Not a good day - My Griff catches fire
Discussion
Sorry for your trauma, I know what it's like to have to watch it burn. Nobody offered me any water when an electrical fault caused a small engine bay fire in my cerb (root cause - poorly fitted aftermarket stereo). The fire brigade put mine out after a similar wait. The ins co originally wanted to write it off but decided to repair it. It was off the road for 10 months but eventually came back looking pretty good. Hopefully your engine and chassis are ok as mine were. My interior was ok (windscreen gone). I needed new screen and surround, engine panel and hoses, wiper box etc, washer bottle, clutch line, air boxes and intakes, injectors, fuel hoses, loom and a trip to the body shop. Yours could well be repaired - let's hope so. Good luck!
Yes its annoying our cars get branded as unreliable. Got that from a few at work on Monday. But its an old car and you expect some problems from old cars no matter who made them. You will have problems. I ask them whether they think their cars will still be on the road 17 years from now 
In the newspaper article it puts the cars value at £20,000 : I gave the reporter that figure : Once I had used up all the bottles of water and cola in my boot and the motorists who stopped to help had used up all the water/drinks they had we just had to stand back and wait for the fire brigade. The reporter (who by chance had been parked up nearby) then asked me whether I thought it would be repairable and I replied that at that point I thought it hopefully would be as the damage was probably less than the cars £20,000ish value. But that if the fire got worse / the petrol tank exploded then it would be a write off.
Someone left a comment on the newspaper article that I shouldn't have left the bonnet up as the air could then feed the flames. May have a point I suppose but its hard to just stand back and leave the fire to take a hold. Your instinct is to try and tackle it in the hope you can put it out before things get worse.
In the newspaper article it puts the cars value at £20,000 : I gave the reporter that figure : Once I had used up all the bottles of water and cola in my boot and the motorists who stopped to help had used up all the water/drinks they had we just had to stand back and wait for the fire brigade. The reporter (who by chance had been parked up nearby) then asked me whether I thought it would be repairable and I replied that at that point I thought it hopefully would be as the damage was probably less than the cars £20,000ish value. But that if the fire got worse / the petrol tank exploded then it would be a write off.
Someone left a comment on the newspaper article that I shouldn't have left the bonnet up as the air could then feed the flames. May have a point I suppose but its hard to just stand back and leave the fire to take a hold. Your instinct is to try and tackle it in the hope you can put it out before things get worse.
Edited by TVR OWL on Tuesday 2nd December 14:21
TVR OWL said:
Someone left a comment on the newspaper article that I shouldn't have left the bonnet up as the air could then feed the flames. May have a point I suppose but its hard to just stand back and leave the fire to take a hold. Your instinct is to try and tackle it in the hope you can put it out before things get worse.
There's always plenty of armchair experts that could have saved the day if only they were there
Bottom line is bonnet up or bonnet down would have made little difference either way.... The fire could easily get its oxygen from, under the car, or through the wheel arches...... You did what anyone of us would have done..... Tried your best to put the fire OUT
I must get an extinguisher in mine, i had a fuel leak from a braided hose at the fuel rail this year, thankfully it was a cold start, and a total failure so would not start and stunk of fuel..
This one i would say was clutch fluid, too much of a coincidence with clutch pedal going, and Brake/clutch fluid catches fire easier than petrol when touching hot surfaces, eg exhaust.
Hope you get a satisfactory conclusion.
This one i would say was clutch fluid, too much of a coincidence with clutch pedal going, and Brake/clutch fluid catches fire easier than petrol when touching hot surfaces, eg exhaust.
Hope you get a satisfactory conclusion.
Not a professional fire fighter, but I've check car ID's at plenty of military camps and covered the fire strike in 2002ish in a Green Goddess! We were taught to pop the bonnet and fire the extinguisher through the gap limiting the oxygen as much as possible.
To back my claim up, this is my 3000M in 2013 after the fuel pipe went on the drive.
You did all you could do without an extinguisher. glad you got out OK and I hope they can repair it.
To back my claim up, this is my 3000M in 2013 after the fuel pipe went on the drive.
You did all you could do without an extinguisher. glad you got out OK and I hope they can repair it.
Quinny said:
TVR OWL said:
Someone left a comment on the newspaper article that I shouldn't have left the bonnet up as the air could then feed the flames. May have a point I suppose but its hard to just stand back and leave the fire to take a hold. Your instinct is to try and tackle it in the hope you can put it out before things get worse.
There's always plenty of armchair experts that could have saved the day if only they were there and leave the fire to take a hold. Your instinct is to try and tackle it in the hope you can put it out before things get worse.Bottom line is bonnet up or bonnet down would have made little difference either way.... The fire could easily get its oxygen from, under the car, or through the wheel arches...... You did what anyone of us would have done..... Tried your best to put the fire OUT
Not much more than you did, can't be a nice thing to experience but hope your Griff is saved.
Sorry to see that sight feel for you, I lost a cerb in similar circumstances as you.
Nothing worse than seeing it go up in flames and not being able or equipped to fight it, saying that though had the help of an AA man with an extinguisher but that didn't help either needed the big boys in the end.
.
Hope she can get sorted
Pat.
Nothing worse than seeing it go up in flames and not being able or equipped to fight it, saying that though had the help of an AA man with an extinguisher but that didn't help either needed the big boys in the end.
.
Hope she can get sorted
Pat.
Spoke with RT last week and its repairable. Early signs are it was a clutch fire or clutch fluid pipe that's ruptured and the fluids caught fire. The chassis powder coat has been burnt off in places so will need body off for new powder coating. Interior damaged so needs a re-trim : leather, dashboard, carpets, new wiring, clocks etc. Early signs are that there's little damage to the engine bay - just wiring and stepper motor area near the bulkhead damaged. They still needed to clean down the bodywork to check on damage there but hopefully ok . . . to take a closer look at the bonnet and let me know. Obviously the fibre glass in the tunnel will have damage - the extent unknown yet but repairable.
TVR OWL said:
Spoke with RT last week and its repairable. Early signs are it was a clutch fire or clutch fluid pipe that's ruptured and the fluids caught fire. The chassis powder coat has been burnt off in places so will need body off for new powder coating. Interior damaged so needs a re-trim : leather, dashboard, carpets, new wiring, clocks etc. Early signs are that there's little damage to the engine bay - just wiring and stepper motor area near the bulkhead damaged. They still needed to clean down the bodywork to check on damage there but hopefully ok . . . to take a closer look at the bonnet and let me know. Obviously the fibre glass in the tunnel will have damage - the extent unknown yet but repairable.
Just read this thinking "poor sod" and "fuel pipes", so thanks for posting about your woes, a sorry sight indeed, and for coming back with the info from RT Racing.
I, and I suspect most of us, have learnt something about clutch fires from reading of your misfortune.
I would have previously have struggled on like you did with failing clutch - after reading this I will stop immediately and investigate, with the fire extinguisher I keep behind the seats close to hand.
I have the RAF to thank for my extinguisher - they organised a charity track day, very relaxed in most respects, but every car had to carry a fire extinguisher.
V8 GRF said:
Sounds positive.
But wow I never realised clutch fluid was THAT flammable.
you learn something new everyday!!
Very But wow I never realised clutch fluid was THAT flammable.
you learn something new everyday!!
try it some time on a paint tin lid it gets past an heat threshold then catches and burns very hot 
its the vapors 
I had to try it myself years ago and initially dismissed the claims I was surprised to say the least 
all the best with the repair OP'er 
Yep brake/clutch fluid is one of the most flammable substances you will see around a car. Fuel generally needs a spark to ignite, but heat is enough for brake/clutch fluid as has been said. We had a moment on the old MG racer when dad left the back brakes slightly on for qually by mistake. No spark but a good few flames once the car back in the pits and drum removed (once cool enough to touch). The heat melted the brake cylinder and as soon as it got enough air thr flames started. Irn Bru was good at putting that one out!!
Good luck with the repairs OP!!
Good luck with the repairs OP!!
When I first saw this post, there were many messages of condolence already so I felt there wasn't anything more I could add. Although, I can empathize as I too have watched a car of mine burn by the roadside.
Then, previous post says 'throw a sheep on it'. I'm not quite sure what this means but it lead to a cartoon imagining of a desperate situation where 10 strangers are gathered around the car to arc fountains of pee onto the flames.
I'm sorry!
My bedside manner is a dark humour.
Then, previous post says 'throw a sheep on it'. I'm not quite sure what this means but it lead to a cartoon imagining of a desperate situation where 10 strangers are gathered around the car to arc fountains of pee onto the flames.
I'm sorry!
My bedside manner is a dark humour.
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