Engine Fire

[Nath]

Very pissed off, Was coming along a local bypass last night at about 60 - 70mph and started to notice smoke out the back,

I pulled over and then i could smell collant so i though ah shit colint leak , then the smoke came shooting out the bonnet so quickly poped the hood to be confronted with Flames coming from down by Turbos and main boost pipes.

quickly put the flames out and collant was everywhere and boost pipe had come straight off from jubilee clip???

after dousing the engine in water from nearby water tank (luckily house where i stopped had one in the garden)

took RAC 4 hours with a low loader to come and take me home , any coolant that goes in comes straight out the bottom and can see split pipes.

Car was down with Ross @ Dragon 5 weeks ago and he replaced these pipes and how come they came off?

what could have started the fire on it any ideas any one:(

[Shaq]

OMG !:eek:

that s serious sh*t  !

can you see if these pipes are rubing against something causing them to split ?


shaQ

[davefrith]

Flames ? thats obviously not fun

Smoke yes but flames are a car destroyer ! can you see where the fire started ?

[Nath]

well i hope that no pipes were rubbing cus Ross reoplced pipes so i dont know , flames were coming from nere the turbos , down under standard boost valves.

[g11ary]

sounds very much like to me a oil leak at the turbos, Ive had it, most embarrassing, just showed a m3 my boost, then had to pull over and put the car out. He must have been laughing all the way home. Coolant would not cause a fire, has to be an oil line to the turbos.

[gsb876]

Bad news mate, best thing to do is load her up and get her back to a rx7 specialist and find out what the prob was, if the fire was near the turbos then dont drive it till you know whats up??

Do you have a fc commander as that should have shown you if there was a overheating problem, the normal gauge for temp is not very reliable as it only moves when the cars already overheated!!

Please let us all know what the prob was when you find out just incase anyone else gets the same....

[Nath]

Sounds Bad ,

I cant drive it as as soon as i poor water in it comes straight out the bottom so its not holding any coolant at all.

I dont have the FC commander but i had only been in the car about 30mins MAX?? so couldnt have really been hot.

[antnicuk]

Garys right, coolant pipes new or old would not cause a fire.  Hot oil on the manifold could, also a fuel leak at the injectors rails would spray fuel onto the turbos.  If coolant leaks after the fire it maybe that the pipes have been damaged by the fire and thats why you now have a leak. The turbo coolant lines are there and also the matrix pipe runs next to the turbos, although most of this metal around the turbos there is a rubber bit that attaches to the engine.

You were very lucky to find water, i would advise anyone with a modded car to carry a small fire extinguisher, i have one behind each seat and one in the boot, you can buy them for about a tenner and they dont look too bad. There would be nothing worse than standing back and watching your baby burn with nothing more than your bladder to put it out with.

I hope you get it sorted and there isnt too much damage.
regards
tony

[Nath]

Yes i consider my self lucky that there was a water suply , i was actually running to a near by river when i spotted the water tank , im currenly arranging for a low loader to take it to a specialist.

[g11ary]

Also check brake fluid, the res is very close and again I once had a cap split on me at a track day and fluid dripped onto the turbo.

[clive]

Real sorry to hear this, main thing is your OK though.

As people have said the vacuum pipes would not have caused this, but oil pipes would, you have feed pipes to the Turbos plus drains and also small clear plastic oil injector feeds on the top drivers side of the rotor housings.

As Gary said though things aren\'t always what they seem as a little bit of fluid on hot Turbos makes a hell of a lot of smoke.
(fingers crossed it\'s something minor)    

[Carl]

Bear in mind though that if a pipe in itself had melted on the exhaust manifold or turbo pack it could have made the fire.
With sufficient heat these pipes are made of materials(Oil based products) though could ignite.
Kind regards
Carl

[Shaq]

I am getting paranoid about my car catching fire now what kind of fire extinguisher would I need just incase the worst happens?



thanks

shaQ

[Donato]

Shaq,

Its always best to have a fire extinguisher in the car just in case....you can get nice shiny polished one\'s from DP Motorsport at around £70.I believe Halon extinguishers are best for cars but speak to the experts before you buy to ensure you get the right one.

Cheers

Donato

[Nath]

Yeah i can only hope it was something not to major , but in my eyes flames seem to be bad ,

im just paranoid as when i poor coolant in , it comes straignt out the bottom , this can only be pipes gone right.