car on fire... any ideas?

Sounds like a classic single-bank ignition failure. Loss of power because of no ignition on one side, raw gas flows into the cat converter, and ignites.

I'm glad you are safe, and you didn't lose your car.

 

That's just a guess. I would strongly recommend you take it to a mechanic for an inspection.

 

Whew, that was close!!! Maybe you should add an extinguisher on your next shopping list!? I think you should.

 

Jeeeeeeeeeez............. pleeeeeeeeeez................ buy TWO (larger than you really want) fire extinguishers immediately and keep them in different locations in the car. You got a get out of jail card/warning this time that many people do not get.

If it had been a broken fuel line/injector fuel line I think your car would have been toast. As was previously mentioned, sounds like a cat. overheated. Might have lit up some oil/grease, insulation material etc.

Erich
PS. get a BIG extinguisher for the garage too.

 

I'd guess ignition, probably a whole bank as suggested so look at rotors, coil, etc. Raw fuel in the cat causing the fire on one side only. I'd doubt fuel lines or injectors given your description. You're lucky, get the fire extinguishers for sure. I had a rotor problem with cat glowing, no fire but close. Get someone to look at ignition first, fuel injection next. Good luck.

Jeff

 

Slight posibility it could be oil coming out the exhuast for some reason or oil dripping on the exhaust but I'm leaning towards the single bank failure. Especially if the car ran bad right before you stopped. If it was an oil fire I would expect a lot of smoke

 

Also have the cats inspected. If it was an ignition failure or over rich condition, flames out the exhaust require significant heat, they probably began to melt. Good opportunity to put some test pipes on the car, doubles as a safety factor keeping temps down. Agree with above, have it sorted thoroughly by a qualified mechanic.

 

By the way, if you have not changed the fuel lines, they probably need to be changed. Every single 3x8/Mondial I've seen come in for major service have had at least one fuel line that was split. This is usually the source of fire, but in your case I agree with the others. It would be a shame, though, to go through all of the fixes for your current problem, only to have another fire down the road.

 

Shoudn't the "Slow Down Light" come on also under those circumstances? Might want to check those lights too. My euro dosen't have those so I can't speak from experience.

 

YES....if the Thermocouple circuit was operational.

 

Yes, on my 82 Mondial. While I don't recall exactly what they did to fix it (one of the banks went out, as Tillman notes), it was no big deal to repair, didn't even need to replace any of the exhaust system.

 

Dont use evian, perrier works best for CAT fires!!

 

Its acceptible but the factory insists on perrier.

 

Please let us know what the shop says. I had a close call the other day. I over-filled the 328 because the pump didn't shut off. Car was very, very hot from a spirited drive. I pushed it off to the side, walked home and got a siphon hose and sucked out excess fuel. Still nervous, waited till car cooled down, then Idled home with my fire ext. in my lap just in case.

 

I put a fire supression system in my '77 GTB for this type of thing. Pull the pin, pull the handle and the supression juice is flowing into the engine compartment much quicker than you can reach for the extinguisher, let alone go through the motions of putting the juice on the flame. It cost me about $600 bucks and gives me great piece of mind.

The bottle is in the left hand side of the trunk just behing the wheel well. There's two nozzles for the engine compartment. The trigger pins are at the drivers left shoulder. He can pull them as he gets out of the car.

Bob Wassam

 

Doesn’t sound right to me that the entire bank shut off having un burnt fuel going through the cats, wouldn’t the color of the pipes be black and not that tan as the picture shows?
Sounds more like lean mix due to leakage or something like that.
Bad performance due to burnt and partial clogged cat perhaps?
Bad flow through cat gives lower flow through engine and less fuel due to lower airflow through the disc at the fuel distributor, which gives hotter combustion and makes the cat hotter…
My guess is the cat started it all.
I’m happy you are ok and you managed to save the car that well.
Keep us posted.

 

Great!
Not to big job to restore the car than. Polish and straight pipes and you’re done.

And don’t forget to install one of those red bottles in the car now.