Driving home from Texas, in the middle of Colorado, outside Pueblo. I heard a noise sounded like a rock hitting something under the car. Next thing I have smoke, I thought it was overheating (been driving for 13hours)So when I opened the hood I expected boiling over. As soon as the air hit the engine compartment the Alternator went up in flames. I recommend everyone carry a travel fire extinquisher, as I only had a bottle of Evian and pee. I put it out. Surprisingly, some of the "fan blades" on the alternator werre bent an/or missing and the alternator drive shaft was bent, the thing was fried. I though I would just disconnect the alternator and drive on battery to closest town (15 more miles).(But I would have to take alternator off first. (hint carry tools) Just as I completed that thought, the fan melt melted away from the still very hot alternator (Hint: carry extra fan belts), Well at last I was towed and fixed but still pretty scary.

 

I guess the extra $$ for the Evian water paid off, eh? I carry a basic tool kit with me now... i tried to think of everything "simple" that could break, and the tools I'd need to fix it. My favorite is the pocketknife & roll of wire... to make a test light, I could remove one of my front marker lights, and connect two lengths of wire to it.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

my son had a small fire with his 355 after i got it together. always a good idea to carry a fire extingusher.

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ICON Motorsports

1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond 538 F&AM

 

I agree. One of the best "mods" is a portable fire extinguisher.

I don't trust my work good enough to NOT carry a fire extinguisher in my car.

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86 Trans Am WS6 Black with tinted windows, shaved door handles
ZZ4, Mini-ram, true duals, LT4 HotCam, AFR 195 heads.
***Too many other mods to mention***

"In the future, cities will become deserts,
roads will become battlefields, and the hope of mankind
will appear as a stranger" The Road Warrior

 

I had my 91z28 go up in flames on night. it started under the dash. I even had a fire extingusher in the car too. the fire put out this real bad smell ans awful smell from the plastic burning that I was choking . this happened while I was driving at night all by myself on a long desolit road. the car burnt to a crisp. It was a silver 91z28 with torque thruster 2 wheels it had it all. now it is gone but I have another one in the works to take over where that left off. you can view the car at
www.fbody.com/members/brads91z28

 

the 87 died by fire.. damn wiring harness.. where it runs under the dash.. and the a/c ducting.. well the 40 or so wires.. became one.. I killed the power to it before the **** hit the fan.. but I got pissed and parted her out before I came to my senses and realized how god damn easy it would have been to just change the wiring harness.. the 92 will get a new harness at 110k miles.. if it needs it or not.

Anthony

 

I have an extinguisher mounted on the transmission tunnel between the rear seats. (Well, where the rear seats would be) Don't bother with these dinky little extinguishers that they label as being for cars, they're barely big enough to blow out a candle.

 

Do you have to mount the fire extinguisher from the a-pillar though???
My 68 Camaro convt backfired thru the carb and caught fire on the Florida Turnpike many years ago. I put it out with dirt from the roadside. New carb, cap, rotor, wires.


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Rob P
89RSconvtZZ4TPI
Edelbrock Hi-Flow Intake
SLP Dual Cold Air Intake
1 5/8" Headers
Semi-Siamesed Runners
MSD6AL/relocated MAT/ AdjFPR/IROC frnt@rear swaybar/wonderbar/steeringbox/alum drvshaft/ Alston SFC/3:23posi disc rear/MAC LCA/H.Adams Panhard Rod/KYB struts/ shocks/
92Z28convt5spd
71Impala convt 402BB
BETTER DRIVING THRU SUPERIOR HORSEPOWER!

 

alternators are a weak point on our cars,due to the large amount of electronics,the alternator has a large output,but because of that they get realy hot,causing like bearing problems and even fire!
I too fried one myself,bought a new one,and found that JC Whitney has a conversion kit called Iceberg High Output Alternator Conversion Kit,it consists of an alternator back side with cooling fins on it and an oversized back bearing,might worth a try for you as well!!

 

My current car decided to catch fire during the 30 min continuous run break-in. Not sure exactly how. I was in the car watching the temp gauge, the car coughed a little, I looked at the engine compartment (hood wasnt on yet) and in my chrome air cleaner I saw FIRE! We are talking pretty yellow flames. Put it out w/ the garden hose. In the aftermath, all that burnt were my #3 and #5 plug wires. I figure that the burnt through and were sparking and that the coughing cause the needed "fuel". But not sure.

However, I do know that I believe in carrying a fire extinguisher now.

Clayton

 

One night as I was driving I noticed my voltmeter on the dash was pinned to 15V and the alt light was on... then I noticed a pretty orange glow under the hood. It seems the rad's electric fan motor seized and was drawing huge amounts of current through the wiring harness. I have no idea why there was no fusible link in the line... I sure didn't take it out. The connector block at the firewall caught fire and melted. I had to replace the entire harness to the engine bay. Luckily I have a TA so there wasn't too many wires... stupid pop-up headlights...

Those small fire extinguishers are useless. They have a 5 second shot so you'd better get it right on... I didn't hit it right but someone came running with a jug of water. They will mount on the passenger side kick panel... train your friends not to kick it when in the car.

The moral of the story here is to make sure that all items in the car that draw current should have a fuse on them.

 

My TTA caught on fire going to the racetrack one Sunday morning. I was following my friends twin turbo mustang and i pulled next to another mustang and he wanted some. I proceeded to pull away from him when all of a sudden I see flames go down the side of my car. I pulled over right away with the engine off and saw oil tracks behind me. What happen was the stud that attaches to the block that holds the oil filter came off and release about 60 psi of pressure. The oil shot out onto my headers and caught fire for a split second. The car got schinged a little and the mustang driver that was next to me had to change his pants. The cops came because they heard us racing and I got them to call me a towtruck.

Make sure when you change your oil, check the stud once in a while so that this will not happen to you.

Pete

 

If you want to hear some good fire stories, got to Fiero.nl

 

I bought a 2nd gen T/A (403/6.6)from some guys who were changing the carb, and it started on fire.
They extinguished it with a nearby bucket of water It was froze tight.

They let it sit for a year, I took it home, poured diesel down it, left it a week, and she fired right up.

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My first 89 Formula almost caught fire--some idiot rebuilt my alternator for me(said he could do it cheaper--guess I was the idiot!)
I drove it for a few minutes until I smelled something burning. I pop the hood and the back of the alternator is glowing cherry red--never seen that before or since! I think a few more minutes of driving and that baby would've been toast!!

 

LottaBalls, you truely are a character that makes fbody owners look stupid. 'nuff said in that.

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1988 Hawaiin Orchid Fiero Custom Coupe.

 

the guy i bought my 82 T/A from did a lot of work on it, and i dont think he really knew what he was doing. The steel fuel line to the carb was siezed up and it looked like he had been trying to remove it because the line was twisted and kinked. the car ran fine, so i was in no rush to fix it. I probably drove it a few months. Then as my bro was pulling into the driveway, i saw flames shoot out from under the car. We popped the hood and found that gas had been spraying all over the engine compartment from a tiny crack in the fuel line. Well, on the addition of oxygen, it again burst into flames and we got it out w/ the fire extinguisher in my house. Damage: wiring harness, most of the vacuum lines around the carb, dist. cap, heater hoses, winshield fluid hoses, and the plastic cases to the ac unit and the wiper motor also were melted, but the componenets werent damaged. I drive around w/ a full size fire extinguisher for sure now.

 

Once when I was backing down from racing another TA, fire came out of the exhaust like when the SCCA racers do when they down shift.

Pete