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<blockquote data-quote="White95" data-source="post: 17014843" data-attributes="member: 129908"><p>Some of you might’ve read me mentiong a fire this past Saturday at an autocross event. I have learned a huge lesson and likely won’t be afford a third chance to get this right. Here is a copy/paste of a text message I sent a friend on Sunday:</p><p></p><p>So, on the last big sweeping curve leading to the fast course exit, the car sputtered and the lights flashed. That was my first clue. Holley EFI reset and I noted the PS pump also cycled power. Corner workers reported sparks from what they thought were brakes. Since I’ve been known to thrown sparks from my brakes due to aggressive pads, that didn’t concern me at the moment. Exiting the course there was a lot of fuel vapor but I chalked that up to fuel sloshing and my abbreviated vent line. Parked the car back in the grid and we swapped drivers.</p><p></p><p>(This part is on video but I haven’t reviewed the actual sequence of events so I’ll take it from memory)</p><p></p><p>Another car pulled up after a run and I commented on the smell from his brakes. Few moments after that I made the comment the smell wasn’t disappearing and I got curious. Noticed a haze in the car and said we are on fire. Worth noting the car was still running at this point. Popped the trunk, more haze and I noticed flames through a hole in the floor pan. ****! Grid workers scrambled for an extinguisher, which seemed like an eternity, and I put the flame out. Turned the car off.</p><p></p><p>Initially, I thought the grounded battery superheated the fuel pump leads and they were on fire. It was tough to tell looking through the wheel arch and subframe. Disconnected the battery to prevent a reoccurrence and started checking things out. After much discussion, and poking around, I determined that the pump wiring was intact. If you’ve ever grounded a wire you know that the entire cable gets hot, fast, and the insulation fails rather fast. This was not the case. The conclusion was that the grounded battery superheated the hold down stud and floor pan surrounding it. This likely served as a point of ignition, melted the rubber fuel vent line and the proceeded to burn vapors off the fuel tank just like a flare in a refinery or chemical plant. The smell was burning NVH material, grime and fuel vapors.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1830378[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1830377[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1830376[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>We decided to reconnect the battery and fire the car up. Car started without any issues and I drove it around to be loaded on the trailer. Once we got back to Prairieville, I asked Chris to unload me at Walmart and I drove to Taco Bell.</p><p></p><p>Fast forward to today:</p><p></p><p>Alright. I spent a few hours this morning tearing into the car and here is what I’ve found.</p><p></p><p>1) The rollover vent valve was indeed on fire. There isn’t much left of it and it makes me sick to see how close it came to totally failing. It appears the vent hose was pinched between the tank and the spare tire well. The nipple for the vent valve had either broken off or melted off. It’s hard to say for sure but that’s why the fire was localized.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1830379[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1830380[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1830381[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1830382[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1830383[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1830384[/ATTACH]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="White95, post: 17014843, member: 129908"] Some of you might’ve read me mentiong a fire this past Saturday at an autocross event. I have learned a huge lesson and likely won’t be afford a third chance to get this right. Here is a copy/paste of a text message I sent a friend on Sunday: So, on the last big sweeping curve leading to the fast course exit, the car sputtered and the lights flashed. That was my first clue. Holley EFI reset and I noted the PS pump also cycled power. Corner workers reported sparks from what they thought were brakes. Since I’ve been known to thrown sparks from my brakes due to aggressive pads, that didn’t concern me at the moment. Exiting the course there was a lot of fuel vapor but I chalked that up to fuel sloshing and my abbreviated vent line. Parked the car back in the grid and we swapped drivers. (This part is on video but I haven’t reviewed the actual sequence of events so I’ll take it from memory) Another car pulled up after a run and I commented on the smell from his brakes. Few moments after that I made the comment the smell wasn’t disappearing and I got curious. Noticed a haze in the car and said we are on fire. Worth noting the car was still running at this point. Popped the trunk, more haze and I noticed flames through a hole in the floor pan. ****! Grid workers scrambled for an extinguisher, which seemed like an eternity, and I put the flame out. Turned the car off. Initially, I thought the grounded battery superheated the fuel pump leads and they were on fire. It was tough to tell looking through the wheel arch and subframe. Disconnected the battery to prevent a reoccurrence and started checking things out. After much discussion, and poking around, I determined that the pump wiring was intact. If you’ve ever grounded a wire you know that the entire cable gets hot, fast, and the insulation fails rather fast. This was not the case. The conclusion was that the grounded battery superheated the hold down stud and floor pan surrounding it. This likely served as a point of ignition, melted the rubber fuel vent line and the proceeded to burn vapors off the fuel tank just like a flare in a refinery or chemical plant. The smell was burning NVH material, grime and fuel vapors. [ATTACH type="full" alt="RenderedImage.jpeg"]1830378[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="RenderedImage.jpeg"]1830377[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="RenderedImage.jpeg"]1830376[/ATTACH] We decided to reconnect the battery and fire the car up. Car started without any issues and I drove it around to be loaded on the trailer. Once we got back to Prairieville, I asked Chris to unload me at Walmart and I drove to Taco Bell. Fast forward to today: Alright. I spent a few hours this morning tearing into the car and here is what I’ve found. 1) The rollover vent valve was indeed on fire. There isn’t much left of it and it makes me sick to see how close it came to totally failing. It appears the vent hose was pinched between the tank and the spare tire well. The nipple for the vent valve had either broken off or melted off. It’s hard to say for sure but that’s why the fire was localized. [ATTACH type="full" alt="IMG_5158.jpeg"]1830379[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="IMG_5159.jpeg"]1830380[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="IMG_5160.jpeg"]1830381[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="IMG_5161.jpeg"]1830382[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="IMG_5162.jpeg"]1830383[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="IMG_5167.jpeg"]1830384[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]
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