Does everyone keep one of these handy?

[71440bee]

I had a pretty good scare with the Bee today. Fired it up in the garage and noticed a glow under the hood . Shut it down when I got out and looked there was a pretty good fire going in the fuel pump area that I couldn't just smother with a blanket. As I quickly scrambled to get my extinguisher the fuel must have really been spraying out because it was burning big time. I got a hold of the extinguisher and was praying it was going to work as I pulled the pin. Well it did and put it out quick. Sure made a big mess but I was happy to be cleaning just that up. I would have been in real trouble without it. I was just thinking the other day that I should probably keep a small one in each car so if someting like this ever happened while I was out in one I wouldn't lose the car to a fire. Well at least it happened in the garage and I had one handy. I think the fuel filter was leaking but not sure why it burst into flames. Looks like I lost a few hoses, a belt, the distributer, wiring harness and the seal on the airgrabber. Just thought I would pass the story along so if anyone doesn't have one real close to there car you better go out and get one because you never know. I will now go and get one for each car. That was close!

[Lightning]

YIKES!!! Glad to hear you're ok.  The car can always bee replaced, but it's good to hear the damage wasnt any worse.

[ChgrSteve67]

Very good advice!

I have had two car fires (Both were Fords, suprise, suprise) and they are no fun. Plus they smell really bad.

When you buy a Fire extinguisher make sure you buy an automotive one for your car.
There are several types and if you don't have the right kind your wasting your time.

Also get one for your Kitchen and one for the Garage.
You never plan on having a fire but "Sh*t Happens"

Glad to hear you didn't get hurt.

[Brock Samson]

 good goin...   
I found a small stingwisher fits perfect in my console...
I had an engine fire once , just rollin down the street, motor simply quit and when i raised the hood, the leaky old carb I had burst into      i didt have anything handy,, so i took the depest breath of my life and blew that sucker out,.. I was soooooo thankful, went out the next day and got a new carb, a 770 street avenger and the ex-sting- wisher.. god truly smiled on me that day...
THANK YOU,.. THANK YOU,.. THANK YOU GOD!!! YOU ARE THE MAN!!

[dd44068]

as mentioned before glad to here you are all right cars can be replaced people cant. Benn thinking about putting one in my car as well your story was the deciding vote. By the way also had a ford that caught fire.

[Silver R/T]

thats sure something scary, I should get one for my car too

[694spdRT]

Very good advice.

Glad to hear you are alright and the car was saved.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

I definately carry one in my console.  A lot of shows I attend make you have one or they will not let you show your car without it.

Good practice IMHO

[bull]

I never carried one in my '70 until I had to borrow a Chevy Caprice 454 one time from my boss. He got hurt at work and I went to see him at the hospital in that car and when I pulled into the lot I saw smoke. As soon as I opened the hood the little fire got a good breath of air and became a big fire. I ran into the hospital, grabbed an extinguisher off the wall and ran back out to douse the fire. It put it out but not until pretty much everything plastic or rubber had melted into goo on top of the engine. The boss was ok with it though because he needed an engine to replace the lame 6.2l diesel he had in his pickup. After that I had an extinguisher in my '70 at all times (never needed it though).

[4402tuff4u]

Yep! Have two in the garage (carbon dioxide) and will have one in the Charger when it's complete. Cheap insurance!

[IBsmokin]

just make sure you shake them every couple of weeks because they settle and if the stay settled for too long it hardens up inside,  we had one we never shook on our boat and one day we had a fire and tried to use the extinguisher but it just sputtered, and then we sat floating in the water watching our 80 thousand dollar fishing boat burn in a 60 foot fire ball above the water.  ohwell, at least the fire attracted attention and it didnt take long before we were rescued from the cold atlantic.

[MoparYoungGun]

I'm glad to hear that the damage wasn't to your car wasn't to severe. I don't think you need to be told now but, ALWAYS KEEP AN EXTINGUISHER IN YOUR CAR !

I definitely have one in the Buick at all times as well as one in the garage and the kitchen. It's cheap insurance in case anything ever happens.

[Wakko]

My local Charger buddy accidentally burned his '69 RT a few years ago.  Fuel line off with electric fuel pump and stuck relay....not a good combination.  It got so hot the bellhousing melted.

[Charger_Fan]

Glad to hear everything turned out as good as it did. Engine fires are a scary deal...dash fires are worse.

Hopefully you're not using a plastic fuel filter.

[topduarte]

just make sure you shake them every couple of weeks because they settle and if the stay settled for too long it hardens up inside,   we had one we never shook on our boat and one day we had a fire and tried to use the extinguisher but it just sputtered, and then we sat floating in the water watching our 80 thousand dollar fishing boat burn in a 60 foot fire ball above the water.   ohwell, at least the fire attracted attention and it didnt take long before we were rescued from the cold atlantic.

I think that is what has happened to mine in the charger.  I noticed some white chalky stuff come out of the nozzle, haven't tested it but I bet the stuff inside is dried out!!

Gotta go get another one!!

Thanks for the advice on shaking them every few weeks!!!

[mustanghater]

 hopefully your insurance will cover it

[71440bee]

hopefully your insurance will cover it

You know I didn't really think of it as a claim . To go and buy all the parts to get it back to where it was again could cost a few bucks. I have hagerty insurance and heard they are really good about claims. Guess I always sort of felt like it was for collisions or theft. The biggest expense would probably be the engine wiring harness. Are there different companies making them and if so who's is the best for the $?

[MichaelRW]

The Paddock sells harnesses "that contain wiring and all connectors, terminals, and molded on ends from the bulkhead connector to the various parts of the engine. They do not contain front headlights, turn signals or side marker lights." The price in the last catalog I received was $119.95. Their number is 800-428-4319.

[Ghoste]

Glad your okay.  FWIW, try and get a refillable extinguisher as well.  It can save you a little money down the road.

[ChargerRob]

I will definately get one for my charger. Thanks,

[beenaround]

hey guys and gals,i can't promote safty enough! how ironic that tonight i read a story in the newspaper about a teenager who died when he poured gas on a campfire to get it going again.he poured a 5 gallon can of gas on a smoldering campfire to relight it.the stream of gas lit up and blew up killing him.so people think!think! think!.make sure your fuel lines are intact.don't store gas in your garage,i'm sure firefighterron     can add to this!and i hope he does because he sees the results of ignorence when it comes to proper prevention practicives.

[Brock Samson]

dude in my hood burned himself critically, and burnt down his house when he poured gas in his car, in the garage, while a lit marlburo dangled from his lip...

[blackcharger]

been there done that. same thing happened. I fired up the Charger one night( before i had a garage), for some reason I had the hood up. I was bent down messing with the radio. It was getting dark, and I notice the same glow. I had a small fire ex in the glove box. My wife was out on the deck and saw it happening. She came on a dead run with the garden hose, but it was about 20 feet too short. If I didn't have the ex. in the glove box, might have been pretty bad. Damn rubber fuel line wore thru behind the altornater, sprayed gas on the exhaust manifold. Replaced it the next day with steel. Got away with some burned wires.

[bluesfool]

Yep...I have mine attached to the inside of my trunk. I haven't shaken it lately though, so I suppose I should do that. If it were my caravan on fire though, I'd have to think twice about getting the extinguisher out...lol Ever since it hit 100,000 miles, it's been creating me lots of headaches!.

[Skyview69]

I have one mounted under the glove box on my 71....I almost had that situation this weekend....a few weeks ago I had to pull it out of the garage and leave the car in the driveway for a few weeks under a cover while I cleaned out and fixed up the garage.  The other day I fired it up to move it back in the garage and had the hood up to let her run a while and walked away...I cam back and there were puddles of fuel in the intake and a fast drip from the carb!!  I quickly moved the car back to the garage and killed the engine and cleaned up the gas....got lucky nothing happened.

[andy74]

i always keep one in the car,in the kitchen and when i have one the garage! a real dumb bastard that used to live near me.was trying to deep fry a turkey,in the rain and drunk and stoned,well long story short,he tipped the fryer over,and caught his moms house on fire,then sprayed the grease fire with the wrong type of extinguisher,and spread it out,made it worse,causing the garage and deck to get burned down also!