Engine Bay - What do you keep in yours?

[ProfessorWheeto]

8) great tip that wheeto 8)

It's a running joke at work, every time I butcher a bottle for some special use I claim I'm going to put a vw badge on it and sell them for £20 a piece on ebay :lol:

 

[Htotheunit]

I used to have oil, but now i have my auto fire extinguisher, but that isn't in my battery tray...

 

[halfpint_fighter]

Leisure battery with cut off switch

 

[froggy]

Apart from engine and battery (RHS) my engine bay is empty,used to have a leisure battery but the wiring was that bodges that i ripped the lot out.

 

[Trikky2]

Plastic bottle of oil hanging round in your engine bay?
Anyone else think this might not be the best idea going?

I don't see why not?
It doesn't get that hot there, certainly not hot enough to begin to think of melting the plastic.
Any other reason I shouldn't do it?
Oil isn't really flammable at all...

Petrol needs a spark to ignite, oil just needs heat.
I just wouldn't take the risk, what if the oil can falls onto something hot?
What if the fan belt goes, could puncture the plastic bottle.

there's a hell of a lot of storage in a bay, can't see why anyone would want to risk a fire or damage to their engine even if its a very small chance of something going wrong?

Do you know how hot engine oil has to get before it will spontaneously combust ... If there something that hot in the engine bay then your engine will already be on fire.

I dont see any reason why a snapping fan belt would puncture a plastic bottle of oil kept behind a battery tbh.

Engine bays cannot get that hot since the cooling air is drawn from it. How long would your engine last if you were trying to cool it with air at 200 degrees? For that matter how long would the battery last :lol:

 

[strongy]

a few people have said they have an exstiguisher in the engine bay why :? ?????????????????????????????

surely if your engine is on fire it will be a bit of a job geting to the exstiguisher,unless its an auto kit thingy that araons being sorting out.

if not i think its a good idea to move these in to the cab

 

[Htotheunit]

a few people have said they have an exstiguisher in the engine bay why :? ?????????????????????????????

surely if your engine is on fire it will be a bit of a job geting to the exstiguisher,unless its an auto kit thingy that araons being sorting out.

if not i think its a good idea to move these in to the cab

Automatic extinguisher :wink:

 

[easy]

Ive got me leisure battery and keep all oil etc under the rock n roll bed, split charger etc.

Sorry about the arty shot :roll: this is mine, on the other side is me leisure battery and split charger mounted up. :wink:

 

[Bin jammin]

I've got a 1 litre bottle of engine oil (one of those ATF oil bottles with bendy nozzle) ,a spare fan belt a couple of HT leads in there,a bit of dust and rust too.Probably a wasps nest,I've found about 3 in other places on the bus so far .I don't think a fire will start if the bottle manages to leak on the engine,there will just be a lot of mess and maybe a little smoke.
I don't keep rags or paper in there,when I bought my westy it had a knackered engine,and when I stripped it down,on the fan was loads of tissue paper rag blocking the airflow to the engine! So I don't want any more getting in there.

This is such a good point to bring up, i have seen so many cooked engines because the owner thought that the engine bay was a good place to store the oily rag used for mopping up when oil filling.

DO NOT STORE RAGS IN THE ENGINE BAY < this bit is for those people who skim through threads :mrgreen:

 

[angus]

It isn't the hot air in an engine bay that is going to set fire to oil, much rather the rather hot lump of metal called an exhaust just underneath, which is where any oil that happens to leak, is going to drip! Yes - it is unlikely (after all, it was oil leaks that stopped my heat exchangers from going rusty :wink: ) but don't just assume the air is the only hot thing. I spent a whole summer helping a friend build a very high-end kit car - a Ferrari P4, powered with a V8 engine from a 348. Passed its SVA, ready for road and track - we took it to a track day for initial testing and 2 hours later it was a smouldering wreck, never to be seen again - an oil line had come undone, and ignited on the exhaust. Just a cautionary tale - this is not to suggest that every oil can in an engine bay is going to spontaniously combust, but it ain't going to help....!

Having said all that, there is no account for muppertery of the highest order, so here is my tale... -I could say that this happened 'to a friend' - but that would be a lie. It was me....
Some years ago I was driving between Somerset and London, on the Glastonbury/Devizes/A4 route, with an american girlfriend I had at the time. You know how owning a Van you become very accustomed to the smell of the engine, drifting up along the heater channels, and providing early warning of exhaust leaks, oil leaks, excessive heat even - well, for a while I had quite a strong smell of petrol.
I duely pulled into a layby near Frome, and walked around the back of the van (engine running) where I opened the engine hatch....

For quite a while my fuel tank sender had been broken (in fact, I only just fixed it after about 12 years) and to help reduce the inconveinience of running out of fuel, I took to carrying a plastic fuel can in the van 'just in case'. It was one of those red gallon ones. It was plastic. I kept it to the left of the engine bay. With fuel in. I know, I know....

....so as I opened the engine hatch, I saw that the plastic fuel can had managed to jump out of its 'secure' home in the left side of the engine bay, and was now resting on the (still running) fan belt. The fan belt had gradually worn through and melted the plastic, and a steady stream (think water pistol) of fuel was now jetting out of the can and soaking the dizzie/fuel pump/dynamo area of the engine. :shock: I batted the tank out of the van onto the road, and calmly (shaking) went to the front of the van and turned the engine off. "Nothing to worry about..." I told my passenger..."just a bot hot, we'll have a quick break here and let things cool off then set off...." I lied.

After enough time for all the spilt fuel to evaporate away, I closed the lid, thanking lucky stars, God or anyone else that would listen, for not letting my pride and joy burn to a cinder. A VERY lucky escape.

After a few more miles, as I gradually calmed down, I was aware that the petrol smell was still quite strong....my young american friend had seen the petrol can I had left behind in the layby and popped it back into the van (still pissing out petrol) - although to be fair, she had the presence of mind to put it in the back of the van (on the carpet, bedding etc) rather than in the engine bay itself. The strong smell of petrol remained for months....

All I have now is one of the automatic fire extinguisher systems that Aaron sorted out a few months ago. As someone else pointed out, there are plenty of other places to store things like spare oil - of full petrol cans....

 

[angus]

Reminds me of the other embarressing tale I have with the van, where I almost killed a Beetle-drving German couple in the campsite that overlooks Florence...

*WARNING* - drum brakes that have been applied (via the handbrake) during the 40 degree day will cool down at night and may release - at about 2am - allowing ones van to roll down the VERY steep Italian campsite, almost run over the small german-couple-occupied tent, pitched just in front. It will flatten the occupants' BBQ, stretch your washing line to breaking point, thus firing all your smalls across the campsite, after the nylon washing line has gradually stripped the olive tree you have tied it to of all its branches as the knot runs along it, pulled by the run-away van. If your washing up bowl, with saucepans etc, is under the van, the rear wheel will run over it and break everything....once the van has been stopped inches from the tent in front by another olive bush, you will get shouted at for starting your van (at 2.05am) in order to reverse back into position 'as if nothing has happened...'
I have no idea how we got away with that one.



[And before you ask, yes - usually th evan would have been in gear, but we had had the engine running in order to set the exhaust repair paste we had been using that afternoon!]

 

[angus]

Sorry - a little 'off-topic' that one... :?

 

[Guest]

My ass was tighter than a gnats chuff reading that one! :shock:

how lucky were you!?

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

It isn't the hot air in an engine bay that is going to set fire to oil, much rather the rather hot lump of metal called an exhaust just underneath, which is where any oil that happens to leak, is going to drip! Yes - it is unlikely (after all, it was oil leaks that stopped my heat exchangers from going rusty :wink: ) but don't just assume the air is the only hot thing. I spent a whole summer helping a friend build a very high-end kit car - a Ferrari P4, powered with a V8 engine from a 348. Passed its SVA, ready for road and track - we took it to a track day for initial testing and 2 hours later it was a smouldering wreck, never to be seen again - an oil line had come undone, and ignited on the exhaust. Just a cautionary tale - this is not to suggest that every oil can in an engine bay is going to spontaniously combust, but it ain't going to help....!

All I have now is one of the automatic fire extinguisher systems that Aaron sorted out a few months ago. As someone else pointed out, there are plenty of other places to store things like spare oil - of full petrol cans....

Exactly, its unlikely but no point taking the risk in my opinion.

 

[super-craig]

slightly off topic but that story was a clencher :shock:

 

[swartie]

I like th eidea of the propex unit in the back. would you say it is safe? I have a propex unit and have been trying to find some place to fit it. currently my batteries are in the engine bay can move one over to free up space, I will also fit my auto fire extinguisher in there. and if i can get the propex in it will be so much better for me.

all this will of course have to wait till next when when i will be back in the UK.

 

[angus]

Mine too Johnny :lol:

Profwheeto - agreed. Not worth the risk...

I took out the petrol can, and shall now replace it with the gas canister that was in there originally as part of the Canterbury Pitt conversion.... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: