I needed Marshmellows last night.................

[KpMrJ]

Well had a bit of an incident on the way home from work last night. Casually driving home, the ol' mondeo ( mk1 estate + a few tweeks ! ) starts to splutter, so I'm 10 mile from home and think " ok I'll keep going and limp it home ". Get some 2 miles from home and " crikey thats a strong smell of fuel ". Anyway pull over in a laybay, walk down the road to confirm the junction I'm at for the RAC to recover me and BOOM up she goes, and 30 minutes later after the fire brigade has been and gone I'm left with this....................................





So its on to the insurer this morning, I'm just so glad I didn't have the kids with me !

[tonycocacola]

sh*t man.thats bad crack.luckily your safe though.

the steering column on my old b series manta caught fire while i was driving!i managed to pull over and douse the flames with a bottle of irn bru. ;D
i must say cars on fire are scary things.

[BenzBoy]

Jeez! At least no-one was hurt - that's the main thing isn't it?
I'm impressed that you had the thought to take photos with all that going on!! ;D

[hairnet]

thats nuts

glad ure ok

[Ministrone]

Ooooooo!! Lucky escape

might be good time to buy a lottery ticket

[Revolution 9]

F*cking hell, still at least you were alright!

[ImpJimbo]

Sorry to here that mate thats scary stuff.

Yeah lucky you didnt have the kids with you. I suppose you would have left them in the car while you contacted the RAC

[Adam]

My dad had a dark greeny blue Mk1 mondeo estate GLX as a company car. The head gasket went and water and oil went everywhere. Got a new engine.

I think yours may be a bit more complicated.

Adam

[Pillock]

my other half has a mondeo mk1.... might go check fuel lines later!

do they know what caused it (other than hot petrol, obviously!!)

[KpMrJ]

Pillock,

Fire chief who attended, advised most likely a split or pin-holed fuel line. He asked if I'd worked on the engine recently ( which I haven't ) for his report for the insurer etc.

He did say though this was the 8th time this week so far, that this crew had been out to vehicles caught blaze while driving, all from the same sort of era ( spooky )

I know for sure I'm going down the diesel route again, and will be paying a LOT of attention to the wifes 93 plate Escort Auto.

And thanks all for the concern, I'm just glad I was far enough away to not get hurt etc. Once the insurer has paid out I'll be hunting down a B3e Passat Estate diesel.

J

[Pillock]

i never really thought about it but can diesel not catch fire in the same way? i know diesel engines use a mixture of glow-plugs and compression for combustion, but if you pour diesel on a red-hot exhaust manifold or turbocharger, will it not catch fire?

and what shape is a B3e passat? if it's the 'jellymould' (with the smooth front) then my local trader has one... way overpriced right now at a grand but it's been there 6 weeks and he might take a lot less

[Mr_Bo11ox]

tonycocacola said:

the steering column on my old b series manta caught fire while i was driving!i managed to pull over and douse the flames with a bottle of irn bru.

!!!

How on earth does a steering column catch fire??? Cool.

[Nathan]

well the car can catch fire just not the fuel, well not at the same temp, i am sure its about 500 degree c that the dirty D burns or maybe a less. but My old Escort which was a Dirty D set on fire in the engine bay all the loom and that stupid fire guard (huh fire guard catchin fire humm) basically looked like ur Mondeo did after but not burnt fuel, can happen in any car

[Davenger]

Bloody hell, glad you're ok mate