Am i paranoid?

[RICH-I-AM]

Saw the results of an engine fire on saturday of a Split Bus that had just had a 25k resto done on it. The entire van was wiped out.
Was thinking of fitting a Camera in my engine bay to run along side an auto extinguisher.
Cant do links (puter illiterate) but what i mean is something like.....
Argos Catalogue Spring/Summer 2009 Page 160 No 3.
Or am i just paranoid?
However well you look after your Bus,Bug etc these things can still happen.

Rich

 

[Tofufi]

I have wondered about this before.

Apart from the general lack of light in the engine bay (although I suppose fire would show up well on an otherwise black screen...) I don't know how necessary it really is.

I'm paranoid, but not that paranoid.

Also, I have heating so I get any smells from the engine bay going into the cab pretty quickly. I reckon I'd smell fire possibly before any smoke was visible behind the car...

 

[aogrady]

Hi!

What about a firetec system, or some smoke sensor type thing? I must admit, i dont worry to much about, i seem to have the chance of a major oil leak always on my mind dunno know why?..........

Alistair

 

[Loxy]

I have wondered about this before.

Apart from the general lack of light in the engine bay (although I suppose fire would show up well on an otherwise black screen...) I don't know how necessary it really is.

I'm paranoid, but not that paranoid.

Also, I have heating so I get any smells from the engine bay going into the cab pretty quickly. I reckon I'd smell fire possibly before any smoke was visible behind the car...

And the plume of extinguisher foam/powder trailing down the road

 

[mustard72]

my view is, if its going to happen, it will happen. hope it never will, but you can never ever tell i guess. it can happen on a rusty old bus, or a very nice expensive one. you can change and replace everything, but thats not a gurantee that nothing will go wrong.

jason

 

[uber cool]

I think just the auto extinguisher should be fine

The chances of you watching the camera to see something happen is slim, you're more likely to run into the back of a car or truck whilst watching the camera :mrgreen:

 

[Araon]

bi-metalic switch, 12V and and LED bobs your uncle....

or butcher a cheap heat (not smoke unless your sure the tinware is solid) detector remove the siren and replace with an led mounted in the dash

or better still fit an extinguisher with switch and led and hey it puts the bastard out as well

 

[andewilson]

when i had my beetle whatever the weather my drivers window would be down a few inches so i could listen to engine for any odd noises. still cant get out of the habit (much to my families discust) i havent really driven my bus yet (memory doesnt go back that far till i started the resto) but i am sure i will be more paranoid than ever when it finnaly hits the road. i will be running an alpine reverse camera as part of my ice setup which i hope to fit high up looking down at the rear bumper. which i would probably flick onto every now and then to check for smoke pouring out of the engine bay

 

[froggy]

i will be running an alpine reverse camera as part of my ice setup which i hope to fit high up looking down at the rear bumper. which i would probably flick onto every now and then to check for smoke pouring out of the engine bay

Thats what mirrors and vents where invented for :lol: :lol:

 

[sparkywig]

Can't remember all this fuss in the eighties/early nineties. New fuel lines and regular maintenance would take care of this imho. I've got a fuel cut-off solenoid, but that's mainly for security.

 

[andewilson]

back in the 80's and 90's you could by a decent split for 4k and a split doka for 2k. i think the price increase is equally proportional to the paranoier. i am sure when finished my bus will stand me at about 15k which is a lot to lose not to mention my spare time for the last three years.

 

[RICH-I-AM]

Also the internet wasnt so widespread so the stories of flame grilled Busses n Bugs were probably not so widespread.

 

[Joval]

What was the cause of the fire?

 

[RICH-I-AM]

What was the cause of the fire?

No idea.
Not realy a lot to go on tbh. Fire services must have taken a while to get there though.
I do know it was being driven at the time.Believe that there were no casualties.
Speeking of which, any valuers on here. Need to get that done for insurance purposes.

 

[dubscum]

i'm more of a "hope for the best" sort of person :msn4:

 

[lard]

Did my own resto previously that included a new wiring loom and I was that paranoid I wouldn't leave the battery connected in case it decided to self combust - it's that out of site thing, if you haven't touched anything then you don't worry about it - rather than the old "did I do the bolts up properly when I replaced xxx" whilst driving down the motorway

If I get the opportunity I'd put in fire suppressant but only to limit a write off and any injury than catch it in the early stages and prevent any damage - that's what insurance is for in my mind and it's a gamble that the insurance companies are prepared to take so the odds must be stacked in my favour of it NOT catching fire,

Got to feel sorry for the guy though - wouldn't wish that on anyone

Does remind me about a custom mini insurance policy when I was younger, you could do anything but add a roll cage and had to answer a questionnaire - one question was "does the fuel line run on/touch the exhaust manifold in the engine bay?" let me check.......oh yes.......... :shock:

 

[scott wilson]

my take on this is to replace your fuel hoses at least every two services. This is the cause of any engine fire and the new hoses are crap..the smooth hoses are better than the braided ones. A nicely serviced carb also helps. But for paraniod freaks then a stinguisher lined in should do the trick.
If i had a pound for the amount of people who neglect such an important thing as fuel lines then i`d be able to keep the 68 doka. Ask yourself. When did you last replenish the fuel lines? Engine bay temps of 220f+... no brainer :roll:

 

[Tofufi]

Ask yourself. When did you last replenish the fuel lines? Engine bay temps of 220f+... no brainer :roll:

2 days ago

Seriously, fuel lines should not need replacing every 2 years.

However, most motor factors don't stock very good grades of fuel line.

The fuel line you need is 5.5 or 5.6mm ID in an R7 or R9 grade making it suitable for the modern unleaded with bioethanol in it. Finding this is rather tricky, I believe a guy on VZi has some though. But it won't come cheap compared to the poorer quality stuff which is more readily available.

 

[dubscum]

does everyone else run metal fuel lines ?

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

Check your main battery lines too the one that goes to the starter,make sure they are well insulated from any metal as there is no fuse protecting this,if it rubs through to metal it will glow red and the plastic aroung the wire will catch fire.This sort of fire will be difficult to put out,your automatic extinguisher will put it out,then run out of foam/powder and the fire will re ignite.

Don't mean to scare you :lol: