My944Turbo

Hey everybody,
Well it seemed like a nice day for a drive, till I got home and got out of my car. The car was left running so that I could open up the garage door and put my nice 87 944 Turbo in its proper place.
So I open the garage and turn around to get back in and there is black smoke...now I've seen white smoke before from when say, coolant hits the hot headers, but black, well I haven't seen it before. Well now I know, it wasn't long until the black smoke was pouring out of the engine bay, so I ran inside and got the little fire extinguisher out of the garage and jumped in the car to open the hood. Lucky for me the hood opened and I proceeded to spray the crap out of the fire, it seemed to be heaviest by the small fuel line on the injector harness. But i'm no fireman.

The one thing I would like to say is that a small fire extinguisher is not going to put out a big engine fire...lucky for me mine looks kind of small, I can only imagine the damage if it would have started a couple of miles from my house.

Alright, i'll see if I can get some pictures develeped and i'll be back in a couple of hours to post them...

Oh, and the answer my topic question, do grown men cry? Well i'm not telling...

Patrick

Bill

My944,

Just out of curiosity, did your car get the upgraded small fuel line that was a factory recall?

Did you smell any fuel prior to the "dreaded black smoke"?

My944Turbo

I don't know if I got the upgraded fuel line. I think I do, either last year or the year before I replaced the two long hoses with some aftermarket stainless steel ones...but I never touched the small one, but I remember seeing someone post a pictures of theirs and it was in very poor shape. I looked at mine after that and hearing about all the engine fires and mine looked good.

When I pulled into the driveway I don't remember smelling any fumes, but when I put it out, I still had the a/c running, so my entire interior is covered in that fire extinguisher stuff...it looks pretty nasty. I do know that I am really thankful as someone pointed out on the email lists, that my car was still outside the garage as opposed to being inside when it caught fire.
Patrick

kellyk

Yes, grown men cry when thier cars burn!

I lost a gorgeous red Alfa Romeo Spider Vignale just after having it fully restored. The detailer had just left and I decided to go for a spin. The wireing loom shorted out the and the car burned alive. I cried all the way to the Porsche dealer where I promply bought a new Turbo 3.6. After that I only cried at movies. <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" /> <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" /> <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />

944Princess

I'm going to cry just listening to these stories. <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />

RAD951

I shedded a couple of tears also when my 86 944 turbo caught fire 2 weeks after putting a completely new head on the car after the timing belt tensioner broke and bent all valves. The fire came from the back of the camshaft assembley cover, appereantly the cover and screws that hold the cover that goes to the rear of the camshaft assembly completely fell off and oil spewed out onto the muffler. Thankfully it happen as I was test driving the car with my new manual boost controller. I started smelling oil buring so I turned around and headed back to the garage, and noticed alot of smoke coming out of the hood. I quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher out of the wall in the garage and put it out. Thankfully no damage, just pissed off.

I almost sold the car because of all of the bad luck I have gone through with that car in the matter of a month. But thats another story. <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />

My944Turbo

If anyone over here doesn't look at the main 944 board, then go over there and look up this thread. Since I am a computer idiot, Mr. Perry put up a couple of photos of my little car, thanks again Brian. Enjoy.
Patrick

oh, and for a couple more, here are direct links to the pictures.
<a href="http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Fuelline.jpg" target="_blank">http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Fuelline.jpg</a>
<a href="http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Camhousing.jpg" target="_blank">http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Camhousing.jpg</a>
<a href="http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Passengerside.jpg" target="_blank">http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Passengerside.jpg</a>
<a href="http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Sideview.jpg" target="_blank">http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Sideview.jpg</a>
<a href="http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Driversside.jpg" target="_blank">http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Driversside.jpg</a>
<a href="http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Byoilfiller.jpg" target="_blank">http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Byoilfiller.jpg</a>
<a href="http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Byoilfiller2.jpg" target="_blank">http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Byoilfiller2.jpg</a>
<a href="http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/After.jpg" target="_blank">http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/After.jpg</a>
<a href="http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Hoodinsulation.jpg" target="_blank">http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/Hoodinsulation.jpg</a>

this one is what the inside of my turbo looks like, what is this yellow
water stuff....it looks like the fire extinguisher stuff mixed with water,
so how bad is that???
<a href="http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/TurboHole.jpg" target="_blank">http://rgeagmach.freewebsites.com/TurboHole.jpg</a>

Nevermind, those don't work...stupid free web hosting...well when I figure it out you'll see more. <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />

Perry 951

Looks like soot and water. Use a shop vac to get as much out as you can. (I'd keep the impeller from spinning while you do this.) Follow up with several doses of carb cleaner. After it is all clean, cap off the inlet and outlet so no nasties get back in there.

I would try and get all the dry chem off ASAP. That stuff is highly corrosive and can play hell with wires and sensors. Be sure to clean the grounds at the rear of the motor with some mild sand paper.