Fire on Board!

[amit]

What if ur driving and suddenly u see flames coming out of ur engine area. u dont have a fire extinguisher or anything in ur car. how can we deal with fire in such a situation?

[Rehaan]

Switch off
Park
Pop open hood (for hassle free opening for the fire dept etc)
Run!!

Ofcourse if it was WRC the answer would be - drive faster!!

I guess the answer would also alter depending on what i felt the source of the fire was.... i guess it depends on the situation.

Cheers.

[toyota]

As you say that you do not have F extingusiher , there is nothing much you can do other than park , swithc off , and open the hood and then watch . If you have a cloth and water , jut make it wet and you can try to put in in the fire. ie trying to cut off the oxygen. But you cant then stand little away from the car , as there are chances that the fuel might explode
SO it is better to have a Fire Extinguisher !

[Shan2nu]

So far, i've seen only two cars with a completely smoking bonnet. The first one was an opel Astra just outside the H-D Bypass, the dude must have really given it the go!!

The other was a Hyundai Accent in Blore.

In both cases, the owners we're standing next to the car surrounded by a mob who had no idea what was going on.

"Ofcourse if it was WRC the answer would be - drive faster!!" - Rehaan, that was neat.

Regards...
Shan2nu

[RJK]

switch off the car & run for life

[v12]

"Fire in the car. Run Run Run. "

I guess best option wud be to switch it off and pour water over the fire.

[Rehaan]

Guys,

I didnt suggest water as sometimes it may be an electrical short circuit that has caused the fire. Dont forget about the immense ampereage of the battery!!

cheers
Rehaan

[toyota]

As rehaan said water may not be the right option
Just step away and if the fire is little less then you can try to put it off with sand !

[GTO]

I never ever drive my Jeep without a Fire extinguisher. It is located right below the drivers seat, and I made sure I bought one which is certified by all the authorities concerned.

GTO

[Rehaan]

Once my friends 1966 350cc enfield had some sort of short circuit in the rain and all the wiring just glowed red hot and burst into flames!! luckily he had just got off the bike!

Another time i was woken up at 6am by the watchman coz there was smoke comming out from our sumo's bonet. Another short circuit, and it wasnt even raining or anything. The wire responsible was totally melted, and the bonnet had got so hot it was not possible to touch it to open it.

These are examples of how much punch an automobile battery carries, just so that u guys know!

cheers

[GTO]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ] Another short circuit, and it wasnt even raining or anything. The wire responsible was totally melted,

Rehaan, I suspect rodents eating into your sumo's wiring system

GTO

[Rehaan]

Highly likely GTO....
or it also could have been a wire that had got loose from the harness and either got chopped up in the fan or burnt on the hot engine or just grinded around so much that the insulator got worn off!

cheers.
Rehaan

[aadix]

hey rehaan
if the engine is off, how can the wiring burn???
and gto which fire extingusher did you buy?

[Kinetik]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Shan2nu @ Mar. 18 2004,11:28)]So far, i've seen only two cars with a completely smoking bonnet. The first one was an opel Astra just outside the H-D

hey i've seen an opel astra burn into flames at the lokhandwala backroad ..it was a ghastly site.// so u think there maybe a manufactoring/design defect in the car itself ?

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (aadix @ April 26 2004,00:28)]hey rehaan
if the engine is off, how can the wiring burn???

Hey Aadix,

Simply put -

The way wiring in a car is connected is that the negative (black) terminal of the battery is connected directly to the cars entire bodyshell (and hence all metal parts in contact).

The positive terminal is connected by wires to the individual electric devices, ie alternator, stereo, ecu, headlights, etc.

Now if one of those insulated (+ve) wires happens to make electrical contact with any part of the cars body (-ve) a short circuit will result.

For example as GTO said, a rat might have eaten the insulation off a positive wire and it might have then touched a metal bodypart, creating a short circuit.

cheers
Rehaan