Home › Forums › Stay Dirty Lounge › ETCG1 Video Discussions › How Did the Fairmont Catch On Fire?
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March 12, 2018 at 2:13 pm #886913
Mystery solved.
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March 13, 2018 at 12:27 am #886919
Was there a lot of fuel in the sump?
March 13, 2018 at 2:13 pm #886933Probably a gallon and a half in the intercooler.
March 16, 2018 at 2:23 am #886993Ah man! thats lucky!
Reminds me of the time when i was younger that i used the trunk release wire in my car to wire my amp and sub in the trunk. I find trunk releases from the cabin to be insecure anyways so i thought.. why not!
So what happened? i was driving along, rocking that bass, and suddenly the cabin starts to fill with smoke and my girlfriend at the time starts screaming! we pull over and both get the F out of that car as fast as possible! i pull out the battery connection (just ripped it right off the terminal i was so amped up!), but by that time the smoke was starting to clear and there was no visible fire.
Problem was that a cheap chinese fuse i bought at the dollar store melted in the fuseblock and the metal parts of the fuse contacted heating up the wire and burning the coating off the wire all the way along.
luckily, that was unbelievably the only wire in the harness that was damaged! i removed teh melted mess of a fuse and started the car up and drove it home.
Then i ran 10 gauge to the trunk a few weeks later and it was all good after that.
I was cleaning burned wire goo from various spots on the chassis and under the dash for years afterwards, but it could have been FAR worse!
I always remember that mythbusters episode where they try and try again to light liquid fuel on fire and simply cant do it. their conclusion was it has to be vapourized to ignite by heat, or static, or shot from a gun (kinetic), or whatever. But i guess spraying a bunch of fuel all over the engine compartment with a (backfiring?) carb and literal flames was enough to do it in your case! im sure there was plenty of aresolized vapour in your engine bay at the time as well.
man so lucky… eric does the learning so we don’t have to!
December 8, 2018 at 7:44 am #891759Caught my Eaton supercharged Mazda MX3 on fire about three months ago. Very similar cause, but it was a failure of a boost activated regulator (FMU). Except I was on the highway when it happened. Don’t do this LOL. I almost have her put back together with a bigger motor and I’m going to use an after-market computer this time. Scary stuff
Attachments:December 8, 2018 at 8:44 am #891760If anybody is wondering I botched a rebuild on the fmu, (inappropriate gasket material, yeah I know) the fmu locked up completely, immediately causing a leak and extreme rich condition… obviously from Eric’s video, use Extreme Caution with fuel pressure mods
December 11, 2018 at 2:48 pm #891783Sorry to hear that. Yea, be very careful when working with the fuel system.
December 11, 2018 at 9:07 pm #891786Thanks for the reply. Ironically fuel flow is the only thing I’m hung up with on the 1.8 installation now. Noid lights, pressure gauge, runs with starter fluid.. I’m down to bench testing the injectors, it is a low mileage motor but it was warehoused for 6 years
July 6, 2020 at 9:56 am #959478In Hot Rod Magazine, Eric mentioned the Fairmont fire. Check it out: https://www.hotrod.com/articles/eric-car-guys-turbo-fairmont/
July 15, 2020 at 4:32 am #961037That’s a very unfortunate accident. Everyone one really need to be extra cautious working with highly combustible fuel.
July 25, 2020 at 1:16 pm #961989This is insane
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