So I've been doing a fair amount of reading on FD engine fires. I haven't quite determined the cause of this one yet, but fortunately I caught it in time. I was also very fortunate to have a friend of mine around to help put out the fire.

I have 6 FDs, but this is the first one that has produced an engine fire. I had a single turbo that blew a turbo and it resulted in a lot of exhaust flames due to burning oil.

Order of events for the evening:

1) Friend came over to help work on silver FD in garage.

2) During this time, I decided it would be a good idea to let one in the driveway idle for basic engine maintenance, etc. I hadn't started it in 2.5-3 weeks. It fired right up and idled for 10 minutes before it sputtered and shut off. I am guessing it ran out of fuel due to possible cracked fuel lines? (Can't wait to compression test her )

3) I ran outside to see why it was making such a sound, and saw some flames sitting on the ground. I quickly screamed my favorite four letter F word. My buddy came out to see what was going on.

4) He quickly turned the ignition off and threw the key down on the floor. ( I was in panic mode and did not think about the fuel pump being on).

5) We popped the hood after hand raking ~6" of snow off. The adrenaline is flowing at this point. I didn't have a hood prop so we had to shovel snow into it by hand. The flames were coming from behind the engine in the driver/center position. This was also when I discovered the fire extinguisher I had in the car did not work.

6) I quickly realized there was a snow shovel inside and also buckets to begin filling rapidly in the bathtub. We used the snow shovel to coat the motor and choke the flames and used the bucket rotation to douse the hot areas down below.

After we got the fire out, we poured more hot water over everything to melt all of the snow so it wouldn't sit in there doing more corrosive damage.

After getting the worklight out to examine the damage, it looked like only the MAP sensor and a few hoses/components on the back side of the motor were damaged. I really won't know if the engine suffered damage until I get the ***** to pull the EGI and turn the ignition. It was fairly traumatic! I also managed to slip on my floor and bust my arm/hand and soaked myself/floor with one of the buckets designated for the engine bay.

This was my fault for not knowing the history of the car and having too many to keep up with. I did not smell anything out of the ordinary when I drove her three weeks ago.

The car is 98pct stock with just a greddy catback. It is the quietest 13b FD I have ever heard.

 

photos.. its law!

 

x2

:-O

 

mine caught on fire once. it was due to a leaky single turbo and an oil-drenched turbo blanket.

i ruined a car cover putting it out and lost about 10 years of my life in the panic.

BUT I was lucky to have minimal damage to the vehicle (some melted hoses and wires). Fire Extinguisher is now in my FD.

 

I was cutting the bed off my REPU with an Oxygen and something torch. It caught something next to the gas tank on fire. The metal was so hot i couldnt put it out easily so I watched my REPU bed burn for a couple minutes. I casually stepped away from the vehicle and let it burn the rest of the material away. Did not hit the gas tank.

I would be angry if my FD caught on fire. Man that sucks that the FPD and lines are in the rats nest cause you know you have tons of things to replace in there to stay stock :-(

 

I lost my first FD after only 11 months of ownership to an engine fire resulting from a leaky power steering line. I too now keep a fire extinguisher in my second FD. You are supposed to replace fire extinguishers every so often, I wanna say 6 months, but don't hold me to that. Finally, thanks for making me nervous about starting mine, it hasn't been started since the week before Thanksgiving.

ANYWAYS...
sounds like either a coolant leak or FPD leak, more than likely the FPD.

 

I usually can go for a few years or more. Depends on the extinguisher and what it's material is. IE I use halon. I'm on my second one which I just picked up I think last year over the 7+ years I've had the car.

Just keep an eye on the gauge. When it gets low, replace it.