Fire in the hold!!!

[Speedman]

Decided to pop into see my parents on the way to Bracknell today, wandered out to the camper and it wouldn't start so spent a few minutes underneath playing with the starter motor and it roared into life again and we headed off, first stop the petrol station to fill up and thats where the trouble began.....

.....put £45 in and tried to start but the engine did the old splutter and didn't really catch so I turned off and tried again, this time it just churned over and wouldn't catch at all, I stopped again and glanced in the rear view mirror to see a bit of smoke drifting away, when the smoke began to billow I decided it couldn't be exhaust fumes and went to investigate and saw the black cloud pouring out of the air vents, so yelled to Kim to grab the fire extinguisher.

I flipped the engine lid and was faced with a lot of smoke and flames licking round the back so directed the spray over the whole lot and emptied the lot on it, the other customers had long since made a run for it leaving cars abandoned with fuel nozzles hanging out :? With our extinguisher gone a lady from the petrol station came out and gave us a second one which I blasted to damp it all down.

I stood in disbelief but was snapped out of it by an old neighbour who was there who helped us push it out of the way after an annoying jobsworth from the shop asked it to be moved, not for any safety reasons but so they could carry on using the pump there Kim ran the breakdown company to get us recovered the mile to home. As we waited we saw Dazbugs filling up, cheers for the offer to tow us home, they turned up a minute after you left the jetwash :wink:

The chap from Brittania Rescue turned up with a nifty remote control, uber lowered vehicle recovery wagon, that is flat enough to get a mildly slammed Bay onto without scrapping (it folds flat to the ground and you just drag it on)

A short drive home and we parked him into a free space and inspected the damage...

....looks like a heavy current drawn by a faulty starter motor cooked the wiring and as it fell down it caught the fuel line and boom we had a fire, theres lots of powder to clean up and dizzy cap/HT leads/engine bay wiring to replace so I'll be on the phone tomorrow to get it sorted out, hopefully it'll be an easyish fix and we'll be rolling again soon

 

[Mike F]

Sorry to read this - but I guess it could have been much worse if you'd not been so observant.

Hope you get back on the road soon.

 

[Shaggy]

Sucks dude, I got an arse of a woman one time when I broke down in a petrol station at the pump, she was rude, so i said I couldn't move it and they would have to wait an hour till the rescue guy got there....hehehe

Very nice van though

 

[slammedkustom]

that was a close one, glad you didnt lose the van tho.
yourll be back on the road in no time :wink:

 

[Tofufi]

Glad both of you and also the van are still ok

Fingers crossed it'll be sorted in no time.

 

[Speedman]

Cheers guys, on closer inspection it looks to be only minor wiring and fule line damage, no bodywork or interior damage at all and no smell of smoke either, got a bit of work to get it sorted and running again :wink:

 

[Araon]

I know I shouldnt but reading it I wet myself fella :lol: :lol: :lol:

At least you've kept your sense of humour.

Luckily you were awake when it happened, she doesnt look too bad hope your back on the road soon.

Stll laughing man you tell a good story :lol:

 

[Mike F]

Can't believe you were composed enough to take the photos!

 

[Speedman]

Even as the dust was settling I was thinking of the forum thread title :wink:

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

I was reading that automatic fire extinguisher thread ealier,after reading this I reckon I might get one fitted too!

Good luck getting it back on the road,it doesn't seem too bad though,it was good that you where quick before it took hold!

 

[Speedman]

MikeF sent me the details of it, will investigate further, it probably wouldn't have made any difference to us this time, but if we'd been on the move then we couldn't have acted as quickly as we did and it would have put the fire out mcuh quicker

 

[Justin & Muttley]

Wow! :shock:

Firstly, I'm glad you guys are safe!
Secondly, I'm glad it's superficial!
Thirdly, Pleased to hear you had a fire extinguisher handy!
Fourthly, If it's going to happen then at least a petrol station has lots of spare extinguishers!
Fifthly (I know these aren't real words by the way!), A lesson for us all!

Hope you're back on the road soon...

 

[Clem]

Lucky escape there!

Glad all three of you are cool.

 

[NADZ]

I dont know how to comment :roll:
Good to see you o.k.though

 

[baron]

sheeite! :shock:

always carry an extinguisher volks

 

[kempy]

Know the feeling..

Going back several years my very first VW was a 1303. I bought it for £500 and spent a small fortune at the time for me on welding, respray etc.....

It was a monday morning heading to work in Warrington in rush hour. I was 2nd in line from the traffic lights that were red when the engine just cut out. It was pissing down with rain and tried to re-start but was having none of it.

All of a sudden I got a knock on the drivers window to be told quite calmly that the car was on fire. I jumped out and lifted the lid to be met by flames jumping out. Parked in the que was a builder in a transit tipper who grabbed a bucket filled with sand and rain water.

He threw it over the engine and it went out. However to my embaresment a few cars behind was a panda car with the police in it who saw the whole thing and called the fire service.

About 5 minutes later a fire engine with lights & siren going came round the corner and about 5 firefighters jumped out. They pushed the car on the pavement and the police took all my details.

I **** my pants as my main concern was that it's MOT had run out about 2 months earlier and never got round to get done.

Apart from the piss take from mates who spotted it parked on the side all day as i had to go to work i got no come back.

Since that day i always made sure that petrol hoses, clamps etc....are ok.
I also won't mess too much with an engine as it's always in the back of your mind of happening agin.

Mike

 

[8ballbug]

****
glad your both ok and you lucky lucky boy spotting that

 

[Araon]

I got a qoute from Firetec for theres £135 + vat but they do club discounts

We offer bulk discount for kits to clubs* as follows:

1-4 units no discount
5-10 units 20%
11-20 units 30%
> 20 units 40%

if anyones interested hint hint :wink: :wink:

they require headed paper etc and an address usually of the secretary but as long as we explain that its an online club and give them the url I'm sure we could get around it just need to sort out someone to take delivery. I could take and deliver en route to work Stamford to London or even go as far as Lincoln down at a push dropping off on the A1 and around the M25.....

 

[LuAn]

@Aaron: The FireFlex one is £100 at SSP.

@Speedman: Looks like your quick reactions saved the day. That could have been a heck of a lot worse.

BTW, dumb question, are the indicators on the back a customisation? I couldn't see them in the VW Heritage catalogue.

 

[slammedkustom]

the indicaters are hella reversing lights with amber lens, very nice.

Aaron i thought about what you had said when i read this thread. what about posting a new thread seeing who would buy on. i know you would, id be interested and im sure speedman would be now.
should be able to sell any remaining ones to fellow V-dubbers :wink:

at the best price they are around £95 :wink: