Hi All, took the wife and nieghbours for a Sunday drive in the mountains today.
XJ6 caught fire on the way home.
No idea why but I took the fire extinguisher off the garage wall before we left and put it in the boot!. Got to be lucky some of the time

 

Bloody hell! What happened???

I take it everyone's ok?

 

Don't know, stopped at the lights and smoke bellowing from rear gaurds. Pulled up around the corner and had a look under,black melted plastic dripping from above right pipe where it goes up over the axle etc. Called Racq to get it towed but while we were waiting the smoke was getting worse so popped under for a gander and had a fireball ball happening up around top of suspension right near fuel tank . That's when the work place fire training kicked in and emptied the extinguisher into the fire then proceeded to call 000.
Got it in the garage at home now,was nearly dark by the time we got home so will investigate the cause tomorrow. Still no idea what it was. Right side of the car is sitting about 2" lower than the left now.
And yes everyone is ok,the girls a bit shaken. But they were sitting right above the fire

 

Clarke,

I'm pleased to hear no one was injured and your quick thinking prevented the fire from spreading.

The fuel feed pipe from the side of the tank (item 20) to the pump is routed round the rear silencer. Here in the "Land of Rust", these would badly corrode posing a fire risk.



Even though rust isn't an issue in your country, the pipe or the rubber connections could have deteriorated over time.

Graham

 

Going to put it up on stands in the morning and have a good poke around to see if I can find the cause. If I can't find the cause or there is damage to shocks etc
I may put in an insurance claim . The brake peddle was getting a bit spongy at the last couple of lights I stopped at but I was putting that down to the very steep decent on a mountain road we had just done(20 km of downhill braking)
I found this on the road after car was put on tilt tray,I think it may be an upper mounting bush off a shock. Daylight will give some answers.

 

Glad your all OK, probably not the type of heated seats you would want to have.

 

BUGGA.

BBQ Jag is not nice at all.

That "bushing" does look like shocker related, and looks like "Nolathane" to me.

As Graham said, the fuel line TO the front is above the cradle, and the rear brake hose is just in front of the cradle also near the exhaust in a different way.

Still does not answer to me the cause of ignition??

An exhaust leak where the mount pin is welded to the thru cradle exhaust pipe could "blast" on that bushing, maybe.

The rear brakes have jammed and overheated everything, or the handbrake (well known issue) has jammed on, also overheating all and sundry.

The shocker bush more than likely answers the low stance I reckon.

 

I did notice when I drove it into the garage the hand brake cannot be pulled on. But the car will roll when pushed in neutral.
Couldn't help myself,just had quick look under it with a torch. Looks like both discs and calipers have been really hot,maybe even pad material stuck to discs. Or it could be the powder from extinguisher. Not really enough room to get under tonight. But there is signs of melted stuff on both sides I think.

 

that's sad! all I can think of is a fuel line leaking and scraping against another metal part causing a spark and a fire. Hopefully there's no damage to any wiring?

 

Rear pads and discs metal on metal cause sparks or discs to get super hot, plus leaky fuel??

 

If your fuel would have caught fire, I think the damage would be worse right?

There can be lots of just grease and durt over there that caugth fire, because something got too hot. brakes? then a the undercoat also burns
(when I weld on the bottom, the undercoating always catches fire sooner or later. a little though, you can blow it out. But thats why I keep a bucket of water with me when I am welding. )

 

My money's on the rear brakes. Caliper sezied or dragging heavily, rotor gets extremely hot, piston seal melts, brake fluid leaks out and ignites.

Speculation on my part, of course, but I've heard of it before.

Of course, if you know the rear brakes were in good shape we can likely scratch them off the list.

Cheers
DD

 

Oh No!!
I hope it's not something disastrous, but easily repaired!
(';')

 

Rear rotors and pads were new 2000 miles ago, but a quick look points towards brakes. Putting it on jacks today to investigate. Hard to tell,a lot of powder up there from extinguisher.

 

Insurance won't cover fire caused by mechanical, structural, or electrical failure.
What else would start a fire other than someone torching your car?

 

The handbrake pads are tiny on the XJ's. If the assembly sticks on, they wear out very fast making metal to metal contact with the disc which then rockets the temperature up.

Graham

 

Been under for a good look,pretty ugly scene. Can't put a spanner to it until assessor has been, mechanic coming tonight to do a report on possible cause then assessor has to decide if it is covered by insurance. Until they make a decision I won't touch it.
It's looking like rear end removal though, pads decindergated,seals in calipers melted,pumps brake fliud onto floor,hand brake cable melted,rubber exhaust hangers gone, paint has burned. Lots of suspension bits melted. If insurer doesn't cover it I have a big job ahead of me. I was planning doing front end, but It looks rear end will be first now.



I will post some pics later.

 

holy **** mate,
never a good thing and as you say lucky for your workplace fire safety.

Glad no one was hurt but it is scary to think if you hadnt stopped and noticed it.... how far would it have spread while driving along....... end result could have been a hell of a lot more serious.

I wish you all the luck with the insurance company.... guessing it is not going to be cheap to fix it all...... then again if it works out too much they may just make it an economical write off.

Hope it all goes well anyway

keep us informed

 

Firstly, they are scenes enough to give any jag owner nightmares! two fifty liter fuel tanks, exhausts running next to them and inboard brakes are a good mix!

Ive heard that it was pretty common for xjs handbrakes to catch fire but i think that was because of the crappy lever design that would lead people to thinking they were off when they were still on.

Ide bet we are all on edge awaiting news on the next most important thing to check out on our cars!

Condolences old chap!

Jay

 

Hi Jay, the next most important thing you can check on your car is the extinguisher. Get down to your local Supercheap Auto store,they have them on sale this week for 20 bucks(cheap insurance). I just bought 3 this morning, 1 for the garage to replace the one I used yesterday,1 for the XJ6 and one for the wife's car. I always carry one in the Jeep mounted on the cargo barrier above the right rear passenger seat where I can open the back door and grab it, and one mountd each side of my camper trailer because this car is often off the beaten track. But have never really carried one in the town cars, new house rule from today.
Yesterday for some unknown reason I took the one off the garage wall and put in the boot when I was loading the picnic chairs and esky. Luck??? would have been no XJ6 if I had to wait the 7 minutes for the fire appliance to arrive.

I will post some pics of the damage on the Australia /NZ thread later tonight.

Update, spent so much time on the phone getting police incident report,fire service report etc, insurance co (3 departments) and so on. No time to take pics today