Stuck Floats can cause fires!
01-15-03, 02:26 PM
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Stuck Floats can cause fires!
Yesterday afternoon when I got home I noticed that as I turned in my driveway my rex ('83 GSL) acted like the floats were stuck open. It's done this twice before and I hit the carb to loosen the valves and it fixed it. So I thought fine, I'll take the beer in the house and check the carb before I go into town to get food and more beer. After sitting for 10 minutes enjoying my beer my wife said that she saw smoke outside. I opened the front door and could not even see my car through the thick black smoke. My car was on fire! I tried to pop the hood to put it out and broke the hood release cable! My wife got me water that I poured through the crack at the back edge of the hood. I got it out after four pans of water. Now the hood, which was pretty black before, has the paint burnt off in a two foot circle. The rat's nest I was planning on removing soon is history. The fire was centered around it! Wires to alternator burnt, clutch slave cylinder rubber line gone, both gas lines gone, new air filter and distributor cap gone, spark plug wires destroyed. Oh well, it could have been worse! The moral is to fix your car when gas can leak onto hot parts, fires do happen.
01-15-03, 03:27 PM
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I figure I can fix it for $40-50, not counting painting the hood or carb kit. I'm lucky, it only burned the plastic and rubber on the top of the motor around the rat's nest. If that's not a clear indication to remove the nest I don't know what is!
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01-15-03, 05:49 PM
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Re: Stuck Floats can cause fires!
Originally posted by Randy Nix
Yesterday afternoon when I got home I noticed that as I turned in my driveway my rex ('83 GSL) acted like the floats were stuck open. It's done this twice before and I hit the carb to loosen the valves and it fixed it. So I thought fine, I'll take the beer in the house and check the carb before I go into town to get food and more beer. After sitting for 10 minutes enjoying my beer my wife said that she saw smoke outside. I opened the front door and could not even see my car through the thick black smoke. My car was on fire! I tried to pop the hood to put it out and broke the hood release cable! My wife got me water that I poured through the crack at the back edge of the hood. I got it out after four pans of water. Now the hood, which was pretty black before, has the paint burnt off in a two foot circle. The rat's nest I was planning on removing soon is history. The fire was centered around it! Wires to alternator burnt, clutch slave cylinder rubber line gone, both gas lines gone, new air filter and distributor cap gone, spark plug wires destroyed. Oh well, it could have been worse! The moral is to fix your car when gas can leak onto hot parts, fires do happen.
Yesterday afternoon when I got home I noticed that as I turned in my driveway my rex ('83 GSL) acted like the floats were stuck open. It's done this twice before and I hit the carb to loosen the valves and it fixed it. So I thought fine, I'll take the beer in the house and check the carb before I go into town to get food and more beer. After sitting for 10 minutes enjoying my beer my wife said that she saw smoke outside. I opened the front door and could not even see my car through the thick black smoke. My car was on fire! I tried to pop the hood to put it out and broke the hood release cable! My wife got me water that I poured through the crack at the back edge of the hood. I got it out after four pans of water. Now the hood, which was pretty black before, has the paint burnt off in a two foot circle. The rat's nest I was planning on removing soon is history. The fire was centered around it! Wires to alternator burnt, clutch slave cylinder rubber line gone, both gas lines gone, new air filter and distributor cap gone, spark plug wires destroyed. Oh well, it could have been worse! The moral is to fix your car when gas can leak onto hot parts, fires do happen.
01-16-03, 08:36 AM
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It was turned off, but hot after a 25 mile run home. At least I didn't short out the electrical system since it was turned off! I'm going to get a picture of it before I fix it. I'm sure everyone will get a kick out of my burned rat's nest.
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