engine caught on fire today...
 

As the title says... I went out for lunch and about a mile from the office I started to smell gas. Well, I pulled over an smoke started coming from under the hood and through my vents. I was able to put it out rather quickly, but I'm scared that i'll find burned injectors / wiring harness that will kill me fiscally. My guess is that the fuel pulsation damper finally gave up the ghost... This is very upsetting because I bought the car just a few months ago and this is the first problem i've had with it.. and at the worst possibile time b/c i've literally got $300 to my name. Wish me luck; i'll be pulling the intake tomorrow and praying that i'll be able to get it to work. If not, looks like i'll be taking the bus for a while (three transfers, ugh!).

-AV
88 RX-7 Convertible
Austin, TX

Good luck. Chances are very good you've burned your harness, injectors, sensors, rubber - basically anything that can melt. http://www.fc3s-pro.com , Ted's site, has some really good FPD info.

Brandon

If things have burned to a crisp, at least you might be able to find all the parts you need to fix your car for under $200. 86-88 parts are extremely common and usually end up collecting dust in someone's garage. Someone here must have the stuff you need and would be more than happy to part with it for cheap.

somewhere on Ted's site is also a place to file your fire complaint / info as well. one of these days he will get mazda to take the blame for this :D

Sad to here that :(

BTW - everyone should ALWAYS KEEP A FIRE EXTINQUISHER handy. Just go to walmart/autozone and buy one rated for gasoline.

AMEN TO THAT!!


I carry them in all my cars.

Jarrett

I had one right next to my right arm in my 91. That plus the fuel cut and the kouki FPD, I felt pretty safe.

Sorry to hear about the 'vert man. Hope you get her fixed...

LOL..is he really going to try that??:D

he is already trying, what is so funny its a great idea, oh and I want my car to burn down bout now so no fire extinguisher for me.

I towed the car to my apt. today... I haven't taken the intake off yet (plan on doing so tomorrow) but I took a picture of the engine... what do you guys think?

http://home.earthlink.net/~avoges/rx7.jpg

I ve seen worse... Looks like you got off pretty easy.

Rat

Yeah, that doesn't look too bad. At least not as bad as mine did. I didn't have any rubber or plastic left under the hood. Everything melted.

Craig

I really dont see anything that looks to burnt or really unusable. -Gabe

oh man, thats sucks, sorry to hear about loss, pulling the UIM isnt very hard, i got it off and back on my first time w/o a problem (except for that damn coolent hose on the back of the DC)

if the 88 and 87 harneses are the same i got an 87 SE harness thats only missing the winshild wipper portion, if you want it make me an offer, i also got all 4 n/a injectors if ya want em

hey man i am goin carb so i have all the parts you will need.. i will give ya real good deal to.. let me know whats up.. Dave

I pulled the first part of the intake.. I've never really done this so I don't really know what any of this is called (man, does the hayes manual really SUCK). anyway, I think i found the culprit. Take a look for yourself

http://home.earthlink.net/~avoges/rx72.jpg

So far, it looks like i'm going to have to replace a shitload of little vaccum hoses and one radiator hose (fell apart when I was taking it off from the back of the intake) but the wiring looks good.. well, the connector to the alternator was melted, but i think it will still work :)

I'll keep everyone updated after i finish removing the rest of the intake and look at the lower fuel rail.

-AV
88 RX-7 Convertible (el charro)
Austin, TX

haha just keep hopin. that tII will be yours someday
damn voges that sucks, could be worse, but still sucks.

i'll help you out when i get back in town if you like

gamble

How did you put out the fire?

James

I ran into a vietnameese restaurant (which I had parked in front of) and asked for a pitcher of water! There was a slight language barrier, but they saw the smoke so they figured it out...

-AV

I pulled the intake and the oil injectors look rather toasty... The oil lines are long gone and the vaccum snake is damaged.. besides that, everything else looks useable. Anyone have cheap hook-ups for oil lines / oil injectors / vaccum snakes?

I took the opportunity to send the fuel injectors to RC Engineering to have them cleaned.

Hopefully everything will turn out ok. Check out the pic below

http://home.earthlink.net/~avoges/fire.jpg

Man that sucks to have fire as a first problem, damn that pulsation damper I always keep my eye on it every oil change. I got quite a few 86-88 N/A parts around the garage so let me know if I can help.

I should have everything you might need to repair this, wiring, vacuum rails, oil lines, etc. Just let me know what you need, Ill give you a good deal. Heck, I would prolly sell the ENTIRE fuel injection with wiring and intake manifolds for $100 to anyone else who needs the stuff...I have to many s4 intakes from core motors.

thanks guys... hypntyz7, i'll PM you for the parts i'm looking for.

Basically, I need oil injectors, oil lines, and the vaccum spider. All of this appears to be melted (everything around the lower fuel rail). Also, if anyone has a lead on 12mm x 1.25 banjo bolts, i'm all ears. I'm pretty hesitant to replace the pulsation damper after reading about how often they fail with another... even if it's new!

-AV