truck fire... lets hear the stories!

[tim21391]

well.. i almost had to lay the ol girl down to rest...my 72 (the one i did all the rust repair to with a buddy).. if it aint one thing its another.. had stuck front brakes so i fixed all that.. drove it a week and then the battery went bad due to colder weather... that sat for a few weeks.. then i figured since battery is bad lets tinker around.. opened up the caps and noticed two cells were dry.. filled them back up and it took a charge and went from a bad battery to a good battery after 4 charging attempts.. then slapped it in the truck and was fine for a day until the nightly cold temp.. next day it was done zo.. so it said for another few weeks.. then last night.. i go out to jump it since it hasnt ran for a month or so.. hooked the cables to my car then to truck then get one crank or two then poof the hydrogen gas spontaneously combusted and i had about a 6"-12" flame coming off my positive terminal.. wouldnt blow out.. couldnt smack it out.. and in the time of panic i reached into the flame bare handed since i dont have feeling in my fingers unhooked it and then began to smother the flame.. surprisingly the battery didnt blow up.. then today jumped the truck from the altenator and went and got a battery dropped it in and realized that fire took the starter out with it.. the starter was now arcing internally.. got a new starter put on... then had to run all new leads from the starter and battery.. and after a few hours and $100 im good as new.. hurray

[oldschool18]

never had a truck fire but did have a car fire.........ground wire came out of my amp and turned the power wire in to a lit fuse and caught the interior on fire blew out the rear window. I ran into a credit union that I pulled over in front of and asked for a fire extinguisher and the girl looked at me like I had 3 heads, thank god some guy came out of know where and had a little fire extinguisher and put out the fire. I had to drive it like Ace Ventura to my dads garage with my head out the window to avoid all the dust from the extinguisher and the windshield was a little black.

[Steve Hafner]

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The most important thing to remember is to keep your PRIORITIES straight !!!

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[Shyguy]

I have been lucky and have never had a vehicle fire, I have seen flames shoot out of a carb more than once though.

Had a kitchen fire once when pot of cooking oil over flowed on to a burner. Pretty messy fire it was.

[68shortstep]

I lost a nearly brand new (2 months old) '69 Torino that I bought a couple weeks before I got married.

I was driving it down a road/path on our farm from where I had been fishing at a pond on a Sat afternoon, & it started dripping fire out from under the dash. I stopped it hurry-up quick & got out ran back a ways, & just watched it burn til it went out, including a major "BOOM" when the gas tank full of 20-cent/gallon gasoline cooked-off.

Just like in the movies --- car jumped up in the air about two feet, blew the trunk lid open, etc.

I was so panicked when I got out of the car & ran back about 50 yards, I didn't think about having plenty of time to go ahead & get all my fishing tackle & rods out of the trunk. Lost what's now probably several hundred dollars worth of antique wooden fishing plugs.

No big loss on the turquois & white 4-door Torino. What a super-t*rd that car was, & also the olive drab Torino the insurance co replaced it with.

[ol'rusty68]

i didnt have a fire that was to bad. when i first got my truck my dad and brother came to help get some things situated so i could get it on the road quick.well we were putting in a new H.E.I and a edelbrock 600 and all was going good.then my brother yelled that we had some smoke in the cab. there was fire coming from under my dash so i grabbed a bottle of water on my seat and sprayed it all down.come to find out he turned the heat on to see if it worked and didnt turn it off.somehow the mouse nest packed in my vent caught fire. im thankful it was caught befor anything else was harmed!

[Danny Bost]

Too much to type, but here is a link to my story of you are interested.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=382550

[ChevLoRay]

I was still gainfully employed, back in '2000. I had replaced my intake with an Edelbrock (okay...I had some help). Anyway, new intake, new Q-Jet...life is good.

Got up one morning to go to work, cranked it and it started but something didn't sound right. So, I shut it off and raised the hood. The wiring from the alternator to the terminal on the right fender was smokin'......CRAP! Garage doors were shut...can't get to my pliers.....so, I grabbed the glowing wiring and pulled on it until it broke. Yeah, it was hot. Had a nice burn across my fingers where the red-hot wires contacted my bare hands. But, it stopped it from getting any worse.

Contacted my insurance agent and when the adjuster arrived, he told me had no experience on these trucks. I had already priced the harness, and when it was all done, minus my deductible (I had full coverage), I still cleared about $165 and did my own labor. Parts, cleaning, painting and profit.

Oh, I don't recommend bare skin coming into contact with glowing hot wiring....

[BigRed76]

Back in early 2000 when my dad's '72 was alive & well, it had a 4bbl 350 in it and my mom was driving the truck frequently. One day she stopped at an unfamiliar gas station to get some gas, and wound up putting 10 gallons of diesel fuel in the tank She got about 5 miles down the road and the truck starting puffing white smoke really bad from the tailpipes, and then it died on her.

At this time she was still unaware that she had put diesel in it, so dad went out to take a look at the truck & get it fired up again... after cranking on it a fire somehow started in the carb, a diesel fire. after a 6 pack and smothering it with his t-shirt the fire was out and the truck was on a flatbed heading home

Needless to say dad wasn't too happy when he had to pull out the gas tank and flush it out and flush out the fuel lines to et rid of the diesel fuel

[oldschool18]

Here is another non truck fire story......I HAD a buddy who had a trans am and he stripped out the fuel line at the carp, so he calls me to see if my dad can have it towed to his garage and fix it. I call my dad and he said yes he can fix it and he would have it towed. So the tow truck driver goes to pick it up and tried to start it cause he wanted to back the car on the rollback so he didnt scrape the tailpipes. Wel he caught the car on fire and burned it to the ground, and then my buddie tried to sue not only the tow company but also my father.......Like i said above.....I "HAD" a buddy......

[mrhurt73]

ok, mine was not a old chevy, but it was on fire.
really hot, but i was lucky the good lord let me live that day.
after surgery and 5 months of physical therapy i walk pretty good now.

always wear yor seal belt, they really work.