Scary moment starting her up

[Chilliman]

Fired first turn of the key but didn't catch. Turned her over again didn't fire.. turned her over again with a bit of throttle and got a muffled 'pop' followed by a very noticable plume of smoke exiting the bonnet vents. Crapped myself, reached for the fire extinguisher, pulled the bonnet release and opened the door all in one swift movement Gingerly and slowly lifted the bonnet.... nothing... no smoke, no smell, all quiet. Left it a couple of minutes whilst regaining composure, got back in the car, praised the Lord and turned the key, bingo, fired up beautifully... happened Saturday morning and been all OK since. Can only think one of the wires to the starter motor overheated and 'popped' the plastic outer sheave.... Any ideas or similar experiences ??

Chilli.

[EGB]

?? Damp fallen leaves on the exhaust manifolds. Blown in through chimp bonnet vents ?? Other posts have reported this.

[SILICONEKID340HP]

Chilliman said:

Fired first turn of the key but didn't catch. Turned her over again didn't fire.. turned her over again with a bit of throttle and got a muffled 'pop' followed by a very noticable plume of smoke exiting the bonnet vents. Crapped myself, reached for the fire extinguisher, pulled the bonnet release and opened the door all in one swift movement Gingerly and slowly lifted the bonnet.... nothing... no smoke, no smell, all quiet. Left it a couple of minutes whilst regaining composure, got back in the car, praised the Lord and turned the key, bingo, fired up beautifully... happened Saturday morning and been all OK since. Can only think one of the wires to the starter motor overheated and 'popped' the plastic outer sheave.... Any ideas or similar experiences ??

Chilli.

Over fueling ..

[Alexdaredevilz]

You can send me £50 and I can fix it for you with some of this

[Bassfiend]

EGB said:

?? Damp fallen leaves on the exhaust manifolds. Blown in through chimp bonnet vents ?? Other posts have reported this.

Nope - I get this *EVERY* morning as I park under trees and the leaves (even when not damp) don't start to smoke for about a mile ... in fact they reach perfect temperature right at the end of Tollgate Road as I'm waiting to turn out onto Southampton Road as I almost without exception sit there with smoke billowing out from under the bonnet.

Phil

[Chilliman]

SILICONEKID340HP said:

Chilliman said:

Fired first turn of the key but didn't catch. Turned her over again didn't fire.. turned her over again with a bit of throttle and got a muffled 'pop' followed by a very noticable plume of smoke exiting the bonnet vents. Crapped myself, reached for the fire extinguisher, pulled the bonnet release and opened the door all in one swift movement Gingerly and slowly lifted the bonnet.... nothing... no smoke, no smell, all quiet. Left it a couple of minutes whilst regaining composure, got back in the car, praised the Lord and turned the key, bingo, fired up beautifully... happened Saturday morning and been all OK since. Can only think one of the wires to the starter motor overheated and 'popped' the plastic outer sheave.... Any ideas or similar experiences ??

Chilli.

Over fueling ..

Don't think so Daz, smoke came out of the drivers side vent closest to the windscreen... fairly convinced it was from the vicinty of the starter motor, but I'm only guessing... No smell of petrol, in fact by the time I got out of the car no smell at all.. wasn't parked any where near trees so don't think it was leaves, although I can believe that might have produced similar symptons.. seemed initially like she was on fire... pretty scary but the smoke was there then gone and all back to normal... weird....

[Chilliman]

Alexdaredevilz said:

You can send me £50 and I can fix it for you with some of this

Alex, you are a never ending cure for all my woes Wish I could help you with your problems mate....

[haircutmike]

Check your earth lead from the offside front outrigger is bolted to the engine otherwise it will be searching for an earth elsewhere!

[Chilliman]

Bassfiend said:

EGB said:

?? Damp fallen leaves on the exhaust manifolds. Blown in through chimp bonnet vents ?? Other posts have reported this.

Nope - I get this *EVERY* morning as I park under trees and the leaves (even when not damp) don't start to smoke for about a mile ... in fact they reach perfect temperature right at the end of Tollgate Road as I'm waiting to turn out onto Southampton Road as I almost without exception sit there with smoke billowing out from under the bonnet.

Phil

That must look pretty impressive

[Chilliman]

haircutmike said:

Check your earth lead from the offside front outrigger is bolted to the engine otherwise it will be searching for an earth elsewhere!

Cheers Peter, sounds like an obvious cause... Yet to get underneath for a look...

[TJC46]

SILICONEKID340HP said:

Over fueling ..

Mine did exactly this when i connected the plug leads in the wrong order. Lots of pops and bangs then one very large explosion followed by a large plume of smoke just as you describe and in the exact same area. Reconnected the leads correctly and she fired straight away, only then to pour oil all over the floor. The valley gasket had blown out and upwards and oil was now running down the bellhousing all over the garage floor.
Im sure yours will be fine but check the valley gasket is intact.

[haircutmike]

Wow! Never heard that one.

[SILICONEKID340HP]

Chilliman said:

Cheers Peter, sounds like an obvious cause... Yet to get underneath for a look...

Will we ever see the Dyno sheets ? 370hp

[Bassfiend]

Chilliman said:

Bassfiend said:

EGB said:

?? Damp fallen leaves on the exhaust manifolds. Blown in through chimp bonnet vents ?? Other posts have reported this.

Nope - I get this *EVERY* morning as I park under trees and the leaves (even when not damp) don't start to smoke for about a mile ... in fact they reach perfect temperature right at the end of Tollgate Road as I'm waiting to turn out onto Southampton Road as I almost without exception sit there with smoke billowing out from under the bonnet.

Phil

That must look pretty impressive

First time it happened I almost sh*t myself but now it just makes me chuckle ... they don't actually combust, just char, smoke, and then drop through between the manifolds and fall away.

Phil

[Alexdaredevilz]

Chilliman said:

Alex, you are a never ending cure for all my woes Wish I could help you with your problems mate....

I have a list of 'things you can help me with' got a pen ready?

[SILICONEKID340HP]

This will cure it ,save me some ?
http://www.rmig.com/en/products/rm+perforation/hex...

Edited by SILICONEKID340HP on Monday 14th November 23:31

[Chilliman]

SILICONEKID340HP said:

Will we ever see the Dyno sheets ? 370hp

Maybe you will.... maybe you won't..... who knows.........

[neal1980]

A big backfire...im sure I have seen one of these demolish an ACT Carbon top I remember seeing the pictures on here somewhere...

Take it off and go back to your standard one do you a nice swap being the nice guy I am

[Chilliman]

neal1980 said:

A big backfire...im sure I have seen one of these demolish an ACT Carbon top I remember seeing the pictures on here somewhere...

Take it off and go back to your standard one do you a nice swap being the nice guy I am

Saw a Noble that had back fired through the plenum, what a mess, apparentently scared the bejesus out of the guy driving it.

Nice try (again) Neal

[taylormj4]

I would guess at backfire up through the inlet manifold. Although on a Chimaera, it shouldn't be able to escape anywhere other than the air filter which is of course no where near where you observed the smoke coming from, unless it blew a hole in something.

Although, I guess it could have come out of the rocker cover vent, it's only flimsy plastic with a sponge in. Have you checked to see if that is still intact ? How about the rest of the PCV system / hoses etc ?

Matt