Funnels, oil, and engines: the first time my engine caught fire
Authored by: batmobile
I was driving my 1971 Volvo p1800 on our first road trip together - the destination was L.A. I bought it for next to nothing because it hadn't been driven in 5 years, and the owner frankly didn't know what it needed to get back into driving shape. The p1800 is a sexy sleek bat-mobile of a car, with nice chrome lines, and I was up for the task of restoring it. The body was already in fairly good shape, but the engine needed some tweaking, and every hose and wire needed to be changed. Did I mention that a rat had made a little home under the front hood for a few weeks before I purchased it?
After about $2000 worth of repairs, my quirky but lovable mechanic told me that he thought it was fit to drive to Los Angeles. I was excited to take the car on it's maiden voyage, especially with the stamp of approval from my mechanic.
We had been driving for a few hours when my girlfriend said "the car is holding up quite well!" And I had to agree. The ride was smooth, and the car had no problems going fast. At that moment, I looked down to check the oil and temperature gauge, and noticed that it was bobbing close to high. I couldn't remember the last time I had checked it, so I pulled over immediately, in case it had been up there for a while. My girlfriend suggested that I wait to check the fluids since the car was overheating, but I was a bit impatient, and checked the oil immediately - it was low. I poured a container of oil in the engine, thinking that I had fairly good hand eye coordination, even if I was on the side of highway 5, at 10pm. Apparently I miscalculated, for a healthy dose of oil spilled onto the engine and began to smoke, and then erupted into flame! I yelled, "Fire!" and wondered why Danielle wasn't jumping out of the car. She's busy trying to undo her seatbelt, and I run to the passenger side just as she wriggles out of her belt. We push her seat forward to search for water in the back seat of the car, all the while afraid that the car is about to explode!
We find a bottle of Crystal Geyser and douse it on the flame. It steams and sizzles, but puts out the fire...' we are relieved. Now we have time to worry about being on the side of the road, at night, with large trucks whizzing by. We decide to try driving the car to Bakersfield, which is just ten miles away, so that we can crash at a friend's house, and deal with the car in the morning. Since the flame had only lasted a few minutes, and never really got big, we drive off.
The rest of the story isn't that exciting (30 minutes of confusion the next morning over how to remove the coolant cap; pushing my luck yet again and driving the ten miles back to highway 5, calling AAA to avoid breaking down again; leaving the car outside a closed Volvo specialist's shop on a Saturday, and entrusting my car keys to the shop next door, $1000 repair of head gasket because I drove the engine too long, while it was too hot) but I learned a few lessons the hard way:
When pouring oil into a hot engine, use a funnel. And, don't drive an overheated engine.
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Authored by: batmobile
After about $2000 worth of repairs, my quirky but lovable mechanic told me that he thought it was fit to drive to Los Angeles. I was excited to take the car on it's maiden voyage, especially with the stamp of approval from my mechanic.
We had been driving for a few hours when my girlfriend said "the car is holding up quite well!" And I had to agree. The ride was smooth, and the car had no problems going fast. At that moment, I looked down to check the oil and temperature gauge, and noticed that it was bobbing close to high. I couldn't remember the last time I had checked it, so I pulled over immediately, in case it had been up there for a while. My girlfriend suggested that I wait to check the fluids since the car was overheating, but I was a bit impatient, and checked the oil immediately - it was low. I poured a container of oil in the engine, thinking that I had fairly good hand eye coordination, even if I was on the side of highway 5, at 10pm. Apparently I miscalculated, for a healthy dose of oil spilled onto the engine and began to smoke, and then erupted into flame! I yelled, "Fire!" and wondered why Danielle wasn't jumping out of the car. She's busy trying to undo her seatbelt, and I run to the passenger side just as she wriggles out of her belt. We push her seat forward to search for water in the back seat of the car, all the while afraid that the car is about to explode!
We find a bottle of Crystal Geyser and douse it on the flame. It steams and sizzles, but puts out the fire...' we are relieved. Now we have time to worry about being on the side of the road, at night, with large trucks whizzing by. We decide to try driving the car to Bakersfield, which is just ten miles away, so that we can crash at a friend's house, and deal with the car in the morning. Since the flame had only lasted a few minutes, and never really got big, we drive off.
The rest of the story isn't that exciting (30 minutes of confusion the next morning over how to remove the coolant cap; pushing my luck yet again and driving the ten miles back to highway 5, calling AAA to avoid breaking down again; leaving the car outside a closed Volvo specialist's shop on a Saturday, and entrusting my car keys to the shop next door, $1000 repair of head gasket because I drove the engine too long, while it was too hot) but I learned a few lessons the hard way:
When pouring oil into a hot engine, use a funnel. And, don't drive an overheated engine.
Comments
csimsy (173 weeks ago)
Somehow it seems appropriate that your engine caught on fire near Bakersfield. There is just something about that place that seems well suited for oil fires. You're lucky the water worked! Thanks for sharing!
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