Keep a fire extinguisher in your car/garage!

[Harlow]

We were recently working on my brother's daily driver. It needed new fuel injectors. Well as we were putting the fuel rail back on we broke the last bolt off. We were excited to see if it had fixed the problem so rather than spend time drilling it out right then we just decided to C-clamp the rail down in place and took if for a test drive. As we pulled back into the garage we saw smoke coming out from under the hood. I pulled the hood release and saw flames come jumping out the sides. My dad grabbed the fire extinguisher and we opened the hood. The whole engine was a big bonfire. Every time we would put it out it would just relight (since the fuel leaking out was highly pressurized it kept spraying on the exhaust manifold). I had a feeling that the little one he was using (like something you would have in your kitchen) was going to run out so I ran and grabbed our big shop one and that finally put it out.

Anyways it got me thinking. The fire only started once we came to a stop. What if we had pulled over on the side of the road to see why it wasn't running correctly? We would have just watched the car burn down. I'll be keeping a fire extinguisher in all of my project cars from now on. We were lucky it only started when we pulled in and that we had a fire extinguisher right by the bench. Just thought I'd share the story.

Surprisingly we put the fire out before it did any real damage. We were able to fix everything that was broken or melted.

[Belgium R/T -68]

In Belgium it's a requiermentment to have a fireextinguisher in your car. Old as new.

[69bronzeT5]

Yep, getting fire extinguishers for my cars are on my list of things to buy.

[68coronetGLwannabe]

Saw an old vette catch fire last weekend at a car show.    I went out and got me an extinguisher for my charger the next day!

[Mike DC]

Just be careful how you secure them, not to mention where you put them.  They're nasty projectiles when they're punctured, and even an unbroken one makes a heck of a blunt instrument when it's hurtling through the air.

[squeakfinder]

I've got one sitting in front of the front passenger seat of my Charger and one in the shop. Yeah I also learned the hard way to keep a fire extinguisher in all the project vehicles.

I had a 78 Jeep Cherokee a few years ago. I had just rebuilt the 360 in it and was taking it for a spin with a friend and my son. I got about 7 miles from the house pulled into the local wrecking yard because there was smoke coming out from under the hood. Well let me say, you don't want to overfill those quadra-tracs, because the vent tube runs strait up and curves down wright onto the exhaust manifold flange. That Whale oil burns pretty good.

[oldcarnut]

One other piece to remember is check what is in the extinguisher.  With just a little squirt that yellow dry chemical is corrosive and a pain to clean up.   Here's a link for comparisons.
http://www.search-autoparts.com/searchautoparts/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=335245

[bull]

Alternative thread title: Do the job right before the test drive when messing with parts that transport gasoline.

[Harlow]

Alternative thread title: Do the job right before the test drive when messing with parts that transport gasoline.

Thanks. I don't think there is any way that the experience alone taught me that lesson.

[Mean 318]

I have one in all of mine and have used one of them for a fuel fire under the hood of my 70, that sucked! A big mess but it beats having a well done car!

[Harlow]

I have one in all of mine and have used one of them for a fuel fire under the hood of my 70, that sucked! A big mess but it beats having a well done car!

Hows your 70 coming along? Your talking about your blue coronet right? I haven't seen anything about in a long time.

[Mean 318]

2 tannys this summer and one motor mount.... put the 440 into the hood! Now I took it all down and started on the body work. Kinda at a stand still now that I got a 68, that and my body guy fu*ked me over!

[1969chargerrtse]

Alternative thread title: Do the job right before the test drive when messing with parts that transport gasoline.

That was the first thing I thought, but was afraid to post.   

[squeakfinder]

Some of us have to learn the hard way. Hopefully this thread will help. As far as the Cherokee my friend that was with me ran inside and got a fire extinguisher and we got the fire out. But not before I destroyed my baseball cap that I used to try and beat the fire out.

[MoparSam]

I'll defiantly agree that everyone needs an extinguisher in their car, they're a valuable asset.  I had to use mine one time to try and keep from melting $600 in wiring harnesses when the horn relay power wire grounded out to my brand new aluminum radiator.

[bakerhillpins]

One other piece to remember is check what is in the extinguisher.  With just a little squirt that yellow dry chemical is corrosive and a pain to clean up.   Here's a link for comparisons.
http://www.search-autoparts.com/searchautoparts/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=335245

I would even go farther and say that if you have ANY electronics in the car your going to end up replacing them if you use the dry chem. The powder is like drywall dust and gets into everything and as stated it is very corrosive. It will eat all your electronics. Dry Chem ext. are a no no in the computer world because if you discharge one in the presence of PC equipment, it all has to be replaced! They use CO2 instead.

[Khyron]

I have one for my car and a FUll sized one in my garage :thumbsup:

[1BAD68]

Good thread.
Just checked the extinguisher in my car and its a dry chem, I have three in my house and they're all dry chem.
I want to replace them all, so whats a good all purpose fire extinguisher to get?

[FLG]

Just to be sure i disconnect the battery every night when i pull the charger in

[MoparSam]

Just to be sure i disconnect the battery every night when i pull the charger in

I'll agree to that!  I never leave mine without disconnecting the battery.  There is a guy I know that owned an all original early model 454 El Camino that he parked in his basement that caught fire under the dash and liked to have burned down his house!  Luckely the dash was as far as the fire got.

[bakerhillpins]

Good thread.
Just checked the extinguisher in my car and its a dry chem, I have three in my house and they're all dry chem.
I want to replace them all, so whats a good all purpose fire extinguisher to get?

I am not sure that you need to replace them all. The choice of extinguisher obviously depends upon the type of fire and area you are deploying it in.  The size of the extinguisher is also important. There are lots of web pages out there that talk about choosing an extinguisher so a quick trip on any search engine should provide hours of reading. This seems to provide good info: http://www.ilpi.com/safety/extinguishers.html

The most important thing is to GET THE HELL OUT of the fire! Period! If you are worried about the car, insure it.

Bryan

[KS71owner]

I've had one in my '71 since I got it; it's mounted to a bracket on the driver's side of the tranny hump. All I need to do to get it is reach down and unclip it. I also keep one in the trunk of my daily driver.