silverboy

Sad day for a friend who lost his F430 to flames for no apparent reason. He just said he looked at his rear view mirror and saw flames. He said that he learned that it's the 4th or 5th F430 to catch fire without reason. He's hoping that Ferrari will honor their warranty.

I couldn't tell him but this supports my view to stick to PORSCHE!

Correct me if I'm wrong though...are there known cases for newer 911's to experience the same fate?

PN

Glad that he is ok

mdrums

I've seen this picture on a few websites this week. He has no idea what caused this? Glad he got out ok!

DM993tt

seen several 599 pics like this...
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/04/23/f...-up-in-flames/
http://forum.ebaumsworld.com/showthread.php?t=159061

zicoramone

Geeeee. What would the guys on ferrarichat say about this?

YA911Fan

There's an inherent design flaw in the 360/430 -- the fuel cells are located directly above the extremely hot exhaust manifolds. A fuel cell rupture during a collision or just a leaky fuel fitting can be disastrous.

I can't remember the last time I heard of a 911 engine fire -- spontaneous or otherwise...

hammerwerfer

Two men died at Schwedenkreuz a few years ago due to a 360 burning after an off. There was not much left of it by the time the fire was extinguished.

SrfCity

It's the engine's proximity to the hot cats. There's a service bulletin on the oil filter. If that hadn't been done and leaked, the cats could start a fire.

In P-cars the cats are off to the sides and not below the engine as in F-cars. MB use titanium to cool the cats. It costs money to correct but it can be done.

Alan Smithee

It can happen to late-model Porsches, too. I watched a Cayman shoot out a huge plume of flame recently. Appeared to be an oil line bursting onto hot brakes. Surprising to me that nothing ignited.

tdf360

Wow, that's a stretch. Why so defensive? Porsche is a great car, you don't have to concoct silly reasons like this one to remain loyal to the marque. How different do you think the percentages are between Porsche and Ferrari in things like this?

Gary

mooty

hum..... you talking about me?
i had that happen a year ago

amaist

I have seen a Ferrari burst in flames when the hydraulics for the F1 tranny broke and sent fluid into the engine compartment. Was his F430 with F1 transmission?

silverboy

Yes indeed. F1 tranny. Maybe another good reason to stick to a 'stick shift'!

LiveNupe

I saw a Cayman catch fire at the track a couple of months ago. Fortunately, the fire was extinguished before it consumed the car.

996FLT6

Does he smoke? I remember way back when at Sonnen saw a fried up boxster because driver inherently threw a smoke bud out and went into air intake and fire started from there. Mike