430 Spider going up in flames, anybody have experience?

Just $130 buys you an ***AUTOMATIC*** fire extinguisher for your engine bay. I've got mine right over my Ferrari engine/fuel tank.

Special order 'em from West Marine.

Beats having no protection, and those 430's run hot!

 

a friend of mine with a 430 spider had the same problem. the oil, that was burning derived from a leak valve/piston for the convertible-mechanism.seems to be a common issue...

 

Do you know if there is a fix for this from the dealer? Thanks Martin for the heads up on this issue, glad no one was hurt.

 

Different types. Mine holds compressed fire retardent gasses/chems inside a pvc tube. Fire/heat melts the pvc, then the pressurized fire retardent sprays out.

Pretty foolproof.

The sad part is that people will spend money more easily on floor mats than on fire protection.

 

I'm confused (which unfortunately appears to be my normal condition now-a-days). I clicked on your link and up pops an interesting device, which I suppose you somehow attach to someplace in the engine compartment. I also went to the West Marine page that has a number of extinguishers.

Would you be so kind as to simply tell me what I should buy for a 550?

Dale

 

I bought two 11" Fire Foe extinguishers from West Marine by special order, but you probably need the 17" unit. These guys have it: http://www.sea-fire.com/SF/ProductsSeaFire/PreEngineered/FireFoe/PreEngFire-FoeSpec.html

 

Okay, I guess they don't do web sales. But I'm not sure where I'd put this in the 550, under the hood maybe on either side of the injectors?

Also what do you recommend for a hand held?

Dale

 

Not to derail the thread, but the manual for those clearly state that it's not to be used in areas where ambient temps exceed 130 degrees, and that it discharges at a mere 175. Surely in Texas in the summer in an engine compartment is going to exceed those parameters?

 

You need a class BC handheld (about $20 at Target), but an ABCD is preferable if it's in your budget for your handheld in the cockpit.

Basically, any fire extinguisher is better than none. Stepping up from that, any automatic fire extinguisher in the engine bay is better than just a handheld in the driver-cockpit, and a handheld in the cockpit plus an automatic in the engine bay is better still.

Once you've got those minimum bases covered, *then* you can get into which fire extinguisher retardents are better (Halon, et al), but such academic debates are for after you've got some level of fire protection already installed in your car...otherwise you risk analysis by paralysis (i.e. doing nothing and having no fire protection because you're still debating gas versus chem, etc.).

 

Yup. That's what at least one ad says for those units. I mounted mine on my fuel line cooler above my 348 engine. It's seen 101+ F temp Alabama summer days driving in stop and go highway traffic as well on a drift track. It's also seen below freezing driving days. No false discharges.

My thinking when I installed mine was that worst case would be a false discharge from ordinary engine temps setting it off, but that if temps were that high on my fuel cooler lines that I wanted to know about it, anyway.

So now it's been 2 years since it's been installed and the only downside to the unit is that someone always brings up that overly-conservative ad temp "rating" when talking about cheap fire protection (as if everyone is looking for excuses to not have a fire extinguisher in their cars).

 

Yeah, I was thinking bout dat. It gets real hot under the hood of a 550. In fact, hot enuf to blow a radiator hose. Don't ask how I know.

 

Well, I went and bellied up to the bar and brought two Halon from Ricambi as my Xmas presents. I'm worth it!

Dale

 

Good man!

 

I installed these in my engine bay....pretty easy. They discharge at 286deg. I also keep a clean agent extinguisher in the front with me.
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Nice setup Edward. Where did you get them?

As far as the leaking pistons/seals in the hood lifts goes, I thought those were gas filled, not oil filled. Guess on the 430s they are oil filled. Might be worth looking at alternative lifters that are gas filled to avoid the oil leaking on the hot headers and related fire potential.

 

Good man! Now that's some quality fire protection.



AND...IT'S JUST $125!
http://www.firefight1.com/prod_ss-30.html

 

These are basically the same type I have on my boat. One behind each motor. They have seen many 120 degree days on the Colorado river.




Darrell.

 

looks good!

 

The 360 Spider has a hydraulic powered top, I think the 430 is electric not hydraulic

 

What do you think of these vs the firefoe?

 

I'd far rather go with the clean agent units than with the Fire Foe. Too bad for me that I didn't know about the Clean Agent a couple of years ago when I bought my Fire Foe.

But, as I buy additional Ferraris, I'll add that new stainless steel unit (better discharge temperature) rather than the pvc Fire Foe to them.

I've even changed my Fire Extinguisher link down in my signature below.

That being said, the key problem for *most* people is no fire extinguisher at all in the engine bay. Fire Foe rocks compared to having nothing at all back there!

 

sorry, not sure. thats what we were told by the ferrari concessionare in padova, italy, thats where the incident happend, while fueling up the car. they car was after reparation still smoking, so we were told, to drive, until the oil was totally burned, what we then sucessfully did, even though this seemed not to be a trustful idea,.... anyway, it worked, so i assume, that the fluid, that came out from the leak, was of oily composition (sorry for my bad english..). best