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I had a little fun a few weeks ago. I was out driving with some other Jaguar enthusiasts on a friday morning, and after our breakfast as I was headed home the car started backfiring badly. I just figured it would work itself out and kept trying to push it...till it burst into flames and smoke started coming up all around the hood. I quickly pulled over, opened the hood, and saw the flames under the carbs. I tried to put it out by smothering it with my sweater, but no luck. I noticed a business across the highway, ran over there, got a fire extinguisher, and ran back and put out the fire. End of my drive for that day.
I have pulled the carbs and sent them to Joe Curto to be rebuilt. Couple of lessons learned:
1. Don’t drive the car anywhere without a fire extinguisher
2. Pull over and figure out the problem if it starts backfiring.
3. If fuel is seeping out of the top of the cold start plunger by the solenoid, the problem is that your float level is off.
No real damage to the carbs, but they look bad! Post fire picture. To busy to capture it while on fire.
So, a little cleaning up to do, replace some melted wires, and get back to driving it!
Chuck
Wow! Pleased you & the car are OK. Good advice re extinguisher. Friend lost a fully restored Mk2 to fire because he was too cheap to replace the wiring harness.
One of the scariest and worst things that can happen to us old schoolers. Hey at least the fuel wasn't shooting out at 85 psi! Good luck with the clean up.
Yes- I was lucky there was no major damage. I was afraid the paint was scorched on the fenders, but it buffed out. Hopefully I'll have it back on the road in a bit.
So sorry to read this Chuck. I echo what Jon said about you being alright.
Shortly after we took possession of out Mk2 I bought a fire extinguisher. Used to carry it everywhere but I've gotten out of the habit. I will start carrying it again. I don't want to get complacent.
Hate to read about classic car fires. Wanted to add to the importance of the link above, its not just any old fire extinguisher. Ordinary dry chemical fire extinguishers create a huge mess to clean up, often involving the need to remove the entire engine and everything to clean all of the powder residue. And you want to vacuum it out and not get it wet because when it gets wet, it can become slightly corrosive. If it gets into electrical connections, it could corrode those connections and it can damage expensive plated finishes and polished metals if you care about the original appearance of those things.
These halotron extinguishers are the same type used in computer server rooms because they won't leave behind anything to damage electronics. So they are also great for carrying around in your classic car (I even carry them in my daily drivers as well). A friend of mine is a fire chief and car collector himself so I asked him to advise me how to use these halotron extinguishers. He explained the most effective way to use them on an engine fire. Instead of opening the hood all the way (which is like fanning the flames) and aiming it at the base of the fire, rather you pop the hood open slightly, aim the nozzle through the narrow opening and empty the entire bottle into the engine bay, then shut the hood. The heavy oxygen-displacing gas will put out the fire and keeping the hood shut will help keep the halotron gas contained and the fire squelched until it cools and the fire department arrives with water. He did though recommend the 2.5lb size minimum as he thought the little ones aren't always enough and he pointed out that its actually a little easier to use this way if you purchase one with a short hose. But any extinguisher is better than none.
FIRE!
