pilotmcc

2012 Carrera Cabrio, purchased end of Jan. broken in carefully with oil change at 2100 miles. PDK, PSE, SportChrono, many other extras. Very nice rig. Now 3100 miles. Having a pleasant Easter top-down drive on one of the first nice PNW days. Cruising along on country roads, stereo on. A bit of holiday traffic, but very relaxing, actually getting pleasantly sunburned! Thought I smelled something but as I was driving at 32 mph through a light residential area, figured someone may have been burning something. Felt a little shudder and then began to lose power. Suddenly dash lit up all lights on with total engine shut-dn. coasted to wide spot, saw smoke. Raised rear deck and flames were coming from center intake boot. Called 911. Ran to nearby house, no one home. Flames higher, neighbor running with fire extinguisher and garden hose. Ran water stream down into engine box for about 5 min. Fire burned for about 6-7 minutes. Lots of charred plastic with rear of car melted slightly. Not much damage forward of firewall, besides smoke. No idea of cause. Now in hands of dealer, PCNA and insurance.

Anybody know what I can expect? Timing or decisions? Really depressed... Loved that car.

John's 991

Oh that's terrible! This the first time I have heard of one burning. Please let us know what happened and hope everything works out for you!

Nicoli35

yikes!

Glad you are okay. That's pretty crazy. Tell 'em you want a turbo loaner!

oldman40

pilotmcc,

first of all, and most importantly, thankfully you were unharmed.

second of all, wtf?!? all owners of 991s will anxiously await the findings....esp me, since i own basically the same car. please let us know what turns up. i am certain that pcna will be all over this.

trysixty

for what you experienced they should replace your vehicle with a turbo!!

hang in there, i can imagine how depressing this must be.

do we need small fire extingishers in our cars??

LonnieR

The scenario you voiced sounded more like what can easily happen with a Ferrari. Sounds like an oil leak that was close to a hot part that went up. Otherwise, faulty catalytic converter. I had that happen to me in a Testarossa years ago. Glad you're ok and sorry for your loss.

sfo

PCNA will want to thoroughly investigate to see if a recall is needed ..

meanwhile, they need to give you at least an equivalent replacement

DrJay

Wow...

neanicu

Yeah...really...WOW!
This is something you don't hear often about a 911...
Sorry to hear about your experience,hopefully they'll get you back on track ASAP and you can share with us the findings...

cmb13

That's really awful. Thank goodness you're okay!

pilotmcc

Yes, Thanks, I'm OK. Moping around, bummed, but physically fine. I didn't get freaked out until afterwards as during the incident your mind is totally occupied with minimizing the damage. I've had fire training through my profession and class A, B, C was swirling through my mind but the only thing I could think of was, "cool it down". If the garden hose had been 5 feet shorter, she would have burned to the axels. Now I'm twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the phone to ring.

MAHack

That's awful. I'm glad nobody was hurt and I hope you keep us posted at to the findings of the investigation.

Any pics of the carnage? I haven't seen a 911 engine fire for a long time.

GSIRM3

Bad news. Sorry to hear about that. I am not positive, but wasn't there a service campaign on the 2012 991s concerning a fuel line that could cause a fire? Seems like the OP would have had that fixed by now, so that is probably not the issue, even if there was a related service campaign.

pilotmcc

Yes, there was a bulletin issued regarding fuel line issues on early 991s. This car complied with all SBs and suggested upgrades. I dunno. I understand that PCNA is sending an investigator and he/she and the insurance rep will be performing a forensic study and scratching their heads over the whole thing. We'll see. I'll keep updating.

ArashApollo

Man PCNA really needs to find the problem! I don't want porsche to have the same rep of a Ferrari with engine fires.