If you don't have one, you need one...

[Saleen91]

If you don't have a fire extinguisher in your car, YOU NEED ONE..and after tonight I need ANOTHER ONE!

Thank GOD I had one in the Mustang tonight! Something electrical shorted, under the hood, causing an electrical fire while I was driving to the damned grocery store! I immediately grabbing my fire ext. and shoved in into the cowl opening of my hood and put the fire out... Withing a minute the flames started back up, so I ran to the back of the car and hit my battery disconnect switch (thank GOD for that one too!) and hit the fire with the extinguisher again! If I didn't have that fire ext. in the car I'm sure it would have burnt to the ground as quickly as those flames were spreading! :bawl:

The damage seems to be limited to a handful of burnt wires and some extinguisher chemical grungy-ing up my polished aluminum.

Meanwhile I just popped open a bottle of Port to calm down from this adrenaline rush.

[Guffinator]

Amen brotha! Glad it's all ok

[maveRick]

DUDE!

I'm gonna go put my extinguisher BACK in the car ASAP!

'Glad to hear you and the vert are okay!

[FE_rex]

:eek: Sorry to hear about that Ben. :eek:
Glad you were smart and kept your cool.

People get PO'ed at MCOH car shows cause we deduct points for no extinguisher. You should ALWAYS have one in your hot rod. At the pit or garage you need a minimum of a 5-lb one. I emptied a 5-lb into a hyundai one time and all it did was keep the flames down until the Burton VFD got there to finish it off.

BTW - I've heard the white stuff is corrosive - I know the soot is. Better down that Port and get busy cleaning-up that engine compartment.

[scjfox]

A fire extinguisher is a deffinant must, every since my best friends supra caught on fire and burned up Ive carried one. He coulda saved it if he had one, wasnt very big starting out, but boy it got big! Glad there wasnt too much damage

[Wild Stallion]

Ben, glad everything came out ok. Do ya need anyhelp on it? If so, ya know how to find me.

[89LX306]

Dang Ben, sorry to hear about that. I know where your coming from though. I used to have a 91 LX hatch that decided to burn up it's alternator wiring on me one night. I just happened to pull in to the parking lot of a 24 hour veterenary hospital and used their fire extinguisher. It's crazy how fast those flames flare up. Let us know what you find out.

[Saleen91]

Originally posted by FE_rex

BTW - I've heard the white stuff is corrosive - I know the soot is. Better down that Port and get busy cleaning-up that engine compartment.

This stuff was a yellow-ish dry chem extinguisher. I got an air hose on it as soon as I got it home (boy am I glad I have a car trailer!) and then wiped down most of the engine and the rest of the car with dry towels to get it off. There's still some spots I need to go over as it was hard to see last night out in the driveway.

I went out this morning to take a look at things, now that I've calmed down, and the damage seems to be limited to about 4 wires that run from the drivers side shock tower to the passenger side shock tower (aftermarket stuff, not factory wiring).

I was very, VERY, lucky the damage was so limited. It could have been a LOT worse.

I'll be hitting Lowe's on my way home today to get a new extinguisher for it as well as a few extras (garage & kitchen)...

[Guffinator]

Back when I had my Mustang I was stuck on Westheimer in early morning traffic...NOT MOVING and the wire running up to my nitrous switch shorted out on my shifter (the guy I bought the car from had run the wire directly across the shifter plate with no wire loom). It caught fire very quickly. I was lucky to save the car. An extinguisher is a definite MUST HAVE item.

[Ian]

Sorry to hear it Ben, but I'm glad you and the car are OKAY!

Ian

[89 coupe]

Originally posted by FE_rex
:eek: Sorry to hear about that Ben. :eek:
Glad you were smart and kept your cool.

I emptied a 5-lb into a hyundai one time and all it did was keep the flames down until the Burton VFD got there to finish it off.



LMAO- I put out a Hyundai fire once myself. If it wasn't in the dealership garage where most of my tools are I would have let it burn to the ground.:blue:
I have an extinguisher in my car now and plan on a fire system in the future when the big motor goes in. Beside's the car just talk to a racer that has been inside a car on fire and it suddenly becomes a must have item.

[Saleen91]

I got up early this morning to start working on the car and to see how bad the damage was. I'll take pics of the bad stuff and post them later for giggles.

The damage wasn't too bad. From the looks of things, it was the wire loom and insulation that caught on fire due to a short. It looks like I might have had a wire too close to a header and melted either a the plastic off of a butt connector or the insulation on the wire itself. After a couple hours of thrashing I have the car fixed and running again! woohoo!!! I still need to do some cleanup, looming/wire tieing, and get the rest of this extinguisher dry chem off of the car. Man that stuff will make you gag when it starts cooking on the headers *cough* *wheeze*...


Oh, and I bought another extinguisher to put in the car to replace the one I just used up. :)

/me crosses his fingers that he won't ever need to use the new extinguisher.

[maveRick]

Great news, Ben!

Now you'll have no problem being ready for AUGUST'S CCB. :p

Glad everything turned out okay.

Rick

[Saleen91]

Originally posted by maveRick
Great news, Ben!

Now you'll have no problem being ready for AUGUST'S CCB. :p

Glad everything turned out okay.

Rick

Yup!!! and I plan to hit a dyno day this weekend as well. :)

[PowderTuff]

glad to hear all went well....and that was an excellent idea to put out the fire w/out lifting the hood. i have added a fire extinguisher to my "grocery" list.

toodles,
ang.