Most common reasons for car fires?

What have been the reasons for car fires?

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R.Sealey
http://www.facebook.com/SealeySport
http://www.youtube.com/ryolse

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ryolse
What have been the reasons for car fires?

air and fuel.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
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Quote
john vanlandingham

Quote
ryolse
What have been the reasons for car fires?

air and fuel.

And ignition source.

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Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY

Aaah.... so that's how it works

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R.Sealey
http://www.facebook.com/SealeySport
http://www.youtube.com/ryolse

Quote
fiasco

Quote
john vanlandingham

Quote
ryolse
What have been the reasons for car fires?

air and fuel.

And ignition source.

Yep.. Minus any of these and you car won't burn down.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Engine goes boom and the turbo, exhaust catches the oil on fire. Electrical and in this last weekends case prop shaft hits gas tank gas hits exhaust and poof! My biggest concern is the turbo fires they seem to be the most common.

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First rally 2013
Rally car type AWD subaru
Total rallies as driver 6
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Total years racing exp other then rally 19 yrs
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I was aware of oil fires being fairly common. And this weekend's was my reasoning for asking. I'd say my biggest cause being an NA motor would be oil/fuel coming in contact with exhaust. Did any one hear what the caused Cameroon Steely's meltdown last year?

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R.Sealey
http://www.facebook.com/SealeySport
http://www.youtube.com/ryolse

I had diff oil catch fire once.
(sprayed it on the exhaust when a piece of the diff decided to leave the case)
It was mid stage so I didn't stop and eventually the fire went out.

One of the ones up here was a split fuel rail in a head-on into a tree. They forgot to hit the kill switch on their way out of the car and the fuel pump kept feeding the fire until the fuel cell was empty. Lots of extinguishers kept it from spreading too far.

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First Rally: 2001
Driver (7), Co-Driver (44)
Drivers (16)
Clerk (10), Official (7), Volunteer (4)
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Last Updated, January 4, 2015

Quote
john vanlandingham
Blame is for idiots. losers.

Electric fuel pumps could be primed with a momentary on push button and ran thru an oil pressure switch. That would stop one possible scenario pretty easily.

Fuel cells are quite capable of burning, they just help contain the fuel...unless smashed.

On board fire systems may help with an engine or electrical fire but do nothing when an external fuel tank ruptures as in Oregon.

Good news is we don't actually have a large number of fires , but it only takes one.

Brian Gottleib's car was misfire overheating exhaust, which overheated the fuel tank, which vented..

On the mitsu's the common one is power steering line failure which leaks on to exhaust manifold. I have my fire system pointing to the exhaust manifold and fuel rail.

Not sure how common the failure is on rally cars, but track guys seem to have the issue happen more often...but there are more track cars than rally cars so who knows.

Dave

I had an oil fire with my bug at a rallycross. Had a slow oil leak from a line and it was slowly dripping/spraying on the exhaust, which had fiberglass wrap on it. The wrap soaked it all up and then caught fire.

Good input, thanks guys. So most of the ignition sources are the exhaust. The fiberglass heat wraps will only absorb the oil making it worse and stock heat shields will only help so much before they get hot enough to cause the same ignition as if it was the pipe itself. So are there any suggestions on how to shield the heat in those troubled areas such as near the fuel tank and engine area?

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R.Sealey
http://www.facebook.com/SealeySport
http://www.youtube.com/ryolse

Ryan heat ALONE evaporates gas and oil. Usually there has to be an open flame or vigorous spark,,
Or way more than bright orange hot metal.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fuels-ignition-temperatures-d_171.html


Looks like 600 degrees gets most dino fluids going. A stock exhaust under load sees in excess of that easily. Chevrolet had a massive recall in the mid-90s to redirect the vent tube from the automatic transmissions due to fires. I know of one personally that burned from that towing a rally car.