corvette on fire
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 923
Likes: 4
From: Austin Tx
corvette on fire
I pulled into my driveway the yesterday and when I cut the motor... smoke coming from under the hood, flames from under the driver side of engine behind front tire. Grabbed fire ext, popped hood, oil had leaked out onto sidepipe headers and ignited. Nice oil puddle under the pipe too. After it cooled off, fired it up again, cant see any oil leaks anywhere. Maybe the damn cork valve cover gaskets blew out...anybody ever have this happen to them. I'll just replace the valve cover gaskets with rubber ones to be safe...always carry a fire ext in your car.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 9,192
Likes: 27
From: Boca Raton Florida
Yea, I seen that happen several times on different types of cars. Glad you didn't have any serious dammage.
Got to keep an eye on oil leaks, didn't you smell oil burning well before this? Kind of rare that it just pukes a quart of oil out like that, did you look to see if there was blockage on the oil return holes in the head?
Got to keep an eye on oil leaks, didn't you smell oil burning well before this? Kind of rare that it just pukes a quart of oil out like that, did you look to see if there was blockage on the oil return holes in the head?
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
Likes: 15
From: Columbia Missouri
Originally Posted by Gage
I pulled into my driveway the yesterday and when I cut the motor... smoke coming from under the hood, flames from under the driver side of engine behind front tire. Grabbed fire ext, popped hood, oil had leaked out onto sidepipe headers and ignited. Nice oil puddle under the pipe too. After it cooled off, fired it up again, cant see any oil leaks anywhere. Maybe the damn cork valve cover gaskets blew out...anybody ever have this happen to them. I'll just replace the valve cover gaskets with rubber ones to be safe...always carry a fire ext in your car.
You were VERY luck and I'm glad that both you, your family, and the Vette are safe. Car fires can be horrible man, and I'm sorry. Was there any damage?
The best thing to do to find a leak is to completely clean the engine top to bottom using a pressure washer. Take care not to get water in any electronics including the distributer.
Then, run the egine. Push the RPMs up a bit to create some pressure. Then get out, and look for any fresh spews. You can usually find the source pretty quick.
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
Likes: 15
From: Columbia Missouri
Originally Posted by Gage
no damage at all...I was only on fire for about 5 seconds...I was quick with the extinguisher.
Wow...that's fast on the gun. Good job.
I think cleaning and running is the fastest way to find a problem. Then you can decide if it's a valve cover issue or a rear intake seal.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 923
Likes: 4
From: Austin Tx
Update, Found the problem, its not engine oil, it is power steering fluid from somehwhere...I'll have to track down tomorrow whether it is a hose or a seal in the rod. Yes, powersteering is flammable!!!!
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
Likes: 15
From: Columbia Missouri
Originally Posted by Gage
Update, Found the problem, its not engine oil, it is power steering fluid from somehwhere...I'll have to track down tomorrow whether it is a hose or a seal in the rod. Yes, powersteering is flammable!!!!
Hmm...check the cap. I had a problem once where the power steering fluid was shooting through the hole in the cap like water through the teeth on a kid with a gola post gap...
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,084
Likes: 1
From: Aussie expat in Saudi Arabia
Originally Posted by Gage
no damage at all...I was only on fire for about 5 seconds...I was quick with the extinguisher.
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Race Director
Joined: Feb 1999
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From: Lenoir City Tennessee
Ci 6, 8 & 10 Veteran
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15
I will agree with all of those that say carry a fire extinguisher. It is a must on these old cars. There are pics on the net of these old cars burning down and it is not pretty at all.
Note to everyone: Get a fire extinguisher in there!
Note to everyone: Get a fire extinguisher in there!
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
Likes: 15
From: Columbia Missouri
Originally Posted by thrilher
I walked past about 20 small fire extinguishers a coupla weeks ago and thuoght about that. i'm gonna go back there and grab a couple this week. freebies too!
Freebies? Monster Garage extinguishers...cool. Pick me up a free one and I'll pay you for shipping. PM me if that sounds okay...
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,664
Likes: 1
From: Nashville TN
Originally Posted by Eddie 70
I will agree with all of those that say carry a fire extinguisher. It is a must on these old cars. There are pics on the net of these old cars burning down and it is not pretty at all.
Note to everyone: Get a fire extinguisher in there!
Note to everyone: Get a fire extinguisher in there!
Note to self, get a fire extinguisher for the 72 like Eddie says...
Another note to self, forget fire extinguisher for the 77 and bump up insurance to $35k.
Thanks Eddie!
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 3,775
Likes: 4
ive got an exstinguisher sitting in my vette now after i set the car on fire last winter.
gas line poped and when i was trying to crank it over gas poured all over the block and cought fire.
of course this happens in the middle of winter when its just cold out with no snow, all the hoses are put away, and ive gotta go pull hte damn fire exstinguisher out of the garage which im a good 30 feet from.
learned my lesson real fast on that one.
gas line poped and when i was trying to crank it over gas poured all over the block and cought fire.
of course this happens in the middle of winter when its just cold out with no snow, all the hoses are put away, and ive gotta go pull hte damn fire exstinguisher out of the garage which im a good 30 feet from.
learned my lesson real fast on that one.
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
Likes: 15
From: Columbia Missouri
Originally Posted by LittleJake
Note to self, get a fire extinguisher for the 72 like Eddie says...
Another note to self, forget fire extinguisher for the 77 and bump up insurance to $35k.
Thanks Eddie!
Another note to self, forget fire extinguisher for the 77 and bump up insurance to $35k.
Thanks Eddie!
Why don't you like your '77 enough to get an extinguisher for it? If you don't like it foster it to someone that does...
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,084
Likes: 1
From: Aussie expat in Saudi Arabia
I walked past a shop the other day that had these snazzy litle numbers with a bracket that would bolt nicely to the floor in front of the passenger seat.
Or, inside the storage compartment - once all the crap was removed of course!
Might just be a good investment...
Or, inside the storage compartment - once all the crap was removed of course!
Might just be a good investment...
Advanced
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 55
Likes: 0
From: Wellington
I took my '69 out for a drive today and as I was coming back home, I was thinking "damn it sure smells like gasoline, I wonder..." Popped the hood, and gas was dripping out of the fuel line attached to the front of the carb. So I leaned in real close like, to see exactly where it was coming from. Then I thought "oh ****," turned it off, and let it cool down while I stayed a distance away. Good thing the valve covers kept it from dripping down onto the exhaust manifolds!
Got to get me a fire extinguisher.
Got to get me a fire extinguisher.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 2,460
Likes: 352
From: Madison Alabama
For those thinking about getting a fire ext don't forget to put it somewhere where you can get to it quick. Mine is in the rear compartment behind the passenger seat....with nothing on top of it. I can get to it from either side of the car in a flash. Seen some mounted in places that the driver would have a hard time getting to or getting it out of a bracket if needed...they looked good but a fire ext trapped in a burning car is not much of a fire ext.