Never carry a fire extinguisher in your car... and... I need a new briefcase & gymbag

FireInvestigator said:
Case in Fact: Last week a young woman was driving down the road and I was behind her. Her vehicle was leaving smoke contrails. I flipped on my 'Excuse me!' lights...she pulled over. A school bus pulled over and asked if I needed a fire extinguisher. (I did not *Gasp* have one in my Crown Vic,had used it the week b4) She popped her hood,everything up front of the engine compartment that was plastic was burning or melting from a fan belt that lit off. So, 4 or 5 short bursts of the extinguisher and all is good. Fire out,no smoke showing. Done.

Car not totalled,everyone safe.most of the melted plastic parts really are not needed to make a car run down the road....maybe 200 bucks to replace.Dunno, I'm not a claims adjuster, I just slept in a Holiday Inn last night. I remember to restock my trunk with an extinguisher. lesson learned.
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How big an extinguisher should one carry? And I like the idea of a BC because of what it contains. Is it really necessary to carry an ABC? What size and about what cost? This is a really good thread. Sorry about the mess Gollnick.

KR
 
Other than from accidents, I had never seen a car catch fire from just normal operation until I moved to Vegas. Maybe it is that there is more cars on the road, maybe it is the heat, but I see one burned out car on the freeway about once a year now.

I've had a fire extinguisher for years...this reminds me to check and see if it is expired and now if it is ABC or just BC.
 
zenheretic said:
Other than from accidents, I had never seen a car catch fire from just normal operation until I moved to Vegas. Maybe it is that there is more cars on the road, maybe it is the heat, but I see.
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If Vegas is anything like DC....most cars that were on fire were not accidents....:(
 
Have you noticed a lot of shouting on the radio "NO MATTER WHAT YOUR CREDIT HISTORY!!!!"? The number of burned-out cars you see could be an economic indicator.... When the dealers hard-sell new cars "NO MATTER WHAT YOUR CREDIT HISTORY!!!!" some people make payments for a while and then torch the car (which never fools anyone; they always get caught).
 
We've had a couple of "failures" with the department fire extinguishers, and we carry big ones in the car. Quite a mess. Usually due to not having the thing secured properly.

We use the clamp-in devices that bolt to the bed of the trunk.
 
Daniel Koster said:
Funny story...

but I'll keep my extinguisher...it's under the drivers' seat in the Jag. If it does come loose...it's got a protective cage around the nozzle. Hope I never need to use it. :(
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Ah, the good old days, when a Jaguar owner had bragging rights if he drove cross-country without the damn thing breaking down or catching on fire.

On a more serious note, my Mom had a 80s Cougar which did burn. A fire extinquisher would have at least mitigated if not prevented most of the damage. Car was a total loss. And NO it was not an "insurance" fire as she did not recover a lot for the car. Early fuel injection systems and rotted gasoline lines are a bad mix...
 
Securing the fire extinguisher is by far the best way to prevent the thing from fouling up the cab. A car is a fuel tank on wheels. For the most part they are pretty safe, but like airplanes, when they do burn things go badly pretty quick.

My neighbors wife was driving her kids around town in a Ford Bronco when she noticed the smell of gas, and then quickly the fire happened under the hood. The fuel line had split and sprayed gas on the hot engine, then the vehicle went up like the 4th of July. Everyone got out safely, but they said it went really fast- first gas smell then bang-Fire.
 
Around 1970 when the pollution regs started they retarded the timing for one thing and that increased engine temps .Many cars had problems with rubber belts, fuel lines ,radiator hoses. I was driving an ALFA and found out about a service notice to check fuel lines .Mine had cracks about half way through the wall !!! Of course the car had FI at 15 psi !At the same time I saw an ALFA all burned up , fuel lines ?? I bought my first fire extinguisher !
 
Bet it hasn't caught fire. That is a sweet looking and I am sure it is highly entertaining to drive.


Back in the day I offered a 2 vehicle trade towards an E type coupe and the owner turned me down. Need I say what happened about a month later? When I test drove it the tachometer did not work, typical for that era. Interior looked like a mad German shepherd had eaten about half of it.

The problem with the original E types is that when they got cheap enough, people bought them with no clue as to the real cost of maintenance (Inboard rear disc brakes, anyone? It required the rear-end to be dropped in order to get to the rear discs for replacement, not cheap even then. I won't even go into lifter adjustments and tune-ups). Consequently more than a few of them were rode hard and put up broken. :eek:


Jaguar finally got smart and told all their out-sourced parts suppliers no more. Either send us lift motors which work, wiring which does not catch fire, etc. or we will get new suppliers. Jaguar always made interesting cars for the money and more recently they have been at least adequately reliable. :thumbup:


Carl
 
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