I have owned this jag for about 15 years – fire in the engine bay may see her not coming home.

Short story


I replaced the fuel pumps and when I began cranking the engine the fuel vapour in the engine bay was ignited and some things burned.


Long story

About a month before Christmas the “Oil Beast” was due for rego, so began the pre-rego check and maintenance. This included starting the car, taking it around the block to check brakes, steering, noises, exhaust etc. BUT – it didn’t start.

So began the process;

1. Check for spark – remove and clean all plugs – crank – no ignition – lead off cranking – spark spotted – hmmm

2. Check for fuel – yep – can see it in the fuel filter – filter looks clean – crank while watching fuel filter – no movement – hang on a minute – fuel pump ticking noise NOT present – change to other tank – still no fuel pump ticking noise – surely both can’t be gone?? – YEP – they can – remove one pump and bench test – yep buggered – order 2 x fuel pumps.

3. Wait a month until the Friday before Christmas – fuel pumps arrive – why so long? - $125 each cheapest in Oz - $100 for the pair delivered from O/S – I had time, the car wasn’t going anywhere.

4. Saturday before Christmas – bench test new pumps – You ripper - both tick tick ticking along - put connectors on new pumps – replace old pumps – clean up fuel spill from the boot.

5. Turn ignition onto accessories – can hear a tick tick as the new pump primes the fuel lines – flick the switch – check the right hand pump – yep beautiful ticking – stand on the outside of the driver’s door – check that no fuel splashing about in engine bay from the new pumps doing a better job than the old pumps ever did – all clear – crank the engine while standing on the outside – blue flash and then a WHOOOOOOOOOMP – that is not a good sound.

6. Fire extinguisher in the car – best call for the replacement – LEASA!!! GET THE OTHER FIRE EXTINGUISHER – or words to that effect - fire extinguisher emptied – flames still present – hose duly arrives to allow the mopping up operation – thick black smoke to about a foot off the deck – me lying on the floor - fire out – forensic examination begins.

Investigation



If you go back to point 1 – you will see that I removed a spark plug lead – might have noticed that I didn’t put it back on.

That, coupled with petrol fumes in the engine bay created the initial WHOOOOOOOOOMP – this in turn ignited up to 45years worth of a vehicles bodily fluid build-up in an engine bay (no matter how many times you pressure wash a jag you will never get it all).

This build-up and 45 year old electrical wiring (nice and crispy and ignitable) was then the secondary burn. But that was not all….

Imagine if you will… the Jag was in the house garage temporarily and not the usual shed down the back (simply for ease of access for rego test run and check that was meant to be done in November) and rather than bring up the metal drip trays from the shed you use a handy cardboard box suitably flattened. WELL there is a tertiary burn as well ……

From the “WHOOOOOOOOOMP” to me lying on the floor seems a long time – maybe it was 90 seconds – any longer I think the house might have been the next long story.

Were there any injuries? A lack of leg hairs and a sunburn sensation below my calves was pretty much it (I was wearing my safety thongs and shorts) …oh and does pride count?

 

Damn Man that sucks! This can be fixed, but now the decision. How much in "Love" with it were you??? Cause I have a 89 XJS, that had a similar problem, I checked into repairing and realized very quickly, that the price of even used parts was staggering, for a guy that works for a living, as I do. So I decided to negate repairing the V12, and all it's wiring, and do a swap to a 460 Ford I'll have less in my whole build then the parts to repair it would have cost. I'm sure in Oz there aren't very many wrecking yards with Jags in them? There are several companies in the "US" that specialize in Jags but no wrecking yards. If you Love her you'll fix her!

Jack

 

Aw, Drat!!
I *Hate* it when that happens!!
Phil, I'm so sorry!
EDIT:
At least you had on your safety thongs and shorts
(';')

 

That is not a pretty sight Phil. Brings back memories of my fire 4 years ago ( rear end). Once everything was removed and cleaned the job wasn't as daunting as it seemed.
Good luck, I hope it works out well for you.

 

Sorry to hear about this mate...reminds me of my Range Rover engine bay fire a couple of years ago. Hope all goes well for you!

 

Hi Clarke

Yes, I immediately thought of "Fireball" and you when I had calmed down after the excitement.

I hope a good clean will show me the "big picture" - at present with everything covered in soot and extinguisher powder as well as a smattering of blistered paint It does feel daunting.

Back to nicknames for cars ...my wife brought a little smile to my face as she longer refers to her as "the Oil Beast" but rather "Ole Smokey".

It the grand scheme of things - it could have been much worse .

 

Thanks to all for the kind words of encouragement - In the end I am hoping "Ole Smokey" will be repaired and that damn rear-end I have been working on forever gets used in anger.

It is sitting in the shed taunting me now (not finished by the way).

 

My wife named mine "Fireball".

 

This was taken at a Jag day at Southbank in 2005

 

I'm glad you were able to get the fire out. But the main point is, you're safe. Cars and houses are replaceable, not yourself (unless you made an android version of yourself lol). Are you going to fix the vehicle?

 

Well perhaps not strictly...but I have bought this car to replace "the oil beast" / "ole Smokey.

Should arrive my location next week.

More exciting posts to come.

 

 

Hi Jim

Yes I think so...had Mike Roddy go over it yesterday and as with any old car a few little things needed doing - an exhaust weld, a nut or bolt loos on the radiator mount at the bottom, a little tear in the drivers seat, a couple of small rust spots (non-penetrating) near the boot seal, noisy air conditioning compressor.

Hopefully it will be on a carrier in the next day or so and delivered by this time next week.

Will I do anything to it? Well I have this rear-end I was doing up and I have another 1-2-3 distributor in my shed and there are the new front shocks and springs in there as well (a glutton for punishment).

regards

Phil

 

 

Looks nice Phil, is it regency red? That is the colour mine left the factory.
Looking forward to seeing more pics and updates.

 

Very Pretty Jaguar. Here's to hoping you both see many happy years, and miles together.

 

Anja got a RED one this time!!
Pretty!
(';')

 

Recency Red it is..quite a contrast to the dark blue of old smokey

 

Four years ago I wanted to paint mine BRG until a saw a regency red one in the flesh.
But now the silver has grown on me, so when I get around to doing the panel work I will be using Mercedes Benz Astral Silver(1973). Which was the closest match to my car when I had the paint freshened up about 3 years ago.