Date: 23 Nov 2001 07:21:24 -0800 From: nutmeggernopsameja.com (Nutmegger) Subject: Re: Fire?
(Yaofeng) wrote in message > > No. It was my own stupidity, on hind sight. It was a '89 900S 5 > speed at 155k miles. Rose Quartz in color, perfect body. That sounds like my old car, until I got hit. > > Washed the engine one Saturday afternoon under the bright August sun. > I do this at least once a year. I was advised not to do that by my tech. Do you feel the car runs better if the motor is clean? >Noticed the distributor and the block > around it was particularly grimy. This is the area I used to ignore > in the past. Also noticed there is a vent hole at the front of the > block for the spark plugs on the 16v engine. Sprayed engine degreaser > liberally and aimed the garden hose squarely at the hole to wash it. I think you'd be better off just using a rag and taking parts off and wiping them down. That is the method I've used. > > The car started right up after washing. I did not let it idle. Just > backed it out of the driveway onto the street and then shut the engine > off. > > Took the car out 2 hours later. It idled very rough about 500 yards > from home. Thinking I'd got water in the system, I floored the gas > pedal trying to get water out of the system. It still idled extremely > rough with my foot on the floor for a mile and half. That's when I > saw smoke coming out of the shift console. > > Stop the car on the side of the road and got out. I saw fire in the > rear of the car near the passenger side wheel. When I realized the > fire was near the gas tank, I immediately backed off to 50 feet away. > Someone then called 911. Once fire started, there is not much I can > do but to see it slowly burns. By the time fire department came, it > was in full blaze. > Wow, you must have been pretty upset to see your car go up in flames like that. Is the car totally spent? > When I finishing dousing the engine using the garden hose, the spark > plugs recess were likely fully immersed in water. The water then > slowly seeped into the cylinders. By flooring the gas pedal all the > way for about two miles, my guess is gas got ignited in the cat > converter and made the exhaust extremely hot. The hot exhaust pipe > set the rubber hangers ablaze.