308 exploding at a gas station.

Any video or pics--That sux hope he's alright.

 

This doesn't surprise me. Ferraris, at least the mid-engine ones, are fire tragedies waiting to happen. Just plain stupid engineering, imho. Nothing a few lawsuits can't fix.

 

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65421

 

That's a pretty asinine comment.

 

And you can explain what the defect is?

 

Yes I too would like to find out what the explanation is. Assuming engine was shut down during the fillup, what could have triggered the explosive fire ?

 

Well the most important thing....hes Ok.

Too bad about the Ferrari though, looks like its a goner.

 

Caught it on the news a few moments ago...

Derrick Walker

'77 308

Fire totalled car.

To summarize his statement: Flames initially surrounded him; running backwards, he got out quickly & is none the worse for wear - he fully expected he must be on fire but was not.

News Commentator indicated one should touch metal before pumping gas, so as to discharge any static electricity.

Incidentally, the Gas station owner - whom the 34-year-old Derrick said "must be a tough old guy," pulled nozzle out of car, extinguished fire himself.

 

That's horrible, he wasn't doing anything either to increase the possibility either.

I'm speculating the float in the fuel tank for the fuel guage. He's pumping gas, the level rises, the float goes up... *spark*

 

Doesn't every car on the road operate on the same principle?
The environment in a gas tank is too rich for ignition to take place, not enough Oxygen. This is a 28 year old car that was described in the other thread as being under restoration (apparently paint before mechanical). Probably an old fuel line leaking somewhere, MY filler neck hose was leaking when I fueled up... I had gas running down the side of the tank and dripping on the ground!
I replaced mine, but they made me buy an entire 3 foot stick, so I've got the excess available for 308 GTB/S (~4" length) for $10 shipped, PM me.

You don't want to pump gas at 12 gallons / minute into YOUR Ferrari through this do you?
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Good Morning America on ABC this morning. Given the dramatic video, I'm sure it will be replayed on several news channels like CNN thruout the day.

Cellphones have been linked to some car fires at gas stations, but in this case, it's probably leaky fuel lines at fault.

KevFla

 

Glad you're here. Thanks for the nice comments.

 

It didn't stop him from getting a 360 according to his profile...

 

Errrrr...including your 360, right?

 

This has happened more than a few times!

A 308, the newest model is 20 years old, while the oldest is 30 years old.

ALL of the fuel lines, including the fuel filler hose, Should Be Replaced!!!!!

The picture above is the average look of a fuel filler hose from one of these cars.
The hose in my 77 was much worse!

Many will buy an old Ferrari with few miles on the odometer that looks fantastic, but don't realize that the rubber components like the suspension bushings and all the hoses deteriorate over time.

If you own an older car, do yourself a favor, change all the hoses.
If you lack the mechanical expertise, take your car to a shop and have them change the hoses.

 

Good advice: think, before writing crap...

 

Don,
what kind of job was it to replace on that hose on your GTS? Do you have to remove/move the drivers side tank?...After seeing that video, I want to change mine this weekend.

Regards,
Paul

 

It does look like a leak. It looked like a cloud of vapor that ignited.

I know on my car, the pump always wants to shut off when I'm pumping. The only way to get gas in it is to pump the nozzel about 1/2 way out and if it has a spring loaded fume seal, I need to pull back on it....or the gas just won't go in. That makes more than normal fumes, and he says in the interview that he always smells the gas.

Now all it would take is for the nozzel to be not contasting the car. A static charge is generated by the fuel moving through the hosea and if there is no conntact between the nozzel and the car......

 

Very good advice, one of the first jobs I tackled on my 85 308.

I kept my notes of all hose sizes and lengths if anyone would like a copy.

You can access most fuel lines by jacking up the rear of the car and remove the fender liners.

The hardest lines were the brake booster vacuum line and the A/C lines.

I removed both tanks because the lines are routed in front of the tanks and up the side of the car to get to the front end.

 

It made national news, they've shown it on MSNBC this morning a few times.

 

1. Nice number of posts 911Fan. Quit while you're ahead at 928.

2. Its jerks like you that have lowered the value of this site.

3. Somebody should send you the video of the 911 cup car in Japan that burst into flames after hitting a 355 Challenge Car. The FRONT MOUNTED fuel tank ruptured after a relatively mild (for race cars) impact. Now THAT'S a nice example of Engineering.

 

Well, yes and no on the cell phones! The reason there's a lot of fires associated with cell phones at gas stations isn't the cell phones but the cell phone usage. Most people who get out of their car at a gas station have a small static electrical charge. Usually they touch something (like closing the car door) and discharge the build up without knowing it. But, for some reason a number of cell phone users don't do this. They get out of their car while still talking on the phone use the pump, slide back in the car, chat away then slide back out still talking on the phone. No discharge has been made of the static electricity, they go to remove the nozzle, fumes are present around it and when they touch the... BOOOM!

If you guys like I can try to look up the study that lead to this conclusion.