F430's up in flames!!!

Has anyone else out there seen the recent photos on Wrecked Exotics.Com of the F430's going up in smoke? Today on the way home from my office, I stopped at a light, passenger window down...and got a whiff of raw gasoline...I pulled into a parking lot, extinguisher in hand...shut off the engine,jumped out..looking for flames (none, thank GOD!) in the engine compartment! I waited a bit before I opened the hatch and could not find ANY obvious leak...not even any moisture! I continued home without any further smells or problems, parked in the driveway until the engine was stone cold, then put it in the detached RV garage. Now what???

 

Get something to eat and relax

 

You may have caught a whiff of gas somewhere on the road or something?

 

Its covered by warranty. Keep hotdogs and marshmellows handy and keep driving it.

 

I heard it has something to do with something causing the cat to glow red hot, and as a result, it touches the bumper and heats it to the point of fire. Proper maintenence and care will all but eliminate this possibility from what I hear. Don't worry about it though.

 

Your local West Marine store carries an inexpensive (~~ $150), but extremely useful gasoline vapor detector. All serious powerboaters install these devices, as burning up at sea is undesirable:
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/categoryg/10001/-1/10001/13002/12411/8/man/asc/0/grid

People spend more money on stereos and CD's than on fire detection/prevention (e.g. an automatic fire extinguisher for your engine cockpit).

Go figure.
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Thats whats causing the gas smell?


New one on me.

 

LOL, "It's" covered by warranty? what exactly is.. "it"? (fuel system error?)

 

That big part between the license plates.

 

lmao

 

No Doubt (I wish I knew your name rather than your screen name), you have shown boating fire suppression equipment before too.

The two (cars versus boats) do not carry the same risks. If a boat catches fire, abandoning the boat carries it's own inherent risks, since you are on a body of water (you could drown), and help is either an hour or more away, if at all (basically, you are "on your own"). With a car, a fire truck can typically reach you in minutes. And short of a very major crash, you can usually just exit the vehicle. So the risk in a car fire is typically, the loss of a car, the risk with a boat fire is imminent death. That is why boats are required to carry life jackets, rocket flares and fire extinguishers.

So, do you really have a gas detection system on any of your cars? Have you heard of ANYONE with one?

I am not saying that safety is not important...I inspect and maintain my cars to a very high degree, and use quality repair shops to supplament my work. I DO carry a fire extinguisher in my cars, and check my tire pressures every couple weeks or so....but some of this is plain ridiculous, and unnecessary. Sure, car fires can and do happen, but in the grand "universe" of possibilities, it is very unlikely. A fire, combined with your being unable to exit the vehicle, is even less likely.

I guess we all have our own personal, "comfort level" of relative safety, but I would be inclined to suspect that yours is much different than the average person, and your many pronouncements are not going to change us.

 

The probability of getting in an accident and involving another car from underinflated tires is higher. We could make our roads and cars safer if we just check our tires from time to time.

 

Brian--your on the money with that one!!!

 

If I had one at all, I wouldn't be driving a 1500 lb plastic car where the passengers protect the frame in a side collision.

I eat bacon too!

Ken

 

Ken your killing me over here.....LOL

Mike

 

A Europa really only weighs 1500 pounds?

 

Yup. The S2's are a little lighter than my Twin Cam. One of our racers autocrosses his S2 and has taken out all non essential things like window motors, carpet, etc. and his weighs about 1300 pounds. He gets (we think) about 125 HP with his engine tweaks (Renault engine) so the HP/Weight ratio is amazing for such a cheap car!

Ken

 

How does melting plastic cause a gas smell ??

 

I will take the problem off your hands for $150k