Hopefully you will never experience a fire in your car – BUT it can happen to anyone, anywhere.  We often see burnt out vehicles on the side of Cairo roads.  Often bad servicing and maintenance is to blame. So today let’s look at this subject.
First and most important – have a fire extinguisher in your car. In fact two would be even better – one small one in the car and one of the large ones in the trunk of your sedan or in the back of your 4×4.. And make sure they are fully charged.
Last week I got a call to tow in a car from the desert – the engine had caught on fire – and the blaze was so intense it melted all of the plastic pieces in the engine and burnt many of the rubber hoses.
As near as I can figure – the cause of the fire was oil dripping on the hot exhaust pipe that runs underneath the engine.
Remember please – your motor oil is flammable, your power steering fluid is flammable, your automatic transmission fluid is flammable and your gasoline is obviously flammable. So, if you have a leak in any of these systems and it drips on a hot exhaust pipe it will eventually burst into flames. Then what can happen is the fuel lines in and under the engine will also burst into flame and you have burning gasoline in the engine.
Again, and I can’t stress this too much – if you have a leak – notice motor oil (black in color) or transmission / power steering fluid (red in color) on the ground under your car – have it looked into immediately. And again, obviously if you smell gasoline – stop the car and get it looked into immediately.
The fire in the car last week was so intense it burnt the opening catch for the hood so it was not possible to get this open until we got the car to the shop – and even then it took over two hours to get the hood up.
Please remember in your engine compartment are many items that are plastic, the most expensive being the engine computer unit – usually located on the side wall in the engine. Your power steering unit is plastic, and all the electrical wiring (wiring harness) that provides all the electrics in the engine is plastic.
I have seen other engine fires – where a fuel line has broken, where a short from the battery positive to a metal piece in the engine has caused a spark.
So it behooves you to make sure everything in your engine compartment is in good working order and that you have no leaks in any of the systems in your car.
And – again – have those fire extinguishers in a handy place so you can grab one if needed in an emergency.
I can be reached on 01001456439 and/or horsetorg@yahoo.com if you need any assistance.
Read more about Dave and his Service Centre here