Almost lost my RX8 to a fire weekend before last. It was the craziest thing and now after the fact I consider myself extremely lucky to have had a good pair of fire extinguishers with me. The car would have easily been a total loss rather than a nuisance repair.

I was doing Cobb AP tuning at an older site, making a few logged runs and then making tuning map changes, etc. I was sitting in the truck altering the map on my laptop when I happened to glance over and see some flames and smoke coming out from under the car just in front of the left rear wheel on my RX8. Apparently there was some grass growing up through the pavement that had caught on fire. Thought it was just the small section of grass on fire underneath and went to push the car from being over it by opening the driver door and heaving ho ....

Just as I started pushing, a plume of flames shot 3 feet out from under the rocker panel. I can now smell plastic burning and at the instantaneous moment of everything slowing down to a "this is the end" kind of sequence thought the fuel tank was on fire and the car was as good as gone. Instead of panicking I immediately ran and yanked the fire extinguishers out from the back of my truck. Several good squirts underneath the rocker panel put the flames out.

As it turns out, the grass fire in turn had caught the rubber insulation on the brake and fuel lines running between the chassis and front of the LH fuel tank section on fire. These were burning and melting underneath the chassis where I couldn't readily see them.



Apparently the heat from this fire made it's way to the top of the fuel tank which then softened the plastic section of fuel supply hose from the fuel pump discharge, resulting in it rupturing and releasing a spurt of fuel that caused the big plume of flames when I had started trying to push the car away from the grass fire.



Fixing the fuel line turned out to be rather easy. It is approx. 5/16" OD. I went up to the nearest parts store and bought a piece of 5/16" ID fuel line and some hose clamps, cut the burst area out of the plastic line with a pair of scissors, then used the fuel hose & clamps to join the plastic fuel pump line back together.



The car started and ran fine after this, but the brake hydraulics were gone. Loaded up and went home in a frazzle. Subsequently, the heat on the metal rear brake lines must have boiled the fluid. A simple bleed restored the hydraulics. No significant damage otherwise. Mostly smokey soot on the exterior finish that wiped right off, though some didn't come off completely so I'll have to see what a clay bar can do to clean the rest of it up.



Anyway, do yourself a favor. Go buy and keep a fire extinguisher handy. The sobering supporting story is that 3 months earlier I was out at the same site with some friends doing a private test & tune. A family had come out and and was shooting off model rockets. One of the rockets had some kind of misfire, went sideways into the grassy woods next to the site, and started a wildfire. We all ran over there and kept the fire under control with our extinguishers until the local FD showed up and put it out. This particular extinguisher had been given to me as a present by a friend who said "you never know when you might need this". I had carried that thing around for 4 years or so. So a month later I was in Costco where I happened to see a pair of fire extinguishers for sale, and thought "you just never know". Sure enough, if I hadn't made that purchase my RX8 would now be a total burned out loss.


You just never know ...




.

 

Wow, that's pretty scary! Glad to see you got it under control. The bad stuff always has to happen right before Nationals!

 

Yes Sir!
Every rotary owner should carry a fire extinguisher!


Glad it wasn't a total loss for you.
I've ran on tons of car fires once they get going its all over.
Only takes a minute or two and its fully engulfed.

.

 

Makes me want to install a fire extinguisher... It's a good thing you had one. Talk about lucky...

 

Scary man, I'm glad you were prepared. I really need to get one in my car.

 

Very lucky indeed, glad to see it didn't do any more damage. Is the LR tire okay? I know hot air rises but it seems like a lot of heat would have been pretty close to the 1 tire..

 

Team must have been a boyscout.
Be Prepared.

glad to hear the car was saved, would be a shame to lose the car that way.

recommendation on fire extinguisher? I'm sure others are curious.

 

all i know about them is that you should probably get one for automotive use..

others can damage the car..

or maybe that isnt even true..

 

My RX-8 has a hand held fire extinguisher AND a complete fire system. I've had my RX-7 catch on fire but not my RX-8... yet...

Good stuff to have. Glad you were on it TeamRX8!

As far as types of fire extinguishers... the typical dry chemical types work great BUT they are corrosive so you need to wash it down with water and get it nice and clean right away. I keep a Halon gas extinguisher handy for small fires as it does not have any clean up... however if you have a fire caused by oil/gas/grease etc it might just reignite after you put it out with Halon if the temperatures are still too high. The messy dry chemical extinguisher at least coats surfaces and helps prevent reignition.

 

Here is the 4-1-1 on fire extinguishers from a fire-fighter who when to school on fire. An ABC extinguisher will put out most fires that are not chemical/metal fires or grease/oil fires. Therefore this is the best all purpose fire extinguisher, however it make a very big mess when used so be prepared to do a-lot of cleaning if used inside of the car. A compressed water or compressed CO2 can would work for most non-petroleum based fires and there is much less clean up. As for sizing not less than 2.5lb preferably around 4-5lb within arms reach of the driver's seat. However time is the biggest factor when it comes to fire, it may only be a matter of seconds from being savable to a total loss situation so being able to get to the extinguisher and knowing how to use it are most important. Don't forget that they do expire and should be checked often to make sure they will work should the need arise. I have one mounted to the center console thing between the back seats so even if I panic I can rip the whole thing out and still use the extinguisher.

 

wow that's pretty exciting! you're lucky the car's basically fine

 

I wanted to add some input to this before someone gets killed trying to put out a fire inside of their car.

ABC extinguishers create a larger mess than their CO2 or HALON counterparts... That much is absolutely true. They work to put out the fire by stopping the chemical reaction which is taking place to sustain it by separating the fuel (carpet, gas, etc,) from the oxidant (O2 in the air is about 20.8% around here)

Gas extinguishers work by depleting the oxygen around the fire, and by cooling due to the negative heat compression factor (pretty cool)

BUT, the fire is already depleting the Oxygen inside of your car just by being there. The depletion which will take place if you pull that extinguisher out will be much more dramatic than a small fire, and the two will work together to deplete the oxygen you can count on breathing. Remember, I said the normal figure for Oxygen is about 21% of what is in the air. If you replace "air" with a mix of nitrogen gas, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, more carbon dioxide/halon from your gas extinguisher, you could find yourself incapacitated fairly quickly. The MINUMUM amount of oxygen you need just to stay conscious is about 16% saturation in air. Below that, you have a VERY high probability of passing out, and not being able to wake up to get out of your car or fight the fire. My point is, if you insist on using one of these extinguishers... get out of your car, first.

Honestly: If your interior caught fire, You would likely want to replace the burned/charred parts anyway, so who gives a damn about a little cleanup from a chemical extinguisher?


Team: I'm glad your car is only lightly damaged. Sorry to jack your thread.

 

Thanks for the advise Team. Grass fire is something we all have to be mindful of as our cat and exhausts are very hot. I have seen singed lawns from parking my car after a spirited drive.

So if you pull up on the side of the road on dry grass this scenario can quite easily be repeated, so we need to be careful

 

At the end of the race, there's the cool down lap. Many use it as one more hot lap to get back to the pits as quickly as possible. I usually slowed down and tried to not use the brakes, just so they could cool.

I don't think you have to worry about Halon or CO2 in a car interior, reducing your breathable air. If there is a fire, the first thing your going to do is escape. Then, put the fire out. Besides all the organizations, I've raced with, require the front windows to be open.

Mark, I'm glad to hear you came out relatively unscathed.

 

Kidde Auto Fire Extinguisher: Automotive : Walmart.com

15.00 can save you some heartache.

I've been meaning to get one after seeing this I'm getting one now.

 

I didn't know about the windows down rule; I've never raced before. I was thinking of cubic footage of non-breathable gas vs. a basic dilution equation. Could get hairy with the windows up!

 

Darn! Just seeing this. Glad you're ok Team... I'm actually working on installing a fire extinguisher in my RX8 with a quick-release bracket "just in case".

 

Plus you wouldn't want to get protested at Nationals!

Glad there was no serious damage.

 

Wow! I'm so glad you saved your car.

 

Not only that but fires consume O2 at a rapid pace anyway. I'd rather just suffocate than suffocate AND burn.

 

I appreciate the offer for a replacement fuel line, which I fully intend to do, but it will have to wait until after Nationals when I have the time for what it will require. Not really a protest worthy item, but feel free to take a swing ...

 

damn Team! lucky you !

I have been telling my friends that for couple of years, for around 20-30 bux a pair at local Costco/BJs. seriously it's a cheap insurance, it might/might not save you at the end, but at least better than nothing!

 

I'm glad you're ok Team, fires are friggin scary!

That fire extinguisher is completely useless (too small) and dangerous unfortunately. It may be good for a garage but surely isn't safe in a car.
You ideally want a fire extinguisher that has no plastic\nylon parts which may melt or break during and\or fire.
Fire extinguishers can become projectiles and pressure applied nylon covers aren't the way to go in that case

I have a small (therefore useless...) 2.5lbs fire extinguisher with fia compliant tethers in a carpet-less car but i'm 99.9% i'djust run away since i'm a chicken heart

 

^^^That's not "chicken," that's smart. Rule 1: if the car is on fire, GTFO.

If the car I'm in is on fire, I am getting the hell out and not messing with working a fire extinguisher. You had better be long gone by the time plastic parts on the extinguisher melt.

Glad you and the car are OK, Mark.

 

So glad it wasn't much worse. Great reminder that I need to rechargel/replace the fire extinguisher I have.

I lost the first car I ever bought (76 mustang II) in 1982, to an engine fire. Wish I had a fire extinguisher then.