Fbodies burning?

[Badbird_96]

Ok so lately i have been looking at salvage 4th gen fbodies and for some reason i came across alot of burnt 93-97 cars whether it was a v6 or v8. My 94 Formula burnt as well. Me and my wife were driving home from shopping (on our one month anniversary of getting married) and my formy started cuting out and i was kinda low on gas as i was trying to make it the top of the mountain we live on to get gas (cheaper) so i thought it had ran out so i put in nuetral and was going to coast until i could get off the road. My wife said no its smoking and thats when i smelled it. So my first thought was stop it now and try to put out the fire. When i hit the brakes apparently the fire had made the master cylinder hot and weak and it exploded and it went from a little smoke to flames going up the windsheild. Cause the master cylinder had burnt so did the one for the clutch so i couldnt get it back in gear and my ebrake cable was broke when i got the car and the dealership wanted like $130 for it so i didnt fix that lol. My wife tucked and rolled at around 30mph (she opened the door and fire rolled up from under the car and she asked what do we do... me panicking and being a smartass said i dont know, jump. She did :laugh:)and i drove the passenger side wheels off in the gravel and flintstoned it to a stop. She called 911 when she got up and it took the fire dept 6mins from the time they received the call to get it put out. In that time it burnt from the nose to the back seat basically. Cause was undetermined they said. So my question is what causes this? I thought mine was a freak accident but if you search for salvage fbodies alot of them are burnt. I didnt see any 98-02s burnt so is this a problem with 93-97 cars cause if so i wanna know how to fix it cause i dont want my ws6 doing the same as my formy.

[Blubird]

I've only seen one 99 v6 firebird that caught on fire but freak accidents happen.if anything is leaking and ends up touching an exaust manifold it will ignite

[faust]

the way i see it. our cars are 15 + years old. hoses are brittle, seals have deteriorated. wires have insulation cracked and owner maintenance is lacking at best. all are recipes for a fire

[BLK95-Z]

Alot of them burn from most likely shotty stereo wiring jobs.

[5POINT7]

lol all of the above, sums it up pretty good. Any car can catch on fire real quick, so I dont think it had anything to do with 93-97. I'd imagine there would have been alot of re-calls if this was a problem.

[chevymec]

I was at the track a few yeas ago and an LT camaro burnt up. From what I was told he knew there was a gas leak earlier and he still drove it. He pulled in by the GAS TANKS and parked it. He didn't know it was burning them untill me and a few others started yelling fire. The plastic fuel lines just fed the fire. They got it put out before the fire spread to the inside too bad.

[Badbird_96]

My formula i had just gotten about 6 months prior in 07 it burnt feb 08. It had a crate motor put in by the previous owner so maybe he didnt do a good job. Other than that it was stock radio and everything. He swapped in a crate motor, new 6spd, and new 3.73 gears before i got it. He said the first motor was blown when he got the car. I had all the receipts so i know it had all this done to it lol. I still miss that car. My ws6 is way nicer but that was my first bird.

[razor02097]

You see this happen a lot with off road rigs... many times guys don't clean years of oil buildup on and around the motor. Basically the engine bay cakes up with flammable material turning it into a large candle that will burn long and hot once set alight.
Best way to prevent a fire is to keep The engine bay as clean as possible. Installing new items with care as not to damage electrical wires and using the proper rated fuses will also help prevent vehicle fires.

I always keep a fire extinguisher in my vehicles. It doesn't cost much nor add much weight. If ever needed to put out a fuel fire you would be glad you had one.

[Badbird_96]

I need one for the ws6. That may have been what got my formula as i had noticed it had alot of old oil and such on the botom im assuming from the blown motor and i never really had the time to clean it plus i figured it wouldnt hurt anything cause it was down where noone could see it. My ws6 is clean as a whistle though lol

[razor02097]

I need one for the ws6. That may have been what got my formula as i had noticed it had alot of old oil and such on the botom im assuming from the blown motor and i never really had the time to clean it plus i figured it wouldnt hurt anything cause it was down where noone could see it. My ws6 is clean as a whistle though lol

Depending on the level of paranoia... you could always install a fire suppression system....Just don't accidentally fill the tank with N2O :laugh:

http://www.rvcruzer.com/firesystem.php
http://www.ansul.com/en/Products/nonroad_sys/nonroad.asp

Halon anyone?

[Fastbird]

This is why I carry a fire extinguisher in my cars that are modded, especially the turbo cars with the extra oil lines.

Also, do what you can to keep oil leaks in check. Tom Byrne lost his wicked 93 Z28 to a fire due to oil soaked header wrap igniting.

[razor02097]

Luckily the OPTI is in front of our motors. Covering it with plastic and degrease the back of the engine bay.... would be a great start to preventing buildup. Common leak points are the back of the valve covers and around the oil cooler area.


I have a small vehicle fire extinguisher right now but this thread has got me thinking to get a larger one... I don't have a spare anymore so maybe I will tuck a larger one in there. The only worse feeling you could have with a vehicle on fire is the fire extinguisher runs out just as the flames poof back to life... :cry:

Something clever I just though of is if you have done the TB bypass to have an open ended hose with a shut off valve... fire starts, open valve... steam and water come out like a hose... might burn the **** out of yourself though...:hmm:

[njrextreme]

Water on a oil fire = not smart. Or hot antifreeze spraying you. The fire ext. is you best bet.

[razor02097]

Water on a oil fire = not smart. Or hot antifreeze spraying you. The fire ext. is you best bet.

well I was thinking electrical fire but that might not be good either.

[Badbird_96]

Im now thinking of getting one and when i have the car painted have it painted to match and add some styiling cues to match the car. Like people do with nos bottles. That way it will look good in there and still be functional.

[razor02097]

Im now thinking of getting one and when i have the car painted have it painted to match and add some styiling cues to match the car. Like people do with nos bottles. That way it will look good in there and still be functional.

well if your going to go through all that... make sure you cough up the extra dough to get a serviceable one... Although rare some extinguishers can lose pressure and become useless. A serviceable one can be repaired and refilled. The cheap ones can't. I learned this with a non serviceable 2 pound extinguisher I had in my jeep. One day I noticed the needle was in the red... no reason, never used.

[Paulster2]

... I'd imagine there would have been alot of re-calls if this was a problem.Don't be so sure. When a problem arises with a car, the manufacturer ALWAYS looks at it from a cost point of view. They ask themselves a question: what is going to cost more, getting sued from customers or the recall to fix them all. Most of the time they'll do the payouts from the law suits as it is actually cheaper. I mean look at what Toyota when through with their cars and stuck accelerators. They went cheap at first to get them fixed (pinning down the floor mats), and ended up having to do stuff with the pedal itself and programming the PCM. This cost them BILLIONS of $$, let alone the money it cost them in lost revenue for their brand name getting trashed. It's expensive to do recalls, have no doubt about it. They really don't care if a couple of the cars are lost to something like this if it cannot be tied to something specific. And this is especially true when the car is a bit older and something comes up.

[razor02097]

here is some interesting info...

http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/tfrs/v9i1.pdf

Even though it is "highway vehicle fires" it still is interesting that the majority of causes is mechanical related. However I would still bet electrical was involved since they only included electrical "shorts" due to failed wiring.

[Badbird_96]

@ razor02097 - Thats crazy. I figured it was alot less common than that. Speaking of recalls in 94 they had that problem with the steering wheel controls causing the air bag to deploy. My controls didnt work although i checked all the wires so maybe instead of deploying my airbag it shorted out and caught fire. Oh well that was 2 years ago and old news now lol. I am gonna get a good one as you say and paint it to match the car. Tape off the labels so all that is still legal atleast im guessing it needs to be visible lol.

[razor02097]

which controls?

I recently took the airbag off to clean under it and fix a broken horn switch... it is scary.... like cleaning a loaded gun no matter how careful you are there is always the chance you touch the trigger and it goes off :doh:

Disclaimer: Never clean a loaded gun! Always unload guns before cleaning them!

[Badbird_96]

The steering wheel radio controls are the ones im referring too. I read somewhere that they had a recall on them shorting out and popping the airbag while you were driving. That would suck... Almost as bad as catching on fire lol.

[razor02097]

The steering wheel radio controls are the ones im referring too. I read somewhere that they had a recall on them shorting out and popping the airbag while you were driving. That would suck... Almost as bad as catching on fire lol.

yeah that would suck! So if it popped the airbag do they replace the driver's seat and owner's pants? Maybe a years supply of febreeze? :jest:

[Badbird_96]

Lol if thats the least that have to replace. I was picturing going around a curve and it happening and off you go to visit the kebler elves. I saw a guy with a 94 and he had a metal pontiac arrowhead on the airbag over the logo thats there and i pictured that happening and him trying to explain to his insurance why he had a pontiac emblem lodged in his forehead.

[QC97Z]

The pics in the very first post almost look like a plastic fuel line melted and started the fire. It's not the first time I've heard of the plastic fuel lines causing fire, I know a girl that had a 99 Grand Prix GTP (they have a very similar fuel line setup) and it caught fire from a fuel leak, most likely caused by heat melting the line.
Plus, the OP mentioned the car cutting out. It might not caused by low fuel, but by loss of fuel pressure from a leaking fuel line.