I had a garage fire at around 5am this morning. The smoke smell woke me up and I got my daughter and 5 ferrets safely out of the house. My rx8 was and still is parked in the garage. It is black now...originally Titanium grey. I have to try and get it to a body shop tomorrow...am wondering if there will be a problem starting it with all the soot on it and if it is safe. Would also like to know what my chances are of it ever getting clean again.... have never had a fire before so on these issues I am ignorant. If anyone can shed some light on these ?'s . It would be great

 

wow man, thats gotta be a rare case. any word from the insurance company about this?

also post some pics if you have a chance, sorry to hear about everything

 

That's the second fire in a month I have heard of since I have been visiting this forum. Yeah, I would definetely get the insurance company involved, but I am sure the body shop will ask you all about that when you take it in. Take some pictures and good luck!

 

Sorry to hear about it. What started the fire?

 

The fire investigator could only conclude that a phone wire in that area of the garage may have sparked and caught the insulation on fire....was more of a smoldering thing than flames when the fire department showed up. But from where the fire started there were no electical wires present just a phone wire...said it was strange but possible.....will take pics and post sometime tomorrow I hope.

 

Dude, I had a 91' Maxima that was in a parking garage where another car caught on fire and I never got the smell out.

 

Are you sure the car wasn't electrically or mechanically damaged in the fire? That's the most important.

If you have comprehensive coverage (you should) then even if your paint is ruined they will repaint the car for you. Sorry to state the obvious, but don't take it to a mechanical car wash... take it to a really good detailer or a dealer (not that the dealer is likely to fix it, but at least then no one can point fingers at you). Interior might be harder if it's smoky although some detailers can work magic on smell.

I would recommend you replace (or check at minimum) the air filter. Check under the hood for soot and if needed vacuum out the air intake as best you can. You don't want to suck all that debris into the engine. It really depends how bad the fire was and how close your car was to it.

If all the soot is external you are probably OK. Getting the windows clean might be fun.

Since insurance is paying, you might just have the insurance adjuster come out and look at it, then have it towed to your dealer and let them deal with it.

 

No problem just start it. But first have the insurance guy come out and inspect.

Body no problem. Interior smell........ If you have cloth it's gonna be a big challenge.

 

Phone lines ? are you serious ?

Oh ****, my house is like 60 yrs old and never changed any of the phone wires .... and its all in wall, maybe I shouldnt worry about it because its alread all *dead/broken*

Grad everyone is ok. Your 8 should be fine, dont sound like a big fire.

but I would check with insurance first.

 

I cannot see a phone line causing the fire on its own. Was there lightning in the area at the time?

 

I wouldn't start it, i'd tow it. Many house fires are started from soot build up catching fire. I wouldn't risk it catching on fire while driving, if there's as much build up as you were talking about anyways.

 

If there is any soot inside the car, that will be harder to get clean. It gets everywhere. You'd have to upll off interior panels to get it all out. If most of your soot issues are just outside the car, just hose it off in the driveway. Check your air filter before starting it but there shouldn't be anything past it. That's what it's there for.