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When you spend a year of your life, blood, sweat, tears and dollars restoring your deceased brother’s truck that has been in the family for 20 years, only to watch it go up in flames in minutes. I keep hoping to wake up from a bad dream, but this really just happened.
A few lessons learned:
1. Life is more important than toys. My son was driving it when it happened, and he was able to get out and call 911 before he was hurt in any way.
2. It’s great to have first responders, friends and neighbors there for you when you need a shoulder to lean on (or cry on).
3. Stated value insurance is the way to go. I called my agent this morning to switch from a standard market insurance to a stated value policy.. then this happened 2 hours later. The new policy hadn’t kicked in yet, so absent a miracle, I’ll probably get pennies.
I’m not sure if I have it in me to try to do it all over again. The time, effort, and money that went into this project was all worth it before this happened. Maybe I’ll try again a few years down the road after the sting has worn off and the wounds scar over. For now, say a little prayer for me and my son. We feel like we’ve lost a part of the family.
That's horrible. I always carry a fire extinguisher in my project vehicles. I wouldn't want to think about having to just stand there and watch my vehicle burn up.
That's horrible. I always carry a fire extinguisher in my project vehicles. I wouldn't want to think about having to just stand there and watch my vehicle burn up.
Jess
We do to, but we had been doing some interior work and pulled it out and hadn’t put it back in.
Wow that is two stories like this in just a few days. Sorry to hear it. What do you think was the cause?
Really wish I knew. We had some AC work done yesterday. It had a Freon leak, but the shop said they didn’t touch anything electrical. We had a new wire harness put in about a month ago by a very reputable shop. Carb was rebuilt a while back. The truck ran like perfection. Maybe a fuel line malfunctioned causing fuel to spew and catch fire? No idea. My son said he heard some popping under the hood and hissing when pushing the gas pedal before the smoke.
Sorry for the loss that is terrible, the popping under the hood was most likely misfiring. Was the ignition coil mounted horizontal by chance? The oil filled coils are known to blow and catch fire when horizontal.
Sorry for your loss. 2x on lives vs. possessions. Very thankful your son is okay. I had a 75 F100 with the same color scheme. Give it some time then think through your options.
Good to know on the coil orientation. I'll change mine up tomorrow.
Sorry for your loss. 2x on lives vs. possessions. Very thankful your son is okay. I had a 75 F100 with the same color scheme. Give it some time then think through your options.
Good to know on the coil orientation. I'll change mine up tomorrow.
Oil filled coils exploding is a real thing, I believe there have been 3 or 4 trucks on the forums in the last few years that have caught fire. The oil in the coils has a super low flash point and the oil mist hits the hot engine and normally the primary winding starts to glow red hot ( starts misfiring) and ignites the oil and it goes up in a flash. The MSD coils come up often when you start googling msd coil explosion, the results are not pretty. Some various oil filled coil explosions below.
Sorry for the loss that is terrible, the popping under the hood was most likely misfiring. Was the ignition coil mounted horizontal by chance? The oil filled coils are known to blow and catch fire when horizontal.
Good question. I’ll have to check. We recently had the entire electrical system overhauled. New wiring harness, ignition coil, HEI distributor and alternator.
Good question. I’ll have to check. We recently had the entire electrical system overhauled. New wiring harness, ignition coil, HEI distributor and alternator.
Sorry to see this but good to see people were safe.
If you had an HEI dist. then you did not have a coil filled with oil like pictured as the coil is under the cap and why it is so large.
I know it is hard to think of this right now but the insurance will give nothing, book $$, and take the truck.
So if you think you will repair it down the road buy it back.
Even if you don't repair it you can use it for parts for another project or part it out but once gone it is gone.
Also if it is not in your yard, storage is added each day and this puts it over the top to get it back.
Just for numbers but if it sat at the tow yard for 2 weeks that could add up to $1000 with the tow.
Would you pay that to get the truck back plus buy back from the insurance Co.?
Just something for you and others if they have something like this happen and it needs to be towed.
A lot of times it is best to have it towed home, you pay the tow bill and let it sit till you decided what to do.
Sorry to see this but good to see people were safe.
If you had an HEI dist. then you did not have a coil filled with oil like pictured as the coil is under the cap and why it is so large.
I know it is hard to think of this right now but the insurance will give nothing, book $$, and take the truck.
So if you think you will repair it down the road buy it back.
Even if you don't repair it you can use it for parts for another project or part it out but once gone it is gone.
Also if it is not in your yard, storage is added each day and this puts it over the top to get it back.
Just for numbers but if it sat at the tow yard for 2 weeks that could add up to $1000 with the tow.
Would you pay that to get the truck back plus buy back from the insurance Co.?
Just something for you and others if they have something like this happen and it needs to be towed.
A lot of times it is best to have it towed home, you pay the tow bill and let it sit till you decided what to do.
Again sorry to see this happen.
Dave ----
Thanks, Dave. Sound advice. Luckily, I had it towed to my friend’s shop where it will sit for free until we figure out what to do next.
"Stated value" insurance sounds like the way to go, though keep in mind in a total loss situation the adjustor is going to pay either the stated value or, the actual cash valuewhichever is less; like most things in life you get what you pay for. Make sure you understand exactly what your insurance premium dollars are buying and what is covered, and what is not.
What most people probably want in our hobby is what's called agreed upon value. This requires some documentation, and maybe an independent appraisal, photographs. The advantage here, in the event of a total loss they just cut a check for the limit of the policy. Regular insurance companies don't offer "agreed value" policies, they don't want to mess around with collector cars or policies. Have to go with someone like Grundy or Hagarty.
The popping sound could also have been a belt snapping and whacking a few things like the fuel line. Hard to say.
It almost sounds exactly what happened to the other truck this week... recent electrical and AC work, then a pop under the hood and up in flames. Your descriptions are pretty close. I have to wonder if the two are related.
Here is bulldogcountry's posthttps://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1584710-well-i-had-a-bad-weekend.html
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