Cool-Blue-Dad

Well reasoned and well spoken. I hope you don't feel too out of place here.

I tried follow the whole story - it seems to be presented in parts across several posts. You hit on a key point here - the time between the car being parked and the friend getting her purse from the trunk seems suspiciously long. I can see walking away from a hot car and not noticing the first smoldering start of a fire which then spreads, but if the car is burning fiercly 30 minutes later then there should have been some intermediate evidence of fire after the first 20 minutes. Too odd.

Unlike many on this board I watched a car of mine burn firsthand. Different circumstances; back in 1997 I was run off the road and smashed into a tree at 50mph. Something ruptured in the engine compartment of my Pontiac Sunfire and a nice gas/oil fire developed. After ~10 minutes there was a column of flame the diameter of my engine compartment roaring and snapping 30 feet in the air. Over the next few minutes I watched the fire burn its way back through the passenger compartment and head for the gas tank. The firemen blasted the car with their pressure hoses (blowing away the shattered elements of the cracked windows) almost as soon as they screeched to a halt. I figure they only had minutes of margin before that gas tank would have ignited, but they had the fire out in seconds. Not contained, not controlled - out. A car fire isn't really so large for a regular fire truck. (Original Poster - what sort of truck and fire company responded to the call? Was it a professional city/county unit or volunteer?)

So, having witnessed a car burn before my own eyes and having inspected the damage that day and later at the wrecking yard it's incredible to me the interior of the original poster's car was undamaged. My insurance company had to get a mileage figure for my car from the tire shop who had last worked on my car because the odometer had melted. My pager had fallen into the driver's footwell and it melted into a misshaped lump from the heat. My oldest daughter's carseat was fried and singed all around the edges. That made a good picture for the insurance company - "Pay my $^@&*ing property settlement Mr. Claims Assessor - we're all soooo lucky there was no personal injury for you to be settling."

Others here have commented, 'RX-8s don't commonly do this.....' I'll go one further, "cars that burn don't commmonly burn as described here." I'd really like to know more of the story (and pics, pics, pics!) because it seems like some critical elements of the story are missing.

Obviously, the quick, knee-jerk analysis of 'electrical fire' is uninformed, unsubstantiated and foolish. It's a shame the firemen wouldn't simply say, "dunno" as the scene. Maybe they didn't understand the whole story of how the car was "fine" after 20 minutes.

As for the Mazda dealer noticing any sub-standard mods made by the previous owner - I doubt it. If she was in for regular service or even routine TSBs at an average dealership - I wouldn't expect them to notice anything unrelated to the specific tasks. Too many people here have reported dipsticks, engine covers and even oil caps not reinstalled after routine dealer service. I went to two appointments where the service center claimed to have done "full circle" inspection/service and yet my low-coolant light came on when I started the car. No offense to our members here who work in service centers, but I'd go so far as to say it's possible her Mazda dealership could have missed a fuel leak, but a fuel leak doesn't fit with her friend finding no problem 20 minutes after the car was parked.

Interesting story - sounds like arson to me based on the posted story, but I wasn't there to see.