Typical Wednesday evening--I'm on the I5, driving back home to SD from Irvine when I look in my rearview mirror and see--OMG!--smoke pouring out the back of my car. I look up to see if there are any call boxes around when a guy pulls up next to me and says "YOUR CAR IS ON FIRE!!" After throwing him a half-hearted thumbs up, I spy a call box about 1/4 mile ahead and start to pull over to the side. I get to the call box, hop out, make the call, tell the operator that my car is on fire at Box 5-5995. She says roadside service will be there soon. Not soon enough, I think.

I go back to the car, pop the hood, and can see flames licking up the left side of the engine near the heat shield covering the header. F%$k, this is bad. Thinking an explosion is imminent (wtf did I know?), I start to move away from the car when I remember--crap!--my laptop is my trunk with years of files and emails. I pop the trunk, and then I see--glory be!--a big bottle of Gatorade from softball on Sunday that I never drank. I open the bottle and--yes, I did--douse the fire destroying my engine.

With the fire out, I start to think wtf could have caused this sh!t. This is a Honda for f's sake. Then I remember the valve adjustment i had done about a month ago! Could it be that the gasket or the head did not sit right after the adjustment? After coughing up $200 dollars to tow the car to the dealer, I guess I'll find out some time tomorrow. With my luck lately though, I'm sure they'll find a way to pin this on me. But then again, my dealer has always been good to me. I hope that doesn't change tomorrow.

 

Jeez, glad you are ok. Hopefully the car didn't suffer too much!

God said... "let there be gatorade". hehe

 

When you checked the oil since the valve adjustment, was it low? I am glad you put out the fire and saved your car. Be careful opening burning hoods, as this allows more oxygen inside the engine compartment. I think I will buy an extingusher just in case tomorrow. Keep us informed.

 

Sorry to hear about this. You sound quite calm about it. I don't know if I would be so calm.

 

I had the same thing happen to me with a Honda Accord a few years ago. Luckily, the girl that cuts my hair was driving by, pulled over and offered me her Dr Pepper. It put the fire out just fine.

Before she stopped by, I was contemplating p*ssing on it. I probabaly would not have done it ... afraid of a flare up, plus too many people around (rush hour).

I am glad you had the gatorade. Let us know what the problem was. The fire on mine was caused by the alternator. I had to replace it and avoided any other damage.

Al

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ALs S2K
[B]
Before she stopped by, I was contemplating p*ssing on it.

 

My sympathy goes out to you, that is such a terrible thing to have happen.

What a "cliff hanger" story!!! Please don't forget to give us an update, I'm dying to find out what the cause was.

I know from your other posts you really take good care of your car so this is really, really scary.

 

Man, I'd be freaking out if my car was on fire. Good thing you had that gatorde bottle. You sure do drive far if you were going from Irvine to SD all the time.

Good luck with the repairs. Keep us updated.

 

let us knoww what happens, my s caught on fire also i could tell you more later

 

I feel for you, Bro! Shown below is (was) my 325is.