Fire fire fire!

[Fredo]

I thought I might stop by my buddy's house on the way home from work today. So I'm cruzing digging the nice afternoon in the 66. When I get to the turn onto his street I have smoke coming from under the dash, but it does not smell like an electrical fire. I get into his drive and the car dies right there. I jump out and open the hood and there is an oily substance burning on the left side manifold and the hood insulation was on fire in a couple of places too.
I recently lost a fire fight on my 59 Apache so I'm panicking right? I pull off my sweatshirt and try to put it out with that. The sweatshirt caught fire and burned my fingers a little. The whole time I'm yelling for Jimmy to come out side. He never heard me and didn't know anything until I called his cell a few minutes later. I finally got the fire out by tossing dirt on it from a dirt drive next to my buddy's house.
The power steering hose sprung a leak and the oil was spraying right on to the manifold and it got hot enough to spark off. I ended up driving about 50 miles round trip to a NAPA that had the hose in stock. *NAPA part# NPS-7829* A 5 minute fix that took 2 hrs. I learned (relearned) 2 things tonight
1) Cotton/Poly blend sweatshirts suck for fire fighting
2) I will never drive any car without a fire extinguisher again (bought one tonight on my way home)

Well at least I didn't have to take another pic like this one......

 

[70NPORT]

I thought I might stop by my buddy's house on the way home from work today. So I'm cruzing digging the nice afternoon in the 66. When I get to the turn onto his street I have smoke coming from under the dash, but it does not smell like an electrical fire. I get into his drive and the car dies right there. I jump out and open the hood and there is an oily substance burning on the left side manifold and the hood insulation was on fire in a couple of places too.
I recently lost a fire fight on my 59 Apache so I'm panicking right? I pull off my sweatshirt and try to put it out with that. The sweatshirt caught fire and burned my fingers a little. The whole time I'm yelling for Jimmy to come out side. He never heard me and didn't know anything until I called his cell a few minutes later. I finally got the fire out by tossing dirt on it from a dirt drive next to my buddy's house.
The power steering hose sprung a leak and the oil was spraying right on to the manifold and it got hot enough to spark off. I ended up driving about 50 miles round trip to a NAPA that had the hose in stock. *NAPA part# NPS-7829* A 5 minute fix that took 2 hrs. I learned (relearned) 2 things tonight
1) Cotton/Poly blend sweatshirts suck for fire fighting
2) I will never drive any car without a fire extinguisher again (bought one tonight on my way home)

see the tip of the red thing?.......its ALWAYS in the car. Sorry you had to learn it the hard way.:crybaby2:

 

[53ryder]

Glad to hear your okay. I don't have an extinquisher in my 64' Valiant, but there will be one by Saturday at the latest!

Glenn

 

[bluefury361]

I keep an extingusher in everything I drive. Glad your OK.
You might have figured that out after the pick up fire ....?

 

[commando1]

Damn. Now you guys are making me paranoid again.

 

[72Fury]

I always try to carry a few things in my hobby cars. Cell phone, halon fire ext., AAA card, a few basic tools. That sucks on the 59.

 

[ManicMoparchanic]

Had that happen when running the 59 first time after 20 years. Cleaned 95% of animal nest from around engine. Valve cover considerable oil leak back side not seen at first poured on 5% left bottom of engine soaked up oil exhaust fired it up, had gas can with pump sitting there. Happened so fast, I just reached in flames removed plastic gas can, turned car off, the hosed down quickly. Was quite an adrenaline rush to say the least... Glad everything/one ok..

 

[detmatt]

Scary story to say the least. Glad you and the car are ok. I Carry an extinguisher in the classics but as Will said we should have one in every car we drive, you never know when you might need it even if its to help someone else out.

 

[66SportFury]

Glad you're ok man,.that's all that matters, but I'm on my way to buy an extinguisher!!

 

[Ironwolf]

I think having a fire extinguisher or two around is always a cheap insurance policy and is always a great first line of defense, :campfire: for the unthinkable !!

 

[70NPORT]

I don't think I could stand to watch my car burnup on the side of the road somewhere...powerless not being able to do anything about it. That's why I installed a car extinguisher....w/multiple ratings.

 

[thrashingcows]

Yup I carry an extinhuisher in all my vehicles...and this is also why I won't tighten down my battery connections either. Your car starts and electrical fire due to a short, or something else melting down...best way to stop it is to unplug the power source. Quick twist and lift and my battery is disconnected.

Glad things didn't get any worse!

 

[bluefury361]

They offer simple battery cut off switchs.
Loose battery cables can lead to electrical gremmlins ......

 

[Ironwolf]

 

[thrashingcows]

They offer simple battery cut off switchs.
Loose battery cables can lead to electrical gremmlins ......

"Could" lead to electrical gremlins. I have been doing this all my life and have not once had an electrical issue I could trace back to loose battery terminals. My battery connections aren't really loose....just snug enough to go on to the battery terminal with jus a hair of resistance. Then I push down and give them a 1/4 turn to "lock" them in place.

 

[bluefury361]

"Could" lead to electrical gremlins.QUOTE]

Murphys law ...... If it can happen ..... It will happen.
Spicifically .... loose battery connections can result in low or eratic voltage readings which can effect performance.

 

[Wildaugust]

I thought I might stop by my buddy's house on the way home from work today. So I'm cruzing digging the nice afternoon in the 66. When I get to the turn onto his street I have smoke coming from under the dash, but it does not smell like an electrical fire. I get into his drive and the car dies right there. I jump out and open the hood and there is an oily substance burning on the left side manifold and the hood insulation was on fire in a couple of places too.
I recently lost a fire fight on my 59 Apache so I'm panicking right? I pull off my sweatshirt and try to put it out with that. The sweatshirt caught fire and burned my fingers a little. The whole time I'm yelling for Jimmy to come out side. He never heard me and didn't know anything until I called his cell a few minutes later. I finally got the fire out by tossing dirt on it from a dirt drive next to my buddy's house.
The power steering hose sprung a leak and the oil was spraying right on to the manifold and it got hot enough to spark off. I ended up driving about 50 miles round trip to a NAPA that had the hose in stock. *NAPA part# NPS-7829* A 5 minute fix that took 2 hrs. I learned (relearned) 2 things tonight
1) Cotton/Poly blend sweatshirts suck for fire fighting
2) I will never drive any car without a fire extinguisher again (bought one tonight on my way home)

Well at least I didn't have to take another pic like this one......
View attachment 20845

Wow! I'm glad to hear that no one was injured and that you got it under control without too much damage. Sorry about your '59 Apache, though.

 

[70NPORT]

I park my car in side and ALWAYS disconnect the battery while its in there. Don't want to risk burning my house down because of a simple short in the car.

 

[thrashingcows]

"Could" lead to electrical gremlins.QUOTE]

Murphys law ...... If it can happen ..... It will happen.
Spicifically .... loose battery connections can result in low or eratic voltage readings which can effect performance.

Well I can honestly say Ol' Murphy has kicked the crap out of me on a lot of other things...but has left me alone with my batteries then.....

 

[Fredo]

Of course you guys are all correct. No way I should have been driving my car without a fire extinguisher, to be truthful it was a bone head move considering I did have to watch my 59 burn. There is a new extinguisher in the car now. I will not be able to finish repairs before tomorrow though. The rain should be over for a few days so I have the weekend to get it back on the road. A quick look shows 3 wires where the insulation started to give. I need to get in there and clean out all of the dirt I tossed at it.

The 59 caught fire because I had one of those damn glass in line fuel filters. It slapped against the intake one day and shattered pumping gas right onto the hot exhaust manifold. Once it sparked off it just kept feeding itself as long as it ran on the supply from the float bowl. I jump out when I saw the smoke under my dash and tried to get the hood up. By that time it was too hot and all I could do was call for help. I'm lucky the fire station was just a few blocks from where I was. They poped the hood with a big stainless crow bar and hosed that sucker dead. Then for extra credit they opened my door and gave the inside about 30 seconds with a 2" hose. I think that's when I knew I had a lot of work to do before I'd get it back on the road. Oh yeah there will be an extinguisher in it on the test drive when I'm done, **** there's one in it now and it doesn't even run.