That was my 911 call earlier today as I sat on the side of the road north of st. peter. Not fun. Was driving along north bound out of st. peter on 169 heading to the Twins game. Instead, I headed to the side of the road after hearing a loud pop and seeing smoking billowing out behind me. I pulled off into a field approach, opened the hood, and was greeted by flames from my exhaust manifold! I quickly grabbed everything from my car and threw it to the side, then dialed 911 (thankfully I had service). After being transferred (seriously) to the correct county (apparently that lil' gps chip for 911 calls is actually bs) I got the correct people heading on their way. Although, it took me a couple tries to actually get the info across, apparently I was talking to quickly, lol. The fire trucks arrived within fifteen minutes or so, and left even quicker. Lucky for me the fire actually petered itself out. Bummer for the firemen, but I was extremely thankful the whole car didn't go up in flames! So, that's it. It's sitting in St. Peter, waiting to go up to DB on Monday to see what the damage is and get a new engine put in. Not really sure what's wrong, just know the "pop" sound, flames, and I lost all my oil. Guesses are more than welcome! Whew, well, I think it's time for a drink (or twelve).
yeah that little chip for gps is crap, because what I found out was, while the chip is in the phone, the dispatchers don't have any computers that actually locate the chips... I think they were doing upgrades this year too... as for your car... wow dunno whut to tell you really.
If the fire was on your manifold and you heard a pop sound, maybe the oil filter seal popped spraying oil onto the hot manifold starting the fire. its the most logical explanation that covers all the bases and happens to subaru's every now and then. other "pop" noises could be cam seal (but i doubt it would get the oil out that fast) my bet is oil filter seal.
Hm... That could be. That might have been the first problem, I'm not sure how long it took my engine to empty of oil, but I couldn't stop right away, it probably was another 1/8 of a mile or so before I could pull over. However, after the "pop" I had no power. Couldn't go above 60.
a cam seal wouldnt leak too fast, been there done that, crank seal will leak fast but is in the back of the engine, any cam seal or oil pump seal is inside the timing cover case and is a little harder for it to pour out fast onto anything else. Is your car stock or what mods do you have? Fuel line maybe? that would certainly make the pop noise with what subaru's run for fuel pressure and also start a fast fire on a hot manifold, account for loss of power, but not the oil loss. If you overtighten the oil filter it can make the seal pop out and with it being right in the middle of hot header piping it can easily spray onto it and go up in flames I hope you as well as others buy a fire extinguisher just for your vehicle. That $10-20 purchase can save thousands of dollars that can be burnt up waiting for the fire department.
Yikes! glad to hear that the whole car did not go up in flames! I think devildevil is right thinking along the oil filter line. Due to its location is seems very logical. However it could be a cam seal, if they get pushed all of the way out they can dump oil at a tremendous rate. A buddy on min had this happen on his EJ22E, mid winter on cold start up. the chances of it happening are low, but still possible.
Definitely not stock, have 255 walbro, 750cc inj, 16g, all the grimmspeed goodies, and run e85. I don't think it was from over tightening the oil filter, I don't crank it down very hard. Hand tight and then a little more. I just did an oil change about 550 miles ago. Although I did try a new oil filter. I also checked the oil before I left town to make sure it was full. However, that would make sense of where the flames where at. They were on the wrapped headers right next to where the oil filter is. Thanks man.
im begining to lose faith in header wrap... i have seen too many cars with it start on fire, plus the stench and smoke after you first get it on i dont know if the silicone "protectant spray" will really keep crap off it and on a subaru and the locations it is used, its not so easy to just get in there and wash it down when giving the car a bath. i never really have noticed any shops using it on big powered cars and on that note i am going to start searching shop websites for pics and do a little more research on if its ever worth the $ and time to basically put a sponge around your hot exhaust. anywho... with the recent oil change id suspect the filter first, if it isnt that, then go looking at cam seals next. post pics too if youd be so kind and are able. see it as a time to upgrade to bigger and FASTER things, thats my thought process anyway.
No pics I'm afraid. At the time I was a little busy trying to call everyone. As for the amount of damage, still not sure yet. Progressive finally got a hold of me so the car should be towed up to DB tomorrow. Will know more tomorrow evening, hopefully the cause, and damage estimate. I really don't think the fire did ton of damage, but then again, I haven't been under the car and looked either. The sad thing is Progressive pays for just the fire damage, not anything mechanical that may have failed and caused the fire damage. I agree!
Initial reaction from Progressive. It is the worst that could possibly happen, for me anyway. Engine blew, actually a hole in the side apparently, thus releasing all my oil, and causing the fire. Since it was a mechanical failure (which Progressive does not cover naturally) and the fire did very little damage, just a coil was ruined, since the repairs are lower than my deductible covers nothing, including the 500ish dollar bill for the two tows... **** me! I should have photos once I see the report, I believe he is emailing me everything.
What? what do you mean blew a hole in the side? Pictures? so sorry to hear this man...don't you have a built motor you were throwing in though?
mann that really SUCKS. i hope you get your car back on the road soon i really wish it was my car blowing up and setting on fire instead of yours...but i couldn't be that lucky :\
I do! It's currently being built. If the engine would have waited two more weeks it wouldn't have been an issue... Now I have to pay for the tow, and more than likely, get a new turbo. Or at least have it rebuilt if I want to keep it. I am curious if it actually makes sense to repair the turbo and have it rebuilt or simply buy a turbo that will be better suited to my needs. Pictures will be posted as soon as I receive them. Still waiting on Progressive's official response, in which they should release the file to me.
Well it looks like the engine seized, then a rod blew and went out the of the short block. Not sure which one, Danny just said I'm missing a rod on the crank. at DB apparently my oil air separator isn't working very well. the damage The good news is even though Progressive isn't paying for anything, their not leaving me dry either, they are paying for the long tow up to DB, which is nice, and they took care of the rental up to today.
whoa...yeah, lots of miles and lots of power! Any small thing that goes wrong at that mileage and have a rippling effect and cause a catastrophe. Sorry to hear about this, but with another engine on the way and your insurance helping out a bit...you have to feel pretty good...considering.
True, it definitely could have been a lot worse. If something like this was going to happen, now's really the time, at least I have part of everything in motion. I finally had a chance to drive up and look under the hood. The hole is right underneath the throttle body, had to take the intercooler off to actually see it. It's huge! Very impressive in person, at least to me anyway. This should give me a chance to tear into the whole blown engine, which should be fun. Good learning experience and all. Still not sure what's going to happen with the turbo, I have no money to get the one I want plus change my whole fuel system again. However, I need to make sure the one I have is good to go,so at least have it checked out, if it's good it's good, if not, FP says they can rebuild it into a 68hta. Still probably max out my injectors on e85, but it would be nice to have a solid 300whp.
