Erm... Is that smoke???
Discussion
Just a post for interest..
Last night thought I'd give my Tusc a blast to shake the cold from its bones! (last used on saturday)..
Turn the key and nothing but a little wisp of smoke from under the bonnet and gear stick.. 'ermm...' 'thats not right' I thought but dissapated straight away so 'Carry on' thinks me.... Turn the key again.. the engine will not kick in.... big wisp of smoke from under the bonnet..
so stops does I....
the smoke does not....
Very Very Very quickly manage to get the bonnet off (in under 30 seconds which is feat on your own I thinks) to see smoke pouring out of the air filter.... I huff and puff the smoke away which seems to helps slightly.. Until I see a little orange flame!! AHHHHHH CR4P..... leggit round to the chineese to see if they have a fire extingusher... They cannot speak english..... Next to the Italian who Do..
Managed to get the flame out and not very much damage (slightly melted filter housing) just heaps of acrid smoke!
So just want to say F*&$£king STOOPID car... not my idea of Tuesday fun.. and COOL... I got to use a fire extinguisher!
expect that kind of fun on the race track and not in my garage....
Not sure wether to start it up again (with mate in tow with another extinguisher)?
Last night thought I'd give my Tusc a blast to shake the cold from its bones! (last used on saturday)..
Turn the key and nothing but a little wisp of smoke from under the bonnet and gear stick.. 'ermm...' 'thats not right' I thought but dissapated straight away so 'Carry on' thinks me.... Turn the key again.. the engine will not kick in.... big wisp of smoke from under the bonnet..
so stops does I....
the smoke does not....
Very Very Very quickly manage to get the bonnet off (in under 30 seconds which is feat on your own I thinks) to see smoke pouring out of the air filter.... I huff and puff the smoke away which seems to helps slightly.. Until I see a little orange flame!! AHHHHHH CR4P..... leggit round to the chineese to see if they have a fire extingusher... They cannot speak english..... Next to the Italian who Do..
Managed to get the flame out and not very much damage (slightly melted filter housing) just heaps of acrid smoke!
So just want to say F*&$£king STOOPID car... not my idea of Tuesday fun.. and COOL... I got to use a fire extinguisher!
expect that kind of fun on the race track and not in my garage....
Not sure wether to start it up again (with mate in tow with another extinguisher)?
Well I think Sh11ting oneself is an understatement....
First you think... sh1t my car is fecked AGAIN... then it keeps pouring out and you think Oh GOD now its really gonna be fecked....
fortunatley just a new filter box and filter!
and the best bit is my girlfriend will not go in it anymore.... (too be fair I am a bit cautious).....
Ah well... life favours the brave!
First you think... sh1t my car is fecked AGAIN... then it keeps pouring out and you think Oh GOD now its really gonna be fecked....
fortunatley just a new filter box and filter!
and the best bit is my girlfriend will not go in it anymore.... (too be fair I am a bit cautious).....
Ah well... life favours the brave!
Fire extinguishers suitable to be mounted inside the car can be quite expensive, but ordinary domestic AFFF or dry power extinguishers are pretty cheap. For the sake of £35 for a decent size 2.5 liter bottle I think it makes sense to have one in every garage. For a big fire you'd be better off running like hell, but for a slow fire gradually taking hold over several minutes I think most of us would want to have a go at putting it out rather than sit back and watch the car be destroyed. I was glad I had one a couple of months ago when an oil line caught fire, the fire was out within seconds but if left it could easily have destroyed the car, garage and house.
I keep an extinguisher inside the car plus one in the boot. I also have a couple tagged around the garage. Further point is, one needs to be familiar with how to operate it as I discovered once when confronted by a car (not mine) that was just starting to catch fire. It was a struggle to get the plastic off in which it was wrapped for shipping!
I gave the extinguisher to the lad who's car it was who put the fire out, but then it started again probably because the bonnet was up. So, the car got torched in the end.
As a teen I was trying to start my mkIII cortina, after a short while i realised it was having none of it so sat wondering how i was going to get home (pre mobile phones) when i noticed a patch of paint start to bubble off on the bonnet, after a brief panic I remembered I had a crate of coke in the boot. Two or three cans later the blaze was under control. After discusing this with mates etc. we came to the conclusion that when the ignition was turned on a plug sparked while inlet valve was open, lit the mixture which was left from when it was shut down (engine spins a few times after you turn the key off) sends a flame up the manifold and sets fire to the air filter, once all the fuel is being burned by the fire, none left to start the engine. Sound reasonable?
Would have thought a modern car would have addressed this by now though, if not it could happen to anyone of you at any time, petrol station would be most fun though. So get a fire extinguisher or a crate of coke TODAY!
Would have thought a modern car would have addressed this by now though, if not it could happen to anyone of you at any time, petrol station would be most fun though. So get a fire extinguisher or a crate of coke TODAY!
Carb fires aren't unknown, and the usual trick is to keep cranking the engine at full throttle and pull the fire into the engine. The fire can only spread 'upstream' when you stop cranking. I guess the same would be true for EFI, although I think it's very rare to get an intake fire with EFI.
Not a Tuscan fire I know, but.....
I used to have a Sierra Cossy, which had some very expensive engine work done at a well known and supposedly reputable tuner in Uxbridge
I picked the car up in the middle of a hot July, and all was fine for a day or so.
I was following a mate down to a TVR dealer (funnily enough) in Kent to dribble over a Griff 500, and kept getting a whiff of burning, and completely missed the plot when numerous people flashed their headlights as I passed them.
When smoke started coming through the dashboard vents, everything quickly fell into place, and I pulled over to investigate.
The 'professionals'
had managed to hang the exhaust downpipe so that it was touching the engine bay soundproofing, and as they had jetwashed the bay before the car was picked up, it had been slowly drying out in the high ambient temps, until this point, when it decided enough was enough!
"Oh Dear!", thinks I, "but I have a fire extinguisher in the boot...".
This was quickly dug out, but the effect of using the thing was akin to trying to shoo off a bull with a red napkin.............NO CHANCE!!!!
What followed was 10 minutes of frenzied phone calls to the emergency services and much pacing about on the hard shoulder while watching my P&J doing the impression of a BBQ with too many sausages on it......
Luckily, 'Blue watch' turned up in the nick of time and did the job properly with about 6,000 gallons of H2O!
Since then I have been firmly in the "have a quick go, then get to a safe distance and phone the 'Brigade ASAP" camp!!!
...and don't get me started on what the response from the tuning company was.......
I used to have a Sierra Cossy, which had some very expensive engine work done at a well known and supposedly reputable tuner in Uxbridge
I picked the car up in the middle of a hot July, and all was fine for a day or so.
I was following a mate down to a TVR dealer (funnily enough) in Kent to dribble over a Griff 500, and kept getting a whiff of burning, and completely missed the plot when numerous people flashed their headlights as I passed them.
When smoke started coming through the dashboard vents, everything quickly fell into place, and I pulled over to investigate.
The 'professionals'
had managed to hang the exhaust downpipe so that it was touching the engine bay soundproofing, and as they had jetwashed the bay before the car was picked up, it had been slowly drying out in the high ambient temps, until this point, when it decided enough was enough! "Oh Dear!", thinks I, "but I have a fire extinguisher in the boot...".
This was quickly dug out, but the effect of using the thing was akin to trying to shoo off a bull with a red napkin.............NO CHANCE!!!!
What followed was 10 minutes of frenzied phone calls to the emergency services and much pacing about on the hard shoulder while watching my P&J doing the impression of a BBQ with too many sausages on it......
Luckily, 'Blue watch' turned up in the nick of time and did the job properly with about 6,000 gallons of H2O!
Since then I have been firmly in the "have a quick go, then get to a safe distance and phone the 'Brigade ASAP" camp!!!
...and don't get me started on what the response from the tuning company was.......
king alarming always. I had a fire in one of fords finest,an xr3 on the M11 about 18 years ago. One minute yomping along,the next the bonnet was gushing white smoke and flames.I had no problems pulling over onto the hard shoulder untill the cabin started to fill with smoke.
Still twitch a bit when the TVR bonnet steams in wet weather in stationary traffic.
>> Edited by sideways mostly on Monday 19th December 17:10
Still twitch a bit when the TVR bonnet steams in wet weather in stationary traffic.
>> Edited by sideways mostly on Monday 19th December 17:10
On a bit of a side line.....
is it normal for the exhausts to pop when you release the accelerator quickly?? mine does!
and..
the collar on my gear stick is chewed but the knob is fine can this be changed??
and finally..
the alarm siren - is this wired to the horn or is it a seperate siren and if so where is it!
any help much appreciated...
p.s
why my tuscan is just like a woman:
1) buy her gifts (like new leads or sparks) and she will handle herself much better!
2) a really good servicing keeps her happy
3) my girlfirend doesnt like her
4) she's fun to ride on a weekend
5) for no reason and no reason at all she will decide she's not going to play with you today
6) dont buy her things (like an air filter) and she will blow up in your face
is it normal for the exhausts to pop when you release the accelerator quickly?? mine does!
and..
the collar on my gear stick is chewed but the knob is fine can this be changed??
and finally..
the alarm siren - is this wired to the horn or is it a seperate siren and if so where is it!
any help much appreciated...
p.s
why my tuscan is just like a woman:
1) buy her gifts (like new leads or sparks) and she will handle herself much better!
2) a really good servicing keeps her happy
3) my girlfirend doesnt like her
4) she's fun to ride on a weekend
5) for no reason and no reason at all she will decide she's not going to play with you today
6) dont buy her things (like an air filter) and she will blow up in your face
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