Engine Fire! COVER THE POSITIVE TERMINAL [Merged 1-9]

[Defiant]

Ok, I got into it today and yes, it was the strut bar.

I will never drive any modded car again without a fire extenguisher of some kind.

And the vinyl cover over the positive terminal.

 

[Defiant]

I was told that the reason for it being there was to protect the driver from engine fires. The person said the clips that hold it up would melt and it would act as a blanket and drop over the engine smothering the fire.

The tinfoil/mylar will melt before those clips let go. I'm just glad my subtle message subliminally sank-in.

 

[ddavisaf]

, yeah. Well I can understand your point of view, so I can't get offended
I'm just glad to know that little bit of info now.

 

[mitsuclipsegsx]

So, what was the fire? Another unshielded positive terminal finding the strut brace, from a sliding, unbracketed battery?

Hey thats me.... yea that day sucked..i miss that car so much. I will never get a cf hood again

 

[Spool'n Spyder]

And the vinyl cover over the positive terminal.

Yeah, even though the battery is going in the trunk

 

[Spool'n Spyder]

Hey thats me.... yea that day sucked..i miss that car so much. I will never get a cf hood again

Yeah it does suck that a 20 dollar used strut bar cause 500+ dollars worth of damage.

Why will you never get another cf hood?

 

[Defiant]

Yeah, even though the battery is going in the trunk

True, it's safe to leave off the cover if nothing metal will ever be going into the trunk again. Or, if you're using a battery box, you can be absolutely certain nothing will ever find a way to ground it again. I'm with you, save that 79¢ by not using a cover. You could spend it on a pint of gasoline.

 

[Hughes]

Defiant, you double posted twice.

[ WTF Do you know what "double posting" means?]

 

[mitsuclipsegsx]

Yeah it does suck that a 20 dollar used strut bar cause 500+ dollars worth of damage.

Why will you never get another cf hood?

the one i had was dc sport ($100)sat very low.. i will never get a cf hood casue i think if i didnt have one i might still have my car.. look in my profile for pic of it

 

[Spool'n Spyder]

DAMN! Mine didnt burn no where near that bad.

 

[Spool'n Spyder]

Sorry to hear of your loss, it pains me everytime I hear a story like this. I'm suprised more people don't pickup a basic Halon system once they've put significant $ into their cars (next mod on my list).[/QUOTE]

I have been searching and i'm not really sure what a halon system is. Could someone explain? I'm definately geeting some kind of fire prevention.

 

[GalantGSR91]

NO IT ISN'T, AND KILL THIS IDIOT MYTH FOREVER.
IT'S ONLY A HEAT REFLECTOR TO TRY AND SAVE THE HOOD PAINT, AND THE ASSES OF ALL THE LITTLE BASTARDS WHO THINK THE HOOD IS A SLIDE WHILE YOU'RE SHOPPING AT WAL*MART.

In the only rare documented case, I will argue with you. While on DSM's you are correct, however SOME older cars actually had fire blankets created for this. That's where the myth comes from. I can find chapters in all of my firefighting books covering this (at work currently, can't get to them) Not a complete argument, just pointing out the off chances.

I saw someone mention halon extinguishing systems. Halon is banned, has been for years, I'll find documentation on that one too. They're using something else in it's place as halon is an asphyxiant to humans. It's a damn shame too, cuz it could snuff out a fire quicker than sh1t

 

[Defiant]

I have been searching and i'm not really sure what a halon system is. Could someone explain? I'm definately geeting some kind of fire prevention.

It was an absolute miracle of the seventies, a branch of Freon which actually "turned off" the chemical reaction that is fire. It didn't smother it, it didn't chill it, it just stopped it. Bizarre stuff to use, and once you did, nothing else compared. No residue, non-toxic (you could get out of a room or space it was being used in) and eerily effective. It was saving the airline industry millions in simplification, weight and efficiency, but being soooo dangerous to the atmosphere ( ) it got outlawed along with Freon.

Water is an asphixant to humans. CO2 doesn't do them a lot of good. So's smoke, mmmmkay?

 

[GalantGSR91]

there are for parts to every fire: Ignition, Fuel, Oxygen, and Continuous chain reaction. They used to use halon in almost every computer lab, office using computers and all kinds of other stuff. They even made portable halon extinguishers.

 

[gofer]

i almost destroyed my car christmas eve because of something ridiculous that i should have taken more seriously and didn't... im sure 99% of the people on here know better but for the 1% i hope you read this and fix it before the same happens to you.

i was having an enjoyable christmas eve and on my way home from the mall when my headlights started to flicker and my car started acting funny. there was a cop in oncoming traffic hanging out his window asking me if i could pull over, then my car died. not knowing what was going on i put my car in park (its an A/T) and tried getting my hazards on, thinking once there was an opening in traffic i could push it to the shoulder and assess the problem. my hazards weren't working and my friend that was with me noticed some smoke coming up from under the hood, great my car was overheating? not thinking anything of it i popped the hood to see what was up and it definitely wasn't a busted waterpump. after all the smoke cleared i noticed my throttle cable running from my cruise control to the throttle body had an inch high flame running across it. SHIT. trying to blow it out since this thing was laying across my afpr the cop that originally asked me to pull over was walking up with a CO2 bottle to put it out. getting my friend out of the car i walked with her over to the sidewalk wondering how in the hell this happened... thinking the fire was out a homeless guy pointed at my car and was yelling FIRE, then i turned around to notice the entire backside of the front passenger tire had gone up in flames... my GSX brake, SS brake line, eibach sportline spring, and tokico shock were all on fire. things just kept getting better and better. after 4 CO2 bottles to keep the fire from spreading to bad the fire dept showed up pulled the ground off the battery and put the fire out with water. i got it towed to a local dealer (thank god insurance is covering it) to asses the damage and they said its salvagable BUT insurance hasn't gotten back to me on the results... hopefully they don't total her. the cause of the fire... the strut tower brace shaffed through the wiring harness coming off the (+) battery terminal. i noticed it was putting some pressure on it but after 3 months of driving it finally worked its way through the plastic covering on the wiring and shorted and thats that. so before this happens to anyone elses car if you've got a strut tower brace and don't have the battery relocated in the trunk, run out to your DSM and make 100% sure your strut tower brace isn't even touching those wires coming off your battery...

below are the pictures i took...

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here the upclose shot, you can see where that strut tower brace finally rub through to the exposed wires...

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[crimsondragon]

Well for about 6 months I ran the car without a battery tie down. Everytime I went over a bump or pothole, the battery would jump, hit the strut tower bar, short the car a bit and then keep going on its merry way. I finally bought one off a member here only to find mine about 1 month later.

 

[fwdmaster]

That sucks gofer, give it a good wipe down and it will be good as new

 

[gofer]

... i wish it was that simple... the wiring harness caught on fire. im pretty sure the dealership had to steam clean everything to view the damage from the fire so i bet the engine bay is clean as hell now. just need to get everything repaired that got burnt during the fire.

 

[mitsubishi9908]

Thats nuts! idk what i would do if that happened to me. Glad you are okay though.

 

[boostin92awd]

That sucks hope its not totalled.

 

[Killa_dsm]

Damn sorry to hear that man! That's why I don't have my RRE strut bar on my car. Its way too close to the battery and didn't want the same thing happen as you.

 

[Achelea]

Well for about 6 months I ran the car without a battery tie down. Everytime I went over a bump or pothole, the battery would jump, hit the strut tower bar, short the car a bit and then keep going on its merry way. I finally bought one off a member here only to find mine about 1 month later.

Speaking of Which.... When I get my GSX back from the dealer (He thinks it's the injectors, No, I haven't posted here about it yet) I think I might need to get a brace. >.>

 

[knochgoon24]

I want to see the bottom of that battery. If it was shorting through the pos terminal, to the strut brace, then through the ground back into the battery, I don't see how the wiring harness caught fire.

I'd think that the battery or a ground would over heat and start the fire.

 

[50trimmed1g]

This happened to me also. My battery is too big and it rubbed onto the strut tower bar and the cruise control cable caught on fire along with some of my egr sensor wires. I put it out with my radiator overflow bottle. Replaced the wire and got a smaller battery. Please don't let this happen to you guys. I caught it very early because my gauges started acting wierd but others might not be so lucky. Thanks for posting this.

 

[50trimmed1g]

I want to see the bottom of that battery. If it was shorting through the pos terminal, to the strut brace, then through the ground back into the battery, I don't see how the wiring harness caught fire.

I'd think that the battery or a ground would over heat and start the fire.

Even bad grounds have been known to heat up the cruise control cable to the point of incineration.