involved. Is there any body damage or is it just mechanical and electrical repairs?

Anyway, I'm glad you're okay. That's the most important thing.

 

[69PHOENIX]

G'Day,
Many Years Ago I Had a 69 Phoenix (440 C.I.) that I Didn't Drive Very Often. (9 M.P.G.)
A Friend was Arriving from the Bush and So I Started the Car & left it Idling Against the Front of the House Ready to Move When He Arrived.
When he Did I Climbed into the Drivers Seat and Gave It a Slight Rev before Selecting Drive,
As I Did There was a Huge Flash of Fire out Either Side of the Bonnet.
I Immediately Opened the Bonnet to Find Everything Fully Alight and Huge Clouds of Smoke.
Extremely Fortunately for Me the Local Constabulary were Cruising Past at that Exact Moment and Swung into My Drive with Their Fire Extinguishers
Saved Not Only the Car But Possibly My House As Well.
The Cause of the Fire is What Somewhat Amazed Me.
After Idling for Around 20 Minutes the Sudden Pressure Increase when I Revved the Engine had Caused the HP P/Steering Hose to Split.
This Sprayed the Oil Directly onto the Exhaust Manifold & Basically Set Every Thing Under the Bonnet Alight.
The Fact that ATF could be so Flammable had Never Occurred to Me.
What Didn't Help was the Fact I was Running a Custom Paper Air Filter Element, as Soon as the Flames Hit it Up She Went.
My Advice : Most of Our Cars are Running 50 or 60 Y.O. Rubber Houses. (Fuel, Trans, P/Steer, Radiator, Etc)
A Brand New H.P. Hose Custom Made Cost Me $130 AND It is My Intention to Replace All the Hoses.
It Would Be a Great pity to Loose Your Car for the Sake of a Bit of Simple and Cost Effective Maintenance.
Anyway That's My Opinion
Regards Tony.M

 

[BamaFan]

I don't know what your deductible is, but if it's $500 it may not be worth getting the insurance people involved. Is there any body damage or is it just mechanical and electrical repairs?

Anyway, I'm glad you're okay. That's the most important thing.

 

[BamaFan]

Thanks everyone. The rubber fuel hose has been mentioned and duly noted.
One concern; and I may have jumped the gun earlier; is the gaskets, primarily around the carburetor and the intake manifold. On the one hand, I'm thinking they're exposed to heat constantly anyway, but on the other hand, maybe not the kind of heat from a fire. Could they be damaged? I don't really want to tear the engine down any more than I have to.

 

[Big_John]

NHRA has always limited rubber hose length to 6", but you've heard enough about rubber and steel lines, so I won't say anything more.

Anyway... On the subject of rubber hose, a few years ago, a friend of mine in the parts business got me buying fuel injection rated hose. His reasoning is that hose is also rated for the ethanol laced gas and won't break down. The only disadvantage is it does cost a couple bucks more. IMHO, the hose itself is a little more robust in construction and a better hose all around.

Low pressure hose might be OK to use with ethanol fuel, but it depends on the source. That spool of low pressure hose that the parts guy lops a couple feet off from may be... or maybe not.

 

[1970FuryConv]

The fire is probably too small to damage the intake gaskets. For the carburetor gasket, you could spray carburetor cleaner around the base of the carburetor. If the engine starts to rev, you may have a leak in the area that you just sprayed.

 

[GORDON DREW]

Glad it can be fixed and you are fine.

In ADDITION to the rubber items under the hood . . . ALSO inspect the drilled holes in the carb body which are sealed with a small ball bearing and solder, then crimped shut around that. Ethanol'd gasoline will eventually dissolve that solder, then the ball bearing falls out, as gasoline then flows onto the hot intake manifold from the float bowl. Not good!

Also replace all of the other rubber fuel line sections, too, for good measure, all the way back to the tank. Ethanol dries out the rubber from the inside of the rubber hose (the part the gasoline actually touches) outward. Until the outer layer of the rubber hose flakes off from drying out, it can look to be in good condition. YouTube videos on this.

When done, it'll be all better again!

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

Sound advice about the ethanol gas. I was told by a couple of local guys to me to try and find gas that doesn’t have any ethanol in it. Fortunately, Shell 91 and Canadian Tire 91 doesn’t have ethanol in it. It costs more but if it’ll help protect the fuel system, I’m all for it.

 

[GORDON DREW]

Had a bit of a scare this afternoon. I took my steel lady out for a cruise and when I returned home, I saw smoke coming through the grill and thought, "That's odd!"

I opened the hood and had a small fire under the air cleaner in front of the carb. Luckily, the FD is literally up the road and they were here in two minutes, and were able to put it out in short order. It wasn't a huge fire, but enough to be scary. Turned out a fuel hose developed a leak and sprayed gas on the intake.

I'm thinking new coil, probably a few new plug wires (and these probably had less than 100 miles on them from a recent tune up), carb gasket, maybe intake manifold gasket, of course new fuel hoses and hopefully the carb itself is okay. And I think my insurance covers it. Just may take awhile to get it fixed.

What else should I look out for / tell the adjuster? I'm not sure they're all classic car experts. I don't want to con the guy; that's not me; but I don't want to get screwed either.
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Happy to hear the damage is minor. One suggestion I would make, after looking at your photos, the smaller carb return spring, shouldn’t that go through the larger one so the smaller one isn’t kinked?

 

[CBODY67]

AS a word of caution . . . be sure to check the gasoline ethanol content labelling laws in your area as they DO vary. IF no ethanol content labels ln the pump are found, then consider that fuel to have ethanol in it, as the default mode. In states and such where ethanol labelling is active, even the "ethanol free gasoline" is labelled as such. Just as the "Contains up to 10% Ethanol" labels are also present.

There are DIY methods to check for ethanol in gasoline, which basically mean taking a glass container of gasoline and adding a certain amouint of water to it. What happens after that determines the presence of any "alcohol" in the fuel. Probably serveral YouTube videos on such. Maybe a link for more information at www.gasbuddy.com ?

Sometimes, the "hearsay" of what a particular brand/grade of fuel has in it can be accurate, but best to actually determine that for good measure.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[John Reddie]

Sorry about your fire but - consider yourself lucky. This happened to my '67 Fury Fury III back in 2005 and what really hurt was that it was my fault. The car is back to normal now and I am much more careful now.
John

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

@John Reddie - OOOF!! What a shame, and I bet it's an interesting story on how you repaire/restored it afterwards. You should start a thread on that experience.

 

[73Coupe]

Dang, that was fixable? Ooof is right.

who flicked the butt that came back in?