So, still breaking in the Caddy...resolving or do***enting any bugs that I have (so far has only been a blown fuse). Well, tonight, I decided to take her up the Suncoast Parkway to a little (200-300 car) cruise-in in Brooksville. As I am driving up there, somewhere around SR52, she starts to smoke. I pulled over, saw that the car was leaking a little bit of ****** fluid, and decided to turn her around and head home. A few seconds later, smoke comes pouring out from under the hood. I immediately pull over, jump out, and open the hood, to be greated by 2-3 foot high flames. Luckily, I had prepared for this moment, as i normally keep a fire extinguisher right behind the drivers seat (and today, I actually had 2). I grabbed it, and put out the fire before any damage was done. Must say, this was not installer error, but rather a failure of the part. The lower line coming from the transmission to transmission cooler popped off at the cooler. It was a new style barbed fitting that doesn't require hose clamps. Needless to say, old style fitting are going on now. Had I not had the fire extinguisher, she'd be a crispy critter on the side of the road. Always keep a fire extinghuisher in your car if you like modifing it. You never know when you will need it. Charles (sorry, no pics...of course, no real damage either!)<!-- google_ad_section_end --> <!-- no inline ads for registered members --><!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
Pleased you and the Caddy are both ok. Always an excellent idea in any Vehicle , modified or not. The newest vehicle we (wife and I ) own is her 1969 Capri and there are fire extinguishers mounted in ALL our vehicles. Its the cheapest form of insurance you can get! .
I'm glad it was under control. I carry one in all my cars. If it doesn't save my ***, it might save someone else's.
i'm glad you got things under control before it got worst. i have never trusted those fittings and always used a hose clamp on them. a fire extinguisher is a good idea in any car, even your daily driver...i have one in every car i own
Bummer but al east ya got it put out fast. My car had a similar failure and I bought it as a burnt hulk. It's going on three years now getting it into shape.
they may not be , but they make a lot of sense to me in ANY car. they are within easy reach of all my cars..hot rods or my daily driver
I don't know about that non trad stuff. I bet if you look in some of the old mags you'll spot one or two in a car.
You are very lucky sir. I almost lost my mustang in highschool to a ****** line popping off(however was my fault). It douched the headers down really well and all of a sudden we had a fire, with no fire extinguisher. Sand and my shirt kinda did the trick. The girl i had with me wasnt very impressed haha. Congrats tho on still having a car!!!
yeah,...fire ext are good. A buddies OT Camaro caught the air cleaners on fire one day and we had to dump 2 gallons of apple juice on it. good thing it only had two carbs....one gallon each. coulda been alot worse.
Yup! Totally agree with you guys....I had a valve seat drop and hang up an exhaust valve once. Ignition in the wrong place at the wrong time! It set the air cleaner on fire. Thankfully I had a bottle of soda to hand. Got off lightly with just a melted filter. Went out straight after and bought a proper extinguisher! (Halon) That was a close call!
Four or five years ago I had my Dads truck running errands and pulled up at a light behind an SUV. They had just popped the hood, and when I walked up to help with their engine problem the fire had just started to rage up one side of the engine bay. By pure luck I had just filled my oversized coffee mug when I picked up the truck and had it in my hand. When I saw the flames, I let it fly, and caught a lucky break when it went out. Bought a fire extinguisher later that week.
Glad you saved the car and didn't burn your ***. I always carry a fire extinguisher in the truck and old cars... I had a cough*Mazda RX-7*cough that caught fire after an oil metering line got brittle and sprayed oil & gas mixture all over the exhaust manifold and lit it up. Extinguisher saved a very expensive motor.
I feel naked in a car without an extinquisher. I put a new torque converter in my '46 truck last week and took it out for a test around the neighborhood. I got about a block away and realised I had taken the extinquisher out of the truck and put it in my '46 Chevy a few days before to go to a cruise night thing. I went right back home and grabbed the extinquisher and then resumed my test drive. Guess i gotta get another one now. Have one in my daily truck too.
Well I have to totaly disagree. In the 40's the Grand Parents always had the old br*** pump type fire extinguisher in there 47 chev mounted on the p***enger side kick panel area. Don't get any more traditional than that.