My First and hopfully last Miata fire
 

I used seafoam on my engine the night before last, and along with the regular smoke that comes out of the engine, I had a flames come up from the exhaust side of the engine. The heat shield blocked some of my access, but I took care of it. I was able to put it out pretty quick with bottle of water I had near me but wow, thats never happen before. Scared the crap out of me, and my WB O2 freaked out for a while, but it seems fine now.

lol!

Did you spill any seafoam on the exhaust? ;p

i woulda shit myself

Nope factory header, with heatshield in place, so no spillage, I did use the remainder of the can in the fuel tank, but I can't imagine the stuff is so volatile it would cause a fire outside of the car. I freaked !!!!

^^^ Werd on the fire extinguisher

When I blew my engine recently it put a good-sized hole in the left side of the motor. This led to a large oil leak/splash that covered the down pipe and the turbo blanket with some motor oil (synthetic). Seeing how I was in full boost when the engine let go, the DP and turbine were hot. When I pulled over and opened up the hood, I see that the oil had ignited and I had a small fire in progress; I pulled the blanket off the turbo while it was on fire. So I caught it in time, no damage, but it could have been a lot worse.

I'll be installing a fire extinguisher soon.

I'm driving home and smell gasoline. When I get home, the smell is strong. I pop the hood while it's running and peak under to see fuel pouring onto the alternator, where it's boiling off!

It didn't catch fire, thankfully, but as soon as I fixed the problem, I went straight to walmart and bought a 14 dollar fire extinguisher.

Damn! I'm gonna get one too. I haven't thought of mounting one. I had a similar experience. One time I was driving and my car dies, so I pull over and pop the hood to find that a fuel line slipped off the rail and was pouring gasoline on my alternator. There was visible fuel vapor everywhere! Luckily, there was no fire. It scared the crap outta me!

I was trying to get my 914 started back in the day on a cold morning with some starting fluid. Car backfired and covered the engine bay in a gas/starting fluid mix that was burning. I saw a giant fireball in the rear view mirror. The air filter was off so I danced around trying to decide if I wanted to extinguish it with my fire extinguisher. Decided it was better to sacrifice the engine over the whole car. Sprayed the engine down later with the water hose, and ran some seafoam through it. Car ran for another year.

+1 on the fire extinguisher. I have one, just need to figure out where to mount it.

I have too much $$$ into the car to watch it burn. My turbo dodge caught fire years ago and luckily I got it out in time...not fun.

Vash-

Mine is a 10BC purchased from the local hardware store, and I simply have it sitting on the floor behind the passenger's seat. It's not going anywhere, and yet it's reasonably easy to reach.

Important tip: when shopping for dry chemical fire extinguishers, try to get one that is rated B (flammable liquids) and C (electrical fires) only, as these contain sodium bicarbonate as the active agent. Those also rated for class A fires (solid combustibles, eg: wood) contain monoammonium phosphate, which is extremely corrosive.

Hmmm....I never knew that. I just checked mine and its A, B, and C rated. How corrosive are we talking, like spray it and it'll eat the car alive corrosive?

Vash-

Here, let me Google that for you. :D

Seriously, though. My understanding is that it's not going to make the car dissolve, but it's very difficult to clean up and causes corrosion of copper parts. IOW, it'll make a big mess and wreak havoc on your electrical system.

From Factory Mutual's Loss Prevention Data, Section 4-5:From the Nov. / Dec. 1983 issue of "Air Transport Newsletter" written by Ronald Horn, then Manager/Ground Safety for Eastern Airlines and titled "Class A-B-C Extinguishers Damage Aircraft":For the $15 or $20 that a new 10BC extinguisher costs, I'd say your current ABC model might be well to be moved to kitchen duty.

I knew it was a matter of time before you'd be tempted to use that site:bowrofl:

pretty freakin cool huh?:D

Good info Joe. Wouldn't have even considered looking at the A/B/C ratings.

I've thought about them in the past, but this did it for me, thats my next miata accessory.

Something similar happened to my brothers Saab 900 while using seafoam... The underside of the car caught fire it burned a hole through the bottom of the car and started to catch the driver’s seat on fire. I was the one in the car giving it gas while he fed the seafoam in.
That has to be one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me. Next to having two 270 pound lard asses rubbing up against my car while it was on jack stands with me underneath it.

Ever since I had my DSM I carry a fire extinguisher in every vehicle.

I have one sitting in my trunk, still haven't gotten around to mounting it to the cockpit brace.

o i c wuts goin on

lol. But seriously, I should start a "group buy" on fire extinguishers. I will prearange the orders so you can pay me a few bucks, and then for 14 dollars (shipping cost) you can pickup your item at your local walmart...

Can you leave it in that position on track days, or at an autox event?

Dunno. I don't track the car or do autocross. I just run the 1/8 mile at our local track, and they don't mind it being there.

FWIW, it's just velcro'd to the carpet. Obviously not the best, but better than nothing. In the future, I will build a fancy aluminum bracket that bolts to the seat to secure the extinguisher. Local guy here did that in his Porsche (which he happens to track regularly) and it works well.

lol

a group buy would be pretty nice, tho ;)

I'de be in!

I'd be in for a group buy on Halon extinguishers.

When I put one in my car, it will be Halon. To me it's worth the extra cost to have less/no mess to clean up. That dry chemical stuff gets everywhere and will take forever to clean out of switches, vents and every nook and cranny if you discharge it inside the car. Halon does have a couple disadvantages, like the fact that it dissipates rather than leaving a coating, so your fire could flare back up if it's fed by oil continuously dripping on a hot downpipe or whatnot. It's also not healthy to inhale the stuff for too long, but if my car is on fire and I'm conscious enough to grab the extingisher, I'm gonna GTFO after spraying it anyway.

Pegasus has the 2.5 lb Halon ones for $110, and I haven't seen them any cheaper in the (admittedly brief) time I've spent looking.

Extinguishers are so last year. I've got a 10lb Firecharger system from the GB Rspeed did last year. Mounted the tank on the shelf behind the seat, and the handle is underneath my steering wheel. One nozzle aimed at the fuel rail, one nozzle aimed at me.

Pics or it didn't happen.

Haha, I thought in buying a Miata I wouldn't have to worry about fires. I keep 2 extinguishers in my RX-7 at all times (leaky pulsation dampers).

Just saw this thread, good info here...

I work for Simplex-Grinnell, installing, inspecting and maintaining portable fire extinguishers and hood systems. If it were my car, I too would get the Halon, or FE36. Halon is no longer manufactured, and is allegedly bad for the ozone. FE36 is its' replacement (as far as Ansul is concerned), and from what I understand it works nearly as well... B-C is much better than ABC, especially since you concentrate your fire-fighting abilities pound for pound towards what is most likely to be on fire... You should note, ABC and BC don't fight metal fires well, you would need a D-class ext. to fight that. Halon or FE36 would be better than ABC or BC , but I wouldn't want to stake my or someone else's life on it.

As for a group buy, I might could see what sort of pricing I can get through work, be it for BC or for FE36 ext.s. I know that Ansul is the premier manufacturer of fire fighting equipment, which is good, but they aren't known for being cheap, which is bad.

Is anyone interested?

Thats one thing I must have in my car. Only good place to mount one I can think of is on the roll bar, but it would be hard to reach with a double hoop bar, unless on the passanger inside upright.

Wait.

What?

I'm actually working on putting together my own fire suppression system for my Miata.