355 Fires?? Disturbing news!!!

Here you go, this is a very recent one that was rubbed by the top water hose clip. There is a hole rubbed through the braid on the hose and it was spraying fuel onto the rear of the engine bay. The problem was solved by placing the screw section of the clamp further round towards the bottom of the hose.
So now here it is documented for the search engine
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"low" teens .................

 

Holy crap---What year car was that? The driver ok? No fire, I presume?

 

Nope no fire. And this problem can be on any year car. Usually caused by an engine out engine in situation were the large top "S" shaped water pipe has to be disconected. Were the hose clamp is tightened with out thought to its position. It only has to be a few mm out and one of the top four fuel lines can rub over time (it was about a month on this particular car). The pipe in question is one of the pair of fuel lines towards the oil tank from the centure distribution block.
There was a strong smell of fuel in the car that was smelt for the first time a few days before the rubbing was found. But only after the hole allowed fuel to be sprayed over the rear of the engine. It was underneath the fuel pipe. There was no fire as the car was turned of immediately as soon as a hissing noise and what looked like steam was comming out of the rear. The engine lid was raised with a fire extinguisher in hand until the car cooled down enough to be out of the danger zone.
Has been said before that some times an egnine out job can cause other problems. Have you ever noticed how many 355 fires always seems to happen after a major engine out service

 

When I first got my car, one of the fuel lines was rubbing one of the engine lid struts. To the point it wore the paint off of the strut..............a quick zip tie (in nero) corrected that right away.... .

 

I guess by design, having really hot headers and and cats in the engine bay is going to be a bit more prone to fires.

I heard of one catching fire at the gas staton one time.

Recently I was filling up and was going to check my oil at the same time. The sight of the proximity of the left header and the fuel fill pipe is enoungh to scare the begeezes out of you.

 

After reading the advice in this thread an in the one posted by Tillman:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=135777472

I was sure to check this area on my fathers car yesterday while replacing the thermostat. The recall was performed a few years ago but I wanted to check this out anyway.

How doe this look?

I moved every house / fuel line around by hand to see how far they would move and what they might hit. Nothing came into contact. So hopefully these pictures can also help others that have not received this fix yet:

 

Great Info guys and excellent pics Hacker..
so is the location of the hose clamp right there on top. as clearly seen in Hackers 2nd picture? which , if this is the one, looks like you need to rotate it about 180 degrees so the nut side is on the opposite end of the hose..

lastly, does anyone know if there a time "limit" to get recalls performed?

 

Thanks for the pics Hack. Here they are so that you don't have to open the links
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Hack,

You can post pictures by going to "manage attachments" in the additional options box, right under the message box where you type to post a comment. After the little window pops up you can select the file you want to attach to your message, then click upload and wait for it to finish uploading before you post it.

 

Luckily this seems to be a low % of actual fires caused by this problem. So far I have only heard of 3-4----Does anyone have confirmation on any others?

 

I do not want an extinguisher in my car. if my car catches fire, I hope it burns to the ground. I'd rather get the insurance payout versus having a Ferrari with fire history.

 

Great pics so far guys. Pics speak a thousand words. I will post pics of my car later when I get home to show the clamp in relation to the lines, if others can do the same. Anyone out there with a 1995 car, can you post a few pics of your fuel line setup? I was told the setup is very different and does not look like the later year cars...

 

Never. Call FoS, give them your VIN and they will look up any outstanding recalls or service bulletins for your car.

 

I'll try to get a photo of mine later today. (Mine is a 96 build date but is 2.7 like the 95's.)

Got my Dad's 60th birthday party tonight so I might not get the photos, but I will try.

 

I believe they are the same mate. Here's a picture of a 1995 355s set up. Also in this picture i have marked what hoses do what. And the WHITE arrow points to the clip on the top water hose very much like the one that caused the braided hose to rub through (see the picture above of the worn braided hose).

YELLOW. Disappears through the bulk head.
RED. Comes from the fuel filter.
PINK. Goes to the end of the fuel rail that faces the bulkhead.
BLUE. Goes to the fuel pressure regulator which faces the side of the fuel rail.
GREY. Is the small water pipe that runs to the header tank. It sits uncomfortably in between the two braided fuel hoses and can its self be rubbed through causing a water leak. This particular one has been covered in a rubber insulator.
BLACK. Is one of the main water pipes into the engine.
WHITE. The problematic hose clip that can cause a rub through the Braided hose(like in the above picture i posted).

Hope this helps No doubt some one will argue for the sake of it
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I know - it's just habit linking to my web server.

Most forums using the IMG tag displays the images.....doesn't work here.

Not to mention (unless I'm wrong) using the upload method you describe will only allow registered users to see the pics. Not really a big deal, just thought I would point that out.

 

Take a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8NpacCmfbc

 

And put an *automatic* (not manual, not electrically triggered...but an automatic) fire extinguisher into your engine bay.

Best $125 that you'll ever spend.


Come on, most Tifosi spend more than that on new floor mats, CDs/MP3s, stereos, etc...instead of first taking care of their personal safety.

See link below for just one example (no affiliation, I'm just trying to save a few Tifosi from the burns unit):

 

Please don't think like that.

The purpose of an automatic fire extinguisher in your engine bay is foremost to give you and your passenger extra time to safely exit your car (you may have to slow down from a considerable speed before you can escape) in the event of a fire.

Also, consider that people can be knocked unconscious (e.g. hitting head on side window) in a mundane fender bender...bad time for your car to catch on fire at that point...but an automatic fire extinguisher will still give you some protection as it will still go off even though you can't trigger it.



Seatbelt jammed?

Bad time for an engine fire.

Best to have an automatic fire extinguisher in your engine bay.



Pinned in your car because an SUV just rammed your driver's door?

Bad time for an engine fire.

Best to have an automatic fire extinguisher in your engine bay.

 

Possibly better than nothing at all. Where you mount it will make all the difference (not much room where the fuel lines are).

 

Checked my hose clamp yesterday, all good for me, the fuel lines are as above.

F-chat is a great resource.

 

Glad somebody found it useful

 

This thread has been very useful----Who knows a lurker that doesn't post here may check his after reading and find a potential problem----Hats off to you guys posting info here!!!!!!! Great pic above tactical!

 

Thanks for the great photo.

Once again, this site proves to be a great asset!