Oops

[petclub]

Friday night, 3 mile trip, pulled into brother in law's street smelling a small bonfire. Just as I pulled up, lots of smoke came from the front. Quickly open the bonnet to see small flames. Dashed out to get wet towel and water, flames were then 2 foot high!

Seems like an electrical fault. I'll post when I know more in case it helps people. Argh!

Still, nobody hurt that's the main thing.

[barkychoc]

Flippin heck, I hope its not too serious Dave.

[kojak]

as said....hope its not too serious. It could have been worse.

[petclub]

Cheers Gents, nobody hurt which is the main thing. I assume the insurance will cover it. There is quite a lot of melted body inside the compartment. At the moment she's a very ppretty ornament. Hey-ho, we'll see what Monday brings.

[grrrrr]

Is this common?

[ESSO]

I had a similar problem with my 4.2 Cerb,it was the starter motor,somehow it was "live" all the time,didnt realise this,went on holiday for four days,came home to a burnt out car!Should have disconnected battery,so if you suspect its a similar problem,disconnect your battery!

[grrrrr]

Mind you, I've seen the odd BMW and Audi burnt out on the hard shoulder

[ridds]

My money's on a fuel line.

[gazzab]

It isnt very common but there has been a handful in the last couple of years. The fuel lines are now at the age where they are not exactly youthful and can get leaky. They arent easy to change etc.... When my engine was rebuilt I got Andy to check the fuel lines for me. Mine were declared in great order. It is really worth having a good look at them.

[gbbird]

Geez - hope it's not too serious. When you can, do let us know what the problem was. Perhaps fuel pipes?

[byker28i]

because of these stories I got my fuel lines checked over at the service last week. No sign of cracking on them apparently, which is good news.

[central]

Can you still make the next Ashby meet, Dave?

[smithsi]

My 4.2 Cerbera went completely up in flames on the A1, you have my sympathy. Sounds like you caught it in the nick of time.

[petclub]

Hi guys, many thanks for your comments. The insurance company are sending an assessor around soon. I think I caught it early, there is virtually no visible external damage (tiny blisters along the edge of the bonnet) but there is quite a bit on the left hand side of the engine compartment. It looks like it started below the battery, that part of fibre glass is badly burnt, the blistering is significant above that.

The chap from the recovery company (Arthur Jones, very quick and very knowledgable) has recvoered TVRs in the past but not for this fault. However, he has recocered Audis and Mercs in similar condition.

Central, I shall be at Ashby on Tuesday, likely to be in the S2.

Dave

[petclub]

Well, she's due to be collected by Prestige of Melton today so we have some progress.

[petclub]

Yippee! The assessor's been out and OK'd the work (thank you Clasicline) and Prestige are starting on her soon. About 3.6k I think!

[Olly]

Good news !

[central]

How long`s it gonna take, Dave?

[DonnyMac]

You're not the only one - saw a Tamora go up on Thursday - http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

[petclub]

Hi Central, shouldn't be too long, I know they have a lot of work on at the moment. They're going to MOT her and service, and then there's the waxoyl (underneath looks really good) and I was a bit tempted by a sports exhaust....but we'll see what the others cost first. I hope to get her back in about 2 weeks.

DonnyMac, that looked pretty bad! This is the first time I've had a vehicle fire and I have to admit I was worried about it going up big time. I was lucky that I had access to water to stop it.

Dave