Truck fire! Possible engine damage?
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Joined: Aug 2003
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From: Who cares?
Truck fire! Possible engine damage?
My truck caught fire apparently from a cracked fuel line going to the carb. The damage appears to be concentrated on the distributor. There are a couple of photos in my gallerie. There not very good and one didn't upload right. But I wonder if the engine would be damaged internally. It doesn't seem like it since the paint is still good all around. What about the intake manifold? Sure the distributo is a total loss, all of the vacuum lines, the AC lines (the ac compressor?) several plastic items. Seem like I can junk yard it back together. Any thoughts?
Posting Guru
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,388
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From: SE Texas
S0 sorry to hear that, dude!!! I think it should be O.K. internally. I have seen two car motors catch fire from the fuel line or filter breaking. Even though alot of the hoses melted, nothing was damaged inside the motor.
Elder User
Joined: Nov 2004
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The worst thing that could be wrong internaly is that you may have a slightly burned intake gasket, valve cover gasket or timing cover gasket. But should not be a big deal, they might leak a little but I doubt it. As for anything else, you might have to make a oil change a little sooner than planned but it is not a big deal. when ever there is a fire near the valve covers, or somewhere close to it, I would plan on dooing a oil change a litle early. If the fire was real bad (completely melted the distributer) then you might want to do the oil change as soon as possible.
Senior User
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 480
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From: Elyria, Ohio
Have spent last 10 weeks restoring front end on a 1981 F250 4x4 after fuel filter induced engine fire. Fire put out by fire dept. Water in oil pan and in cylinders 3 & 4. Anything plastic, rubber, wiring or pot metal was melted. Carb and Dist destroyed. Engine totally rebuilt and body panels replaced. It is a running truck now and ready for paint at body shop in 2 weeks. Dry chemical powder in cab and ductwork was a real mess causer. I replaced filters after engine breakin. The new fuel filter, a Deutsch from AZ, leaked at the crimped housing and all over the manifold. I caught it in time and put old filter back on for now. Started having nightmares as to the way it was after fire. I now have no rubber hose connections on my gasline from fuel pump to carb. Threadin filter and steel gasline. Any hoses are under truck and if break will leak on ground not on hot engine.
Junior User
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 97
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From: Near St.Paul
Other than heat or water damage, the worst thing to happen is for the powder from a fire extinguisher to get sucked into the engine through the air cleaner or some other port or vacuum line. This happened to my first 79 Mustang Indy Pace car with 302. Powder from dry type fire extinguishers is much like volcanic ash. Its really fine and goes through regular air filters. It gets into the engine and slowly destroys it, scoring every surface it gets on and making the engines lifters stick. I'm pretty sure that cotton air filters will block out volcanic dust and fire extinguisher powder. You don't even want to hear the story of being dragged through the mud with my insurance company at that time. I will never go back to American Family.
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