Car Fire in 1993 XLT Bronco 35 BFG 6.5" suspension 2K sound, reworked interior.

The following is the incident as I remember it:

October 11th, 2001, I came to a stoplight and managed to see a nice fireball shoot out from the undercarrige of my baby. Well the four of us got outside ok and even had time to go back to the car and look underneath. It looked like something was cindering beneath the center console. There was also some line coming from the engine compartment that had ripped apart and was now pouring clear liquid onto the ground. Well we backed off, stopped traffic and I could only sit there in shock as the engine compartment went up, and then with a nice pressure explosion, the windows shattered, shooting a perfect o-ring about 50 feet into the sky. The vehicle simply roasted from that point until the fire deiaprtment arrived.

If anyone has any clue as to how this happened please let me know. I have posted pics at www.clarkson.edu/~kennerrs. There was no investiagtion because I did not have comprehensive insurance and was not going to spend anymore money on a totalled vehicle. I lost around 17k in this incident and really hope to find out why.

Anyway, Here are the pics and thanks for your help.

once more

www.clarkson.edu/~kennerrs

thanks

Ryan Kenner

 

I'm not sure why it happened to yours, but I had an '84 Camaro Z28 go up in flames on me...apparently a fuel line began to leak directly onto one of my headers. The fuel ignited, and the rest is history. The car was completely roasted. I didn't have comprehensive either, and my paint job was only a month old! It is a hard way to learn that comprehensive insurance is always a good idea.

 

image 0293 looks like you had one hell of a leak on the under side.

were you leaking fluids?

 

I do not know if i was leaking fluids. I had only had the truck for 5 months. had put 10k miles on it in that time. I knew i would need a new transmission within the next week. Other than that line i mentioned, the one pouring clear fluid (gas??) onto the pavement below the car.........I have no idea if anything else was leaking.

By the way, why the hell is it snowing outside!!!!!!!????


ryan

 

Ryan,
Glad you and friend got out ok and didn't get hurt!

Read this set of postings from the other good BB MB:
http://forum.mybigbronco.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?s=3cc9b02523a9ffff;act=ST;f=13;t=20; hl=fire

synopsis:

"...Just an update: I emailed Ford yesterday, told them exactly what happened and they CALLED me back today, the woman asked me a few questions and gave me an address for my insurance company to file a claim against ford motor company, office of general council, dearborn, MI, when I pressed for answers to how or why this could happen and if it was a known problem with ford trucks she said she couldnt comment but that this address is where my insurance company could file a claim, and told me to have a nice weekend, end of convo! The fact that they called me with this information just blew me away, I didn't expect a response at all really..."
Try, even though you didn't have comp. ins.

........
re: "console"..could it have been the ignition switch?..where the smoke appeared to source @ the console, but was driven down by the air from the dash vents?......
...here (the ignition sw.):
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/auto_recalls_often_late.htm

 

i will email ford tonight and ask them. Unfortunately i don't have any hopes. It's been 7 months snice it went up and i am still bumming about it. I still owe about 7k on the thing. Makes me weary about fords. I love broncos and desperately want another one. But i don't want to go through another hassle. I have a 1996 explorer now that my dad gave me after the incident (I am soo glad) but it just doesn't have the same feel. Not much space, not much offroading capability, plus i really still see it as his. I could never modify it or make it look as beautiful as a bronco.

I am looking to sell the explorer and get another bronco as soon as possible. I have been watching ebay for the past month and just dreaming of what I could do.

If anyone has any more suggestions please let me know.

Also, I am new to this forum and don't really know how it works. any comments would be helpful.

Thanks again............ Will definitely post pics of my new one when i get it........already planned the additions.

Ryan

 

Looks like you had one hell of a transmission leak. That fluid is very flammable. It would be my guess that it got on the fuel line, causing it to melt therefore leaking gas also.

 

Wow thanks, that is the best thing i could have heard. And you get the award for being correct. I was told the transmission was going to have to be replaced within the next week. My appointment was for the next day. Aargh. At least now i know what was wrong with it.

Two lessons learned. ALWAYS get COMPREHENSIVE Insurance and REPLACE TRANSMISSION IMMEDIATELY when it begins to fail.

thank you all for your help.

I will keep an update on my new bronco, (when i get it that is).

Ryan Kenner

 

Another lesson might be to probably have an on-board miniature fire extinguisher. I have one on mine, as well as house, boat, etc. I've always heard even before I bought my Bronco that older Ford trucks (non modulars) have a tendency to catch on fire.

Sorry to hear about your Bronco. I hope that Ford takes partial, if not all, responsibility for this sort of incident. Vehicles shouldn't just catch on fire like that.

 

for christmas, my parents gift wrapped a fire extinguisher and sent it to me along with a card showing a 1970's bronco in a tree.

I guess they assume that is the next thing i will do. I keep the extinguisher in the explorer now, but hopefully I will have a new bronco soon enough.

 

I have personally witnessed over 3 car fires, one that I was able to put out with a fire extinguisher in my work vehicle. So even though people give me a hard time about it, there is a good sized extinguisher mounted right under the ashtray in the middle of the dash.