Corvette caught fire today - tragedy averted!

[hzl6cm]

Today while trying to time my '86 Corvette I suddenly had flames shooting up out of the engine compartment over the windshield!!! This is a car that I had bout a few months ago that needed a little work on it, I had fixed a vacuum leak on the intake and knocked the timing way off because the distributor was loose - so my project today was to time it. I was sitting inside the car at the time letting it idle when all of the sudden all of flames just started shooting up from between the engine and the firewall. I shut the car off and jumped out – the flames kept shooting up and were licking over the windshield where I had my service manual sitting. I couldn’t move the car because it was trapped by other vehicles. I thought (hoped!!!) I had a fire extinguisher in the garage. I first glanced over by my welding torch (since I usually grab the extinguisher when I am using the torch), didn’t see it there, so I walked over to the pedestrian door in to the garage since I vaguely remembered keeping it there. I moved two folding chairs and fortunately it was behind them. I have never used a fire extinguisher before, though I’ve seen the drill before, and this is a real old one – one of several that I had picked up at an auction about twelve years ago so I hoped that it would work. It is an ABC model and does have a gauge, which I check and has always been in the green zone. I walked right up to the car, pointed the hose at the fire and gave it a shot from the passenger side, to my surprise it knocked the fire right down – even though it seemed to be burning stronger on the other side. However it flared right up again, I walked around to the other side and gave it a good shot and that knocked it down for good – I though I would have to give it a shot from underneath but that didn’t turn out to be needed. It doesn’t look to have hurt the car at all, except for powder everywhere from the extinguisher, which I could hardly believe, given the size of the flames. That was fortunate since I don’t have the Vette insured. Plus it was parked between two of my MGs (a ’54 TF1500 RHD and a ’78 MGB with a Buick 215 V8 installed) and nose to nose with my daily driver ’01 Camaro SS that is parked under my ’70 350 hp 4-speed Corvette convertible! Not to mention the racing Kart I just bought my daughter was right behind the ’86 Corvette plus the garage is full of car parts and my woodworking and automotive tools. I guess the moral of the story is to have a fire extinguisher handy any time you are working on a car – even when you don’t expect to need it. Plus make sure it isn’t one of those little dinky cheap ones – one of those would not have had enough charge to put this fire out – I don’t know what the rating is on this extinguisher – I guess that it is too old for that type of rating other than saying it weighs 14 lbs. So I guess that I can give thanks, on this Thanksgiving holiday, that I didn’t panic and I had what I needed to put the fire out – plus I was about ready to walk in to the house, while leaving the car idling (the house is a couple of hundred feet from the garage) and get my wife to help set the timing (hold her foot on the brake while the Vette was in gear), so fortunately the fire started while I was still in the garage – otherwise everything would have gone up in smoke. I don’t know what started the fire, I had a big piece of cardboard under the car to catch oil leaks and that all burned up – in fact I think that was the main thing that was burning, I’m wondering if I had a fuel leak – I thought I smelled gas when I was trying to start it yesterday – that got down on the cardboard and the vapors caught fire. Oh well alls well that ends well – I’m just glad I had the fire extinguisher handy!

Take care all and Happy Thanksgiving!

Kevin Brown ’86 Z51, ’70 Convertible, ’66 Corvette (stroked ’57 283) powered MGB

 

[Edmond]

Wow, that is an amazing story. I'm just glad that you weren't burned and that nothing else was damaged.

 

[Ken]

Your mention of the extinguisher that you "picked up at an auction about twelve years ago ... which ... has always been in the green zone." and thought (hoped) would work, brings to everyone's attention the fact that extinguishers should regularly be checked, and recharged, on a routine basis. Usually it's done annually, but may extend for a couple of years in some cases.

There usually is a time limit to how long the active charge will be good I believe.

By the way, congratulations on escaping what could have been a disaster.

 

[Eric]

Sheesh! Having set my old Vette on fire once I can relate - that'll wake you up and quick! Glad all is well and everyone safe! Now that's a story of things to be thankful for.

- Eric

 

[hzl6cm]

You are right, at work I know that we do it at least annually. At least this one had a guage on it that I could look at periodically, to see if the charge was there (assuming the guage was good) - but I was definitely wondering if it would work when I picked it up. Now I need to charge it as soon as possible, along with getting my other ones checked!

Kevin

Your mention of the extinguisher that you "picked up at an auction about twelve years ago ... which ... has always been in the green zone." and thought (hoped) would work, brings to everyone's attention the fact that extinguishers should regularly be checked, and recharged, on a routine basis. Usually it's done annually, but may extend for a couple of years in some cases.

There usually is a time limit to how long the active charge will be good I believe.

By the way, congratulations on escaping what could have been a disaster.

 

[tnovot]

How fortunate the old extinguisher still worked. Yes, extinguishers should be checked frequently but do not have to be regularly recharged. In fact, the cost to recharge is usually more than the cost of a new extinguisher which can usually be purchased at discount, hardware, and home supply stores for under $10.
Never test fire a dry chemical extinguisher of any age. It's like testing a flashbulb (if anyone out there remembers what those are). The powder will coat the sealing surfaces of the valve and it will no longer provide a 100% seal. The unit will still weigh the same as new because all the powder is still in the case but, over time, the pressure (either Nitrogen or CO2) will slowly bleed off and no longer be able to expell the extinguishing agent.
It is also a good idea to ocassionally turn a dry chemical extinguisher upside down and shake to lossen the powder because the extinguishing agent in a dry chemical extinguisher which sits for extended periods, especially if subjected to vibration, can settle and pack.
The chemical in a BC rated extinguisher is basically just baking soda with an additive to make it more fluid. The chemical in an ABC rated extinguisher gets its A rating by having a special quality whereby it sticks to and coats hot surfaces in order to seal the combustible from oxygen. This feature also make cleanup more difficult. I hope you didn't get too much drawn in to the air intake. Sounds like if the fire was at the rear of the engine and that is where you directed the powder, you should be OK.

 

[Chrisr]

one of several that I had picked up at an auction about twelve years ago so I hoped that it would work.

I'd consider this an act of God. Wait til the guys at the firehouse here this one!!

Glad you and the 'vette are OK, though.

 

[hzl6cm]

Fortunately I had just plugged the air intake back in to the filter before this all happened, plus I shut the engine off before I got out of the car to deal with the fire. Also, the engine wasn't very warm yet so, even though this was an ABC unit the powder isn't stuck on, it seams to wipe off ok.

I hope you didn't get too much drawn in to the air intake. Sounds like if the fire was at the rear of the engine and that is where you directed the powder, you should be OK.

 

[bradfordsvettes]

had a fire in the 69 an electrical short . only a fluk i went out to the barn at that time and found it before it was full blown the 61 was sitting right beside it . all my tools parts and shop are in the barn and is only 20 feet from the house. now all cars have battery cut offs when inside. it was a very scary deal to say the least steve

 

[Mac]

If anyone is wondering, the easiest way to check a fire extinguisher yourself is to turn it upside-down and listen carefully. You should be able to hear the powder inside slide & slump from the bottom to the valve. Then turn it upright again (listen again if you like) and tap the dial to be sure it's not stuck.

Most fire extinguisher sellers have free testing if you don't want to take a chance.

-Mac

 

[hzl6cm]

Update of fire

Just wanted to give everybody an update. I had a fuel leak where the cold start injector pipe comes off of the back of the fuel injection rail - must be a bad o-ring (unfortunately it is a real b*tch to get at). Gas was running down the back of the block and must have gotted on to this large piece of cardbaord that I had under the car. The flames were coming from the gasoline and the cardboard (about a third of the piece was burned). The car really wasn't hurt much at all. I cleaned up the car on Sunday (pushed the car outside and vacuumed the engine compartment, blew it off with compressed air and then powerwashed it). The flames just melted off the insulation off of two wires, which weren't part of the harness and needed to be removed anyway since they weren't hooked to anything, melted two vacuum hoses and the spark plug wire spacers on the driver side, the car needed new plug wires and spacers anyway. In fact after I cleaned off the engine I was able to start the car up without having to do anything else (it was still outside this time!). None of the fiberglass or other engine components seemed to be hurt at all - I feel pretty fortunate!


The extinguisher that I used was a 37 year old 10 lb ABC unit. I went down and bought a brand new replacement for $38 so I am now ready for another fire! ;-).

Kevin

 

[BlackNBlue95]

Good deal, thank god it could have been worse..

I've had experiances with fire before while working on cars.. it will wake you right up and get your heart going.. especially when it's not your car.. I thank god that we had fire extinguishers and that no damage had ever been done.. mainly due to the fact that we were able to get it out quickly enough before any plastic had time to melt..

Common sense.. but something to remmber don't panic and grab a hose when it's an oil fire.. you may want to do that as instinct. if you do it will spread..
-=Rick