My Charger Caught on FIRE

bordin34 · May 27, 2009, 08:04:43 PM

My car caught on fire today. I was just driving down a road ,going to a cruise night, and when I approached a stop sign the car died. I didn't think anything of it since that occasionally happens. Then I see some smoke coming out from under the hood. So I grab my fire extinguisher from behind the passenger seat, pop the hood, pull the extinguisher pin, and run to the front of the hood. When I opened the hood there were flames shooting out from near the distributor all the way to the hood. So I start shooting the extinguisher in the general area of the flames, after using about half of it they went away then flared up again. I ran to the other side of the car, through the cloud of smoke and extinguisher junk, and emptied the extinguisher into the engine bay and the fire finally went out. It was probably burning for less than 30 seconds. Then some lady called the fire department a cop came in about 1 minute and took my info and they came in about 3 minutes and didn't need to do anything they just took my license info and asked me if the battery was disconnected, it was. The cop called AAA for me and it was flatbedded home. In the driveway I hosed off all the baking soda and junk. The junk was on for probably less than an hour. Luckily as of right now I do not think there is much damage. All that I need it a distributor since the 12v wires got burnt, fuel line, clean or replace my K&N air filter, and maybe put a new temp sending unit lead on if it got burnt. Hopefully the baking soda junk didn't have enough time to ruin the electronics. What happened was the fuel line where it connects to the carb feed rail thing sprung a leak and caught fire.

After the hosing

jb666 · May 27, 2009, 08:07:09 PM

WOW, man, it could have been a lot worse!!

69bronzeT5 · May 27, 2009, 08:08:54 PM

Hey Dan, any chance it was the line you bent to fit? You know, the one I warned you about

Glad you weren't hurt or the car wasn't hurt that much. Was the battery still connected when the flames flared back up again? Funny that this happens, I just packed up my fire extingusher for the Duster road trip

PS: Good job parking near the wooden building when the car was on fire!

FLG · May 27, 2009, 08:11:29 PM

Thank god, could have been alot worse is right!

If you need anything just ask man.

mikesbbody · May 27, 2009, 08:14:06 PM

That sucks dan but Im glad your ok and that the damage wasnt too bad.

richRTSE · May 27, 2009, 08:15:56 PM

Good thing you had an extinguisher and were able to minimize the damage. Things can get pretty ugly pretty fast. I keep one in my car too. Hopefully you'll have her back on the road soon. Glad no one was hurt either.

WingCharger · May 27, 2009, 08:19:39 PM

At least nobody got hurt. Hope it comes out okay. Fire extinguisher powder is baaad stuff on electronics and electrical parts.

bordin34 · May 27, 2009, 08:21:15 PM

The fuel line that leaked was a rubber one not the one I bent. The fire flared up again a second after it went out so the battery was still connected. I'm hoping the electronics will be fine since I hoses off the junk quickly.

NYCMille · May 27, 2009, 08:37:45 PM

Glad to hear everything is ok man...

jaak · May 27, 2009, 08:52:43 PM

First off, glad your ok!!! and secondly glad the car is ok.... doesn't look like there is a whole lot of damage there. You should get it back on the road quickly.

Jason

oldcarnut · May 27, 2009, 08:54:30 PM

"Then some lady called the fire department a cop came in about 1 minute and took my info and they came in about 3 minutes and didn't need to do anything they just took my license info and asked me if the battery was disconnected"

Keep an eye out on your insurance. I had a Chevy Suburban blow a tranny on the interstate one day and left one big cloud trail of smoke from the oil on the exhaust. I guess it had been building up about 1/4 mile before I noticed that the cruise control was slipping and looked in the mirror. Fire dept. was called by someone but there was no fire. Those guys tried to charge my insurance about 500 hundred dollars for the trip. I was grateful someone had called thinking I was on fire but the smoke was cleared by the time they got there and maybe 1 1/2 mile from the dept. they came from. I know the truck was pretty heavy on gas but that seemed a little bit steep. They tried to do it off my license when I didn't have cash on hand. Hope it all works out for you and glad car and driver was ok.

moparstuart · May 27, 2009, 09:02:46 PM

great lesson for all of us to carry a fire ext. , also great idea to carry your camera . Glad that you and the car are ok

Buzzit1 · May 27, 2009, 09:11:23 PM

Dan,

Sorry about your fire but that was/is a very valuable lesson for all of us: Keep a fire extinguisher in your vehicle at all times! Just think if "you had left home without it"!

mauve66 · May 27, 2009, 09:45:29 PM

Quote from: oldcarnut on May 27, 2009, 08:54:30 PM
"Then some lady called the fire department a cop came in about 1 minute and took my info and they came in about 3 minutes and didn't need to do anything they just took my license info and asked me if the battery was disconnected"

Keep an eye out on your insurance. I had a Chevy Suburban blow a tranny on the interstate one day and left one big cloud trail of smoke from the oil on the exhaust. I guess it had been building up about 1/4 mile before I noticed that the cruise control was slipping and looked in the mirror. Fire dept. was called by someone but there was no fire. Those guys tried to charge my insurance about 500 hundred dollars for the trip. I was grateful someone had called thinking I was on fire but the smoke was cleared by the time they got there and maybe 1 1/2 mile from the dept. they came from. I know the truck was pretty heavy on gas but that seemed a little bit steep. They tried to do it off my license when I didn't have cash on hand. Hope it all works out for you and glad car and driver was ok.

tell they you already paid for the trip............... WITH YOUR TAXES

Khyron · May 27, 2009, 09:50:59 PM

Quote from: mauve66 on May 27, 2009, 09:45:29 PM

tell they you already paid for the trip............... WITH YOUR TAXES

no sh&^%%! there. I would be livid if they tryed that crap with me.

69*F5*SE · May 27, 2009, 10:02:36 PM

Glad to hear everything is ok. Having the extinguisher handy is a must with these older cars. I'm sure you'll have it back on the road again soon.

oldcarnut · May 27, 2009, 10:13:48 PM

tell they you already paid for the trip............... WITH YOUR TAXES
[/quote]
I think they may have been a volunteer dept. if it make any difference but either way it's something to look out for. Maybe it's like letting the ambulance treat you at the accident scene or declining help

BROCK · May 27, 2009, 11:48:30 PM

Such a nice looking ride! Glad it survived

Nacho-RT74 · May 28, 2009, 12:06:02 AM

Quote from: jaak on May 27, 2009, 08:52:43 PM
First off, glad your ok!!! and secondly glad the car is ok.... doesn't look like there is a whole lot of damage there. You should get it back on the road quickly.

Jason

Thanks God everything was fine with you, and realyt does look not big damages either. Easy and cheap fix

TexasStroker · May 28, 2009, 01:25:00 AM

As stressed soo lucky you had the fire extinguisher! Hopefully it'll be an easy fix for you.

On another bright note that is prob the coolest call the firemen have been on all year.

bull · May 28, 2009, 01:28:02 AM

Whew! Close one, eh? Very wise of you to have a fire extinguisher on hand.

tan top · May 28, 2009, 03:13:53 AM

yikes ... like the others said could of been worse .... thats good looks like a easy fix & no exterior paint damage by the looks of it

mikepmcs · May 28, 2009, 05:39:06 AM

Let us know if you need anything.
Glad all is well. I need to look at my extinguishers to make sure they are still at full charge.

bakerhillpins · May 28, 2009, 07:38:10 AM

Quote from: WingCharger on May 27, 2009, 08:19:39 PM
At least nobody got hurt. Hope it comes out okay. Fire extinguisher powder is baaad stuff on electronics and electrical parts.

Ah yea, I was thinking the same thing. If it was a common dry chem extinguisher you might as well replace all the electrics. That stuff gets into everything and it eats electronics. This is the reason that computer facilities only have CO2 extinguishers on site. If you have insurance on the car you may want to get them involved in the repairs that I suspect you will soon encounter.

Bryan

mjwebb · May 28, 2009, 08:04:00 AM

oh man that is so scary, I know...just got my 70 and was driving around near home this past weekend when I noticed smoke coming from under the hood...stopped and popped the hood...the wire to the alternator bolt was red hot smoking and a small flame coming off it...fuel line nearby...i blew on it and wiggled it around and it stopped but I didn't have an extinguisher or wrench to disconnect the battery. called the gf and she brought one..flatbed ride to my mechanics place...turns out there is a wiring problem that has to do with the horn or relay or something I don't understand...still waiting to get it back...gotta' say, I was panicked and had thought it was going to go up in flames

Charger_Fan · May 28, 2009, 03:24:19 PM

Glad you & the car are both ok...much better ending to the story that the alternative.

Oh & this is the very reason why I try to never have a rubber ruel line (or connection) near the distributor. This goes for those cheap plastic fuel filter, too. I've seen those split at the seams from heat & spray fuel on an engine before. Luckily with that one, the carb just ran out of gas & the engine died before anything caught fire.

71ChallengeHer · May 28, 2009, 04:31:25 PM

Dan, Shelby told me about this last nite. I'm so glad your ok.

And the Charger doesn't look too bad.

Let us know if we can help.

bordin34 · May 28, 2009, 04:47:00 PM

Thanks
So far all that I know needs to be replaced is one plug wire, the distributor and cap, a couple feet of fuel line, one wire for the choke on the carb, the distributor 12v feed wires need to be soldered onto the new dizzy, and the temp sending unit wire. I am hoping there is no electrical damage I hosed the car down again today.

Charger-Bodie · May 28, 2009, 04:55:37 PM

Turn that fuel line around, so it comes in from the rear. You will have far less risk of fire that way.

tommymac · May 28, 2009, 08:53:38 PM

Your Lucky you caught it when you did,I had a similar episode,Driving down the road I smelled like paper burning and thought it came from a large truck ahead of me,all of a sudden my brakes faded to nothing and pulled into a gas station near the pumps , dripping flame onto the concrete,not knowing! I stopped and saw smoke coming from the cowl and hood,lifted the hood and the flames went all the way to the bottom of the hood.The kid inside came running out with a large bowl of water and said Hey Your On FIRE! I tossed it on a large rag I had left under the hood to catch some brake fluid dripping from the master while filling it ,DUH I forgot about it. While driving it must have blown down onto the headers and caught fire,and totally burnt just a plug wire and boiled the brake fluid in the lines .Boy what a dumb move!!I feel very lucky I could have blown up the gas station,and burnt up my car .I do have a extingusher but not CO2,plan on it.

mopar73 · May 28, 2009, 09:02:30 PM

Glad to hear that you are ok and that the car only has minor damage. Always, always carry a fire extinguisher with you..

firefighter3931 · May 28, 2009, 10:04:52 PM

That is what we call a good stop in the firefighting bussiness.

Damage looks minimal and it would have been much worse without an extinguisher.

Ron

FastbackJon · May 29, 2009, 12:01:38 AM

Glad it worked out.

My red '66 caught on fire once under the hood due to a triangle edelbrock air cleaner and a backfire. Just the air cleaner caught on fire. Luckily I wasn't driving and I had the extinguisher right there to put it out.

Also with the '73 PW this year, had it warming up in the garage and had the hood open, and noticed a bunch of fluid on top of the intake manifold. Thought it was coolant at first but then noticed the rubber fuel line going up to the carb was severely cracked and spraying gas all over. Probably the original line. Got it shut off, battery disconnected and replaced. Thankfully I didn't find out the problem on the road!

Some guys aren't so lucky!

mjwebb · May 29, 2009, 08:18:31 AM

turns out my little flame off the alternator wire was due to missing washers on the wire connection....the wire was just arcing to the alternator and got red hot...boy, to think a 5 cent washer could have torched my car...just passing this on for folks to make sure that part isn't missing

mikepmcs · May 29, 2009, 04:02:19 PM

Cody you see that last post by MJ?

69bronzeT5 · May 29, 2009, 04:35:37 PM

Quote from: mikepmcs on May 29, 2009, 04:02:19 PM
Cody you see that last post by MJ?

I'll be printing out the topic about the alternator the odd posts about that kinda stuff before I leave for Vancouver next Friday. Man Jon, those pictures are enough to make me cry. Especially the middle one!

bordin34 · May 29, 2009, 07:27:21 PM

It lives

. Today I bought a new distributor and fuel line, cleaned the air filter, and soldered a bit. I set the timing while getting shocked and it runs. I took it out for a test drive and it was running great, until a nice tight turn when it suddenly backfired a lot for a second then died, which is so much fun when your power steering and brakes. So I was stranded for ten minutes until my tools came, I swapped my old ignition back on and all was good. I think I fried my Summit ignition.

chargerboy69 · May 29, 2009, 08:25:25 PM

Quote from: bakerhillpins on May 28, 2009, 07:38:10 AM
Quote from: WingCharger on May 27, 2009, 08:19:39 PM
At least nobody got hurt. Hope it comes out okay. Fire extinguisher powder is baaad stuff on electronics and electrical parts.

Ah yea, I was thinking the same thing. If it was a common dry chem extinguisher you might as well replace all the electrics. That stuff gets into everything and it eats electronics. This is the reason that computer facilities only have CO2 extinguishers on site. If you have insurance on the car you may want to get them involved in the repairs that I suspect you will soon encounter.

Bryan

You are exactly right. Not good stuff to get down a carb either. Guys should not put those dry chemical extinguishers in their cars.

69bronzeT5 · May 29, 2009, 08:29:17 PM

Quote from: chargerboy69 on May 29, 2009, 08:25:25 PM
Quote from: bakerhillpins on May 28, 2009, 07:38:10 AM
Quote from: WingCharger on May 27, 2009, 08:19:39 PM
At least nobody got hurt. Hope it comes out okay. Fire extinguisher powder is baaad stuff on electronics and electrical parts.

Ah yea, I was thinking the same thing. If it was a common dry chem extinguisher you might as well replace all the electrics. That stuff gets into everything and it eats electronics. This is the reason that computer facilities only have CO2 extinguishers on site. If you have insurance on the car you may want to get them involved in the repairs that I suspect you will soon encounter.

Bryan

You are exactly right. Not good stuff to get down a carb either. Guys should not put those dry chemical extinguishers in their cars.

Unfortentley, it's the only thing I have right now. I can't afford a CO2 one.

FLG · May 29, 2009, 08:32:33 PM

Rather have some eaten electronics then no car at all

mjwebb · May 30, 2009, 11:40:34 AM

well now they're telling me something different, actually did have the insulation washer thing on there, it was what got torched and started the small flame and fried my alternator, but the root cause was a wiring issue with the horn, relay or something I don't quite fully understand..anyway I'm picking it up today and they'll let me know exactly what the electrical issue was/is...they are disabling the horn and relay for now..I'll try and post a comprehensive explanation just for knowledge sharing...

tan top · May 30, 2009, 03:31:27 PM

Quote from: bordin34 on May 29, 2009, 07:27:21 PM
It lives . Today I bought a new distributor and fuel line, cleaned the air filter, and soldered a bit. I set the timing while getting shocked and it runs. I took it out for a test drive and it was running great, until a nice tight turn when it suddenly backfired a lot for a second then died, which is so much fun when your power steering and brakes. So I was stranded for ten minutes until my tools came, I swapped my old ignition back on and all was good. I think I fried my Summit ignition.

thats great got it running

Quote from: FastbackJon on May 29, 2009, 12:01:38 AM
Glad it worked out.

My red '66 caught on fire once under the hood due to a triangle edelbrock air cleaner and a backfire. Just the air cleaner caught on fire. Luckily I wasn't driving and I had the extinguisher right there to put it out.

Also with the '73 PW this year, had it warming up in the garage and had the hood open, and noticed a bunch of fluid on top of the intake manifold. Thought it was coolant at first but then noticed the rubber fuel line going up to the carb was severely cracked and spraying gas all over. Probably the original line. Got it shut off, battery disconnected and replaced. Thankfully I didn't find out the problem on the road!

Some guys aren't so lucky!

thats some sad sights

..all look fixable though ! do you know that caused them all

..thinking the silver one , the guy might of been welding on the underside

quapman · June 21, 2009, 04:02:00 PM

All of us over at the 3rd Gen. Site give you a big "Whew!"

I need to get me a fire extinguisher!

BROCK · June 21, 2009, 04:15:28 PM

Quote from: quapman on June 21, 2009, 04:02:00 PM
All of us over at the 3rd Gen. Site give you a big "Whew!"

I need to get me a fire extinguisher!

I'm with you on that Q! And where is that thread about converting the amp gauge to a voltmeter?

An ounce of prevention................

News:

My Charger Caught on FIRE