Donald Smith

Hey guys and gals. Well, a few weeks ago, after replacing some vacuum hoses under the manifold, I had a car fire. I had pushed my car, out of the garage, started it, started right up, got out, to check the motor, with the hood up, then Boom! Some burned hairs, eyebrows, but that's it. Three extinguishers could not put out the fire, with 20 ft. flames. The fire dept. was called, they put it out.
So, now my predictament. My insurance wants to settle at $15,000. But, I can have a buy-back at $3000. My interior is very nice, no wear on the seats(black), all the door panels are great, rear interior panels, head liner, hatchback locks work, hatch back is perfect, as are the doors, rear fenders, gas tank, fuel pump, and the kicker... I just replaced my auto tranny with a rebuilt for $3 K. The motor, I believe, is O.K. The fire burned the front passenger fender, and all the rubber around it, but the motor looks good, with plastic burned bits, all over it. It has a new belt, Porken tensioner, new water pump, and compression between 192 to 200 all around. The car has no rust, as it never saw winter, and all the glass and plastics are great.
So, now the big question. Should I part it out, or let it go. Shipping parts to the States is a big hassle, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do" Hopefully some Canadians need a great body
Cheers
Don

Donald Smith

Another photo

85euro928

Wow looks bad even from this angle. Sorry for your loss but glad you're alright. It could have been much worse.

Donald Smith

Yeah, I'm fine, and you are so right. What really added to the fire, were the fender covers, that were draped over the fenders. They burned profusely.

Dave928S

Oh no ... that's nasty! Sorry to hear.

Here are the pics the right way up ...

Mrmerlin

Wow thats a total Bummer, I hope things work out for you,
glad you didnt burn down the house or garage

johnu

That sucks! Glad you started it OUTSIDE!
Don't want to sound like a vulture circling the corpse but If you do plan on parting it out I would be interested in some interior bits...shipped within Canada

Donald Smith

I'll be making a decision in the next few days. There are just too many good parts. All the maintenance was done to this car, motor, instrument pod with odo gear, tranny, TB, WP, Tensioner, door window motors, hatch back lock, etc.....Lots of hours. Oh well....

Donald Smith

Sorry for the upside down photos. They show fine on my Ipad, but are wrong on my computer??

johnu

I feel for you. After I did my intake refresh I was really nervous on that first start!

docmirror

It would help maybe a little if you could investigate the root cause? I'm guessing, and once again purely guessing that you had a pressure line or seal in the fuel delivery give out to produce so much fire. The injector clips seem to be a common complaint.

Hope it works out for you. $15k for a well serviced S4 seems a bit on the low side from an insurance adjuster(and I'm notoriously cheap).

FredR

Donald,

So sad to see another one get crispy fried. I am always a bit edgy when it comes comes to start up after a fuel rail off job. My precuations include ensuring the car is out in open air, the bonnet is open, I have hose pipe with water flowing held by a friend keping an eye on things and as soon as the car fires up I ran over and inspect everything closely.

I learnt my lesson the hard way[ but most fortuitously] when I did a fuel rail job in the middle of our summer heat one evening many years ago. I was shattered and probably not entirely focussed and was cranking the car with the bonnet up. The motor was not firing and I sensed something wrong so stopped proceedings - I had forgotten to screw the fuel rail cap back on would you believe and fuel was everywhere- just could not see what wa shappening because of the hood being up. It scared the smelly stuff out of me and hence the measures just in case I ever have another brain fart moment.

These things happen to many of us so do not feel bad about it. If you can get 15k Canuckbucks in your pocket maybe it is better to call it a day and use that wadge towards replacing your dearly departed with whatever takes your pleasure.

Either way sincere commiserations.

Rgds

Fred

Adamant1971

Did you have a 19a policy with agreed value? I'm assuming not, in which case you should fight for more. You can not find a clean serviced S4 for 15k.

Sorry for your loss.

Donald Smith

Thanks for the kind words, gents.

vanster

I think I have PTSD every time I read something like this. I know the feeling and worse is the smell.
Depending on what you want to do. You might consider buying a parts car and taking the money and do it yourself, (the smell does go away ). I would image the engine is Ok. but once you start tossing all the burnt parts in the trash you will see what you are up against. It's a messy job but I think it's worth it.