Injector seals - nearly lost the whole car....

[chrisg]

Hi, had a real squeaky bum moment last week - had put the car back together after changing the clutch - left the very last job of fitting the fuel rail and assorted turbo pipes for ~ 4 weeks.

Anyhow, put it all back together - running fine, apart from a loose boost pipe -turbo to IC - all sorted with a tweak on the mikelor clamp. Got in the car to fetch teenage son, smell of petrol ( recently brimmed it so wasn't too fussed) - drove up the road for ~ 1.5miles - slowed down, smoke from under the bonnet then flames on popping the bonnet !!!

Had my handheld extinguisher - used it all - still some flames, panic... dumped half a kilo of kitty litter (kept for absorbing moisture in the winter) on same flames - most went out but then popped up again (all around the front on the fuel rail and no. 1 cylinder - fortunately passerby had some water -eventually put it out and aided by the Mrs we towed it home with the X5.

Took numerous hours of cleaning (extinguisher powder is very acidic) and removal of kitty litter - pleased and very relieved to say damage was actually quite minor - guilty party = no. 1 cylinder injector seal (to the fuel rail) -chunk fell out on removing it.

New parts:

1. 4 x injector seals
2. Ignition lead set
3. Dizzy cap
4. Fuel rail plastic cover

After much cleaning, hoovering and pressure washing - all back together and running. Some electric issues with the dash - oil pressure bouncing all over the place and warning light on, oil level sender on and brake fluid level.

As the wiring for these (well not brake fluid) got rather crispy I'll have to replace the wiring from bottom of the, front of the engine and under the inlet manifold - appropriate coloured wires and heat shrouding ordere from E-bay.

So, lessons learnt:

1. Change the injector seals at least once every 10yrs and lubcricate appropriatey before pushing into fuel rail
2. ALWAYS carry a working fire extinguisher (foam type) - will save you car in the event of a minor fire.

Chris

 

[Dan944t]

wow Chris , so glad you wernt hert and you saved the car ! good job you had the extinguisher,…i must buy one myself and fit it on back pannel of rear seats.

i once had a fuel rail fire myself when i was 18 in my 944 lux,…that was same ,…but i didn’t have an extinguisher just took my top and joggers off and slapped the crap out of it to put it out ! i had a crack in my rail

glad you got away with it mate well done ????

Daniel

 

[blade7]

A while back I was slowing down coming into Grafham village in my turbo, some of those community speed do gooders jumped out from behind the hedge on your close Chris. I think the pops and bangs as I changed down gave them a fit. Hope that wasn't you [].

 

[Eldavo]

I have a handheld powder extinguisher in the car but they are pretty ineffective. I’ve just taken delivery of two 25 second Fire Safety Sticks After reading up on them after seeing them mentioned on here before.


Got them from here:

https://www.clubmanmotorsport.com/product-page/fire-safety-stick

After the guy setup a 15% off discount for members of a group I’m in. "I’ve setup discount code TrackTime-15 on my website- that’ll be easier!”

 

[Diver944]

Wow, glad to hear you had a lucky escape Chris! With an in car extinguisher, I think you have to catch it very quickly, when it is still very small. Mine was well ablaze and the Fire Brigade said they had to put 1800 litres on it to put it out [&o]

 

[Will944r]

It might be worth checking your fuel pressure? one of the failures of the regulator is that it sticks closed and increases your rail pressure untill it finds the weakest link.