Grrrrrr............

OK, so I'm at Autobahn Country Club, running time trials with NASA. Car is running OK, new turbo setup is nice. I can't seem to get my transponder to make any hits though. I did run a couple of 1:43-1:44's in my last session according to the video. (ACC South Course)

I'm not quite ready to talk about oil temps, maybe later.

So..... Third session of the day, and after 15 minutes I lose power. I push in the clutch and the car stalls immediately. I play around with the key to no avail. It turns out, this was probably my crank position sensor melting.

I don't have any power nor do I have the speed to make it very far, so I pull way off the track along the long back straight. Just as I'm starting to stop, I notice a bit of smoke. Hmm!

The track is still hot, and the little bit of smoke turns to a bit more smoke. I loosen the harness, grab the fire extinguisher, and wait patiently.

Track is STILL hot, car start smoking profusely. Driver's side. Paint on hood is bubbling, I decide to hop out and try to fix it. I crack the hood and spray the bottle along the driver side (a bit of flame shoots out, yikes!) More smoking, less fire, so I pop the hood. There's smoke everywhere so I spray everything.

The timing belt cover caught fire. The alternator belt failed at some point. The motor mount on that side started to melt. My air filter on that side started melting apart. Various bits of wire loom are warped. And, the hood has two brown spots on the OUTSIDE where it cooked the paint.

It looks like the timing belt picked up some bits of molten plastic while it was still spinning. For the most part it looks OK, but it's melting a bit along the inside edge. Well, except for where it sat on fire along the front edge of the timing belt cover. Timing belt held though, spark plugs look good, nothing obvious under the valve cover wrong. That's the good news.


Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,

What the hell catches fire, or gets hot, under the timing belt cover, possibly near the bottom of the cover!??!!?

The exhaust is no where near the timing belt. It comes out towards the passenger side of the turbo. The intake pipe is over there. There is NOTHING hot over there. No liquids either (No p/s). No leaks, not even the oil line that was sitting in the middle of the fire over there.

My wife commented, it's funny that my car caught fire AFTER I fixed all the oil spewage issues.

Anyone ever hear of ANYTHING like this? Can crank sensors spontaneously combust??

 

Oh, I've got video, and Wai's wife has pictures. Might post later.

Also have good video of a S2000 doing a 720 degree spin right in front of me.

 

that sucks, I hate bad luck, it always seems to follow me around too. Maybe the underhood temps caused something flamable to ignite? is your manifold/downpipe wrapped? Get an arson investigator in thurr!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Cone &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that sucks, I hate bad luck, it always seems to follow me around too. Maybe the underhood temps caused something flamable to ignite? is your manifold/downpipe wrapped? Get an arson investigator in thurr! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Downpipe is wrapped. Nothing hot near the timing belt cover, which appears to be the main source of the fire. Nothing near the turbo is burnt. Just the driver side, mostly front, timing belt cover.

Weird.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles but I'm glad that (like always) you keep in good spirits over the whole thing

 

Chris, I'm really glad that the fire didn't touch the fuel rail area. Good luck on your fix.

I need to bang some panels out and re-attach the headlight too after the contact with the Spec Miata. Damn it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Wai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Chris, I'm really glad that the fire didn't touch the fuel rail area. Good luck on your fix.

I need to bang some panels out and re-attach the headlight too after the contact with the Spec Miata. Damn it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

that poor paint job is becoming more and more Y'd.

 

That not only sucks, but is really scary. All the more reason to have a fire ext in the car!

 

damn chris, it sucks what happened. hopefully things will turn out better.

 

just a question, did you clean all the oil residue from when the line let go? Maybe there was oil left over that ignited and caused your problems?? I hope you figure it out, and I am glad it didn't get any worse...

 

J00 g0t some luck there...

 

That side of the engine is where the fuel return line and fuel pressure regulator are. I vote it is fuel related, nothing else in there can ignite that easily.

It would take really really high temps to catch fire to the plastic there, even if there was residual oil from any leaks.

Good luck with the fix.
-Marshall-

 

Jesus Chris! I want pics now. By the sounds of the story your hood needs a fresh coat racers tape

I have no technical input on this because I'm ignant and it's almost 4am

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Opie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Jesus Chris! I want pics now. By the sounds of the story your hood needs a fresh coat racers tape
</TD></TR></TABLE>

BWAAAAhhhAHHHAHHAAAHHH

 

fyRe sucks.

Ahem, http://www.shockerstickers.com...TURBO

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris F &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Also have good video of a S2000 doing a 720 degree spin right in front of me.</TD></TR></TABLE>


I want to see that!

Good luck on finding the culprit and hopefully it's mostly cosmetic damage

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Wai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Chris, I'm really glad that the fire didn't touch the fuel rail area. Good luck on your fix.

I need to bang some panels out and re-attach the headlight too after the contact with the Spec Miata. Damn it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, crappy weekend all around for Integras!!!

Wai, can you put up your wife's pics?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92TypeR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That side of the engine is where the fuel return line and fuel pressure regulator are. I vote it is fuel related, nothing else in there can ignite that easily.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The fire got the front of the timing belt cover... so not THAT close to the fuel. It's so bizarre, I won't rule it out, but it really did appear to be a dry fire (No liquids, no oil, no gas smell, etc.)

 

Sorry to hear about it.

:fire:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris F &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Wai, can you put up your wife's pics?</TD></TR></TABLE>

We're going to see pics of Wai's wife?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris F &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Wai, can you put up your wife's pics?</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Damn chris. That is some scary ****. Glad joo is ok.

The Berminator - who has nothing on Chris F any longer.

Burninator &gt; Berminator


Modified by Chris N at 12:30 PM 7/10/2005

 

LOL

Nice paint jorb on the engine bay.

Are there any electrical lines close to the fire? Maybe your alternator is to blame?? That or a bearing failed on one of your pullies and the friction lit up a bet.

ps, it never ends, does it Chris?
&lt;--------seriously thinking of jumping ship.

 

Okay, gotta ask - when something like this happens, does insurance cover it?

 

Sorry to see that Chris.
Do you have a dump tube on that side or near that location?

Best of luck. Ed

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris N &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Burninator &gt; Berminator


Modified by Chris N at 12:30 PM 7/10/2005</TD></TR></TABLE>

hahah maybe a "trogdor racing" sticker is in order for this one.

 

pps, what were your oil temps like Chris?