My car caught fire today

[icyd]

The story goes,i was cruising @ 120-140kmh for an hour or so,then pulled over for refuel.turbo got so hot it lit the rubbers and hoses,the plastic bits that cover the engine and airfilter.no wiring are affected from my quick inspection. Fearing the worst,got it towed to the workshop for insurance claim.

Well,**** happens.but im wondering do u really always leave the engine running for awhile after stopping or reaching ur destination?let the oil running cooling the turbo for a bit.i always do that fyi but this once instance it slipped my mind and it punishes me right away.

I really have no idea how far the extent of damage is.the electrics are all still working.i just thought trying to crank it up maybe a bad idea.my fear is most under fire cases will be written as total loss by insurance.

Please, cheer me up here...

[dieselV6]

Sorry to hear your peril.

 

If it's just hoses and covers, do not accept an economic write-off and replace them, just make sure you do not touch them with bare hands (fluoric acid and other nasty stuff). Though I would put an extra insulation (alu tape around the hoses) in the affected area.

 

To avoid engine fires in future, buy diesel cars. Resistance against engine fires is one reason I stuck to buying diesels, in fact I had a case of diesel fuel spraying over top of engine as well as exhaust on 2 of my Skodas (both were injector fuel line leaks due to poor workmanship, most recent one 2 months ago on the Roomster), and neither did catch fire, though we are talking ca 22degC temperature, not high heat.  Turbochargers also run much cooler on diesels, though recently DPF balanced it to some extent (but outside of DPF casing is still cooler than a petrol turbocharger).

Edited 29 July, 2014 by dieselV6

[Phil-E]

I suspect something may be wrong. Your engine shouldn't get so hot that it sets fire to the rubber and plastic under the bonnet.

 

Phil

[dieselV6]

Agreed, though ~33deg C temps make for a lot hotter turbocharger. Keep in mind petrol ones run a lot hotter exhaust, ca 300 degC hotter

[icyd]

When i put up the bonnet i saw the turbo itself was on fire.the bare metal was actually burning.so im pretty sure that's the source.could it be possible that the fact that it was at petrol station with vapours all around it managed to set fire?otherwise hot turbo wont easily catch fire i reckon.

[icyd]

I suspect something may be wrong. Your engine shouldn't get so hot that it sets fire to the rubber and plastic under the bonnet.

Phil

The engine wasn't overheating at all.only the turbo

[icyd]

Sorry to hear your peril.

If it's just hoses and covers, do not accept an economic write-off and replace them, just make sure you do not touch them with bare hands (fluoric acid and other nasty stuff). Though I would put an extra insulation (alu tape around the hoses) in the affected area.

To avoid engine fires in future, buy diesel cars. Resistance against engine fires is one reason I stuck to buying diesels, in fact I had a case of diesel fuel spraying over top of engine as well as exhaust on 2 of my Skodas (both were injector fuel line leaks due to poor workmanship, most recent one 2 months ago on the Roomster), and neither did catch fire, though we are talking ca 22degC temperature, not high heat. Turbochargers also run much cooler on diesels, though recently DPF balanced it to some extent (but outside of DPF casing is still cooler than a petrol turbocharger).

Im not sure what the extent of the damage is.could be just rubbers and plastics or the fire reached some wiring or sensors,thats gonna be a bit painful.im also worried about the turbo whether it'd still be usable.im leaving it to the insurance to do assessments and all.

[icyd]

some pictures of what happened to my car

burns through the bonnet.need a repaint

 

biggest fire was from the insulation shield burning away

 

luckily none of the wirings or fuel lines are affected

 

need to replace this cap

 

 

i was very fortunate that everybody acted quickly putting the fire out before it catches into crucial components. the car was inspected by mechanic, still totally drivable, no error code whatsoever. was happened wasn't electrical fault of any sort.

 

i could hypothesize that after sustained motorway speed, the turbo got glowing red hot. i killed the engine right away leaving it still very2 hot. then, something fell onto the manifold, probably some trash, dead leaves, or even the pieces of the insulation itself broke away after constant flapping under gushing wind. with enough petrol vapour surrounding the filling station environment gave it enough reason to light up. 

 

been searching around forums about installing turbo timer and got mixed opinions on this. the force is stronger on those going against doing it. but i somehow find it funny that some hold strong to the idea that it's completely unnecessary, yet giving out advise about letting the car idle for a bit after a hard run instead. isn't that what a turbo timer will do for you in case you forgotten, like i did? if it's totally redundant, then idling will be redundant also since were discussing whether or not the turbo needs to be cooled down by oil flow,which needs the engine to run,either by not pulling the key off or by turbo time preset.

 

But anyway, that's what my little knowledge able to digest from my research. Should i or shouldn't i install a turbo timer according to wise briskoda'ian here? any other concern i should watch out for?

Edited 5 August, 2014 by icyd

[icyd]

Btw,i live in a country where the temp could reach 39deg C on a good cloudless day. Just figured that might be an added factor to consider

[dieselV6]

One thing I would double check for is a possibility of fuel spray onto insulation when the engine is warmed up, a pinhole in a fuel hose perhaps? Or an exhaust leak immediately post-turbo (again, check on a hot engine/at revs)? Also, I did not think you could actually make the engine sound insulation ablaze without accelerant of some sort. If possibility of fuel leak is eliminated, perhaps the engine / engine bay was cleaned earlier with some wax containing cleaner? That would make insulation quite flammable.

 

Furthermore, if it really was the turbocharger heating up this much, it would be worth checking if the engine runs at correct fuel mixture, ie not too lean, and if the engine cooling fan is operational and comes on when appropriate. It should cool the engine bay, even with ignition off,  before it reached anywhere near the heat required to ignite.  Frankly, driving at 140kph is not much effort for all engines in Superb Mk1 range, it's just not very fast, less than 50bhp-60bhp actually required to maintain this speed, so with a working engine there's plenty of cooling margin in all components incl turbo at any temperature under 50degC (in fact they might be rated to as high as 70deg C, but not sure), unless the fuel mixture is too lean.

 

Skoda normally test cars in both extreme cold and extreme heat areas of the world, because they have significant sales in extreme climates (e.g. Dubai and Australia vs Norway and Finland) and had them before even VW bought Skoda. This is different to e.g. Seat (e.g freezing wiper arms on some models from several years ago).

I do not think we had anyone complaining about hot weather instigated fire on this forum, so if it was my car, I would really look for the real cause before driving the car again.

Edited 5 August, 2014 by dieselV6

[icyd]

Darn.another sleepless night for sure.i dont think it's running lean.the temp is rock solid at 90deg.just had spark plug change and there was no sign of lean mixture on all the old ones. I've sent it to an audi specialist in my area.he does a lot of 1.8t.he gave clearance for it to be otr after doing a test drive.still,it worries me to no end after what u said.but that made sense though.if there's really nothing wrong with it,why did it set fire?

Edited 5 August, 2014 by icyd

[dieselV6]

Directly above the fire, you have fuel lines to injectors (photo3). If / when your mechanic decides to start the engine, he should inspect these lines for leaks, especially around the metal clips (cracked rubber there could result in a small leak), or actually given they had been "heat treated" , he should replace them altogether.

I see a lot more parts affected there than just the puck valve, quite a few bits seem to have been overheated, certainly anything plastic/rubber in the area. But it is your car... For me, these pictures once again reinforce my view that diesels are inherently safer.

[silver1011]

Could the bearings in the turbo be worn which due to the increased friction is generating excess heat? 

[icyd]

Directly above the fire, you have fuel lines to injectors (photo3). If / when your mechanic decides to start the engine, he should inspect these lines for leaks, especially around the metal clips (cracked rubber there could result in a small leak), or actually given they had been "heat treated" , he should replace them altogether.

I see a lot more parts affected there than just the puck valve, quite a few bits seem to have been overheated, certainly anything plastic/rubber in the area. But it is your car... For me, these pictures once again reinforce my view that diesels are inherently safer.

 

So i can narrow down to 2 most plausible causes, fuel leak and exhaust leak.

 

Still, looking at the aftermath, i cant pinpoint where exactly the fire had originated. the melted rubbers and plastics are not quite localized. one corner of the airfilter cover melted away leaving a strand of wiring few cm's away untouched, yet slightly further away, the rubber grommet (i think it's for the aircond pipings) behind the filter going into the firewall showing signs of melting. then theres the puck valve which is very obviously affected, is some distance from the burnt hole on the engine cover. notice the hole is not right on the edge of the cover, suggesting it wasn't the continuation of the fire from the puck valve. the coil pack under it was saved though.

 

This to me, looks like the sound insulation that caught the first fire and then pieces of it that's still burning fell off onto these spots, burning away creating the resulted marks.

 

As of what causes it to ignite in the first place, yeah could be fuel spray. and thats why im puzzled as of why the mechanic didn't detect anything

 

Could the bearings in the turbo be worn which due to the increased friction is generating excess heat? 

 

could be. but if thats the case,wouldn't it be making some sort of weird noises and loss of power?i didn't hear any that caught my attention. it behaved well at 110-140kmh consuming around 6-9L/100km. i guess that's pretty normal

[jimbof]

Had you had any work done on the engine recently?

[icyd]

Had you had any work done on the engine recently?

nope apart from the timing belt change

[rwbaldwin]

Could the bearings in the turbo be worn which due to the increased friction is generating excess heat?

The only time I've seen something that matches OP's description, oil leaked into the turbo and ignited as the engine was turned off. That set the hoses on fire.

[icyd]

The only time I've seen something that matches OP's description, oil leaked into the turbo and ignited as the engine was turned off. That set the hoses on fire.

Please educate me more sir.does that mean the turbo is bad?what signs to look for?need to be 100% sure

[rwbaldwin]

Please educate me more sir.does that mean the turbo is bad?what signs to look for?need to be 100% sure

The turbo could be bad or it could be fuel related. Don't exclude either possibility. Take a close look at the turbo pipes right next to the turbo. Did they burn from the inside out?

[icyd]

Ok will take a close look in daylight tomorrow

[icyd]

Seems ok doesn't it?

View from slightly off angle

There's the turbo

Some discoloration on the exhaust post turbo.don't remember it was like that before the incident

Edited 7 August, 2014 by icyd