A lucky escape?

[catfood]

Summer has arrived in the UK in the form of a heatwave (at least its a heatwave to us - 30 degrees plus). By way of celebration I unearthed the Healey from the garage after three years of hibernation and after several hours fettling and got it through it's MOT test first time. For those of you not UK based this is an annual roadworthiness test all cars over three years old have to take. I've had three year old cars fail this test so for me this was a BIG THING!

So the last couple of days the car has been taking me to work and back along the country lanes of greenest Warwickshire. However, and here comes the lucky escape bit, this morning I noticed a slight wiff of petrol going to work. I assumed it was the choke sticking as that was one of the things I had had to fettle. Got home this evening, pulled onto the drive to the sound of pssst - pssst -pssst etc. So I popped the bonnet - arghhhh - petrol dripping, nay pouring onto a very hot heatshield and exhaust manifold. Now what do you do, back off and wait for the big woof or try and fix it. Working on the (somewhat flawed) logic that as it hasn't gone woof yet it's not likely to now as the ignitions off and the fuel pump isn't building any fuel pressure I grabbed a spanner and tightened up the offending connector and the fuel ceased to flow.

So the moral of this story is if your car has been off the road for some time check the rubber seals haven't shrunk or hardened otherwise you may go out in a ball of flames (oh yes and I had taken the fire extinguisher out of the car when I layed it up, you can guess where that is now and it isn't my workbench anymore /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonod.gif !)

 

[Dave Richards]

Had a spontaneous fire in my '69 MGB once from the same problem, luckily a gas station attendant (that's how long ago it was) noticed the flame and came running with a fire extinguisher!

 

[Steve]

Lucky indeed Steve. Glad to hear that you've got it running again. For those who have never had to get a car through it, that MOT test is a pig!

 

[AndrewMawson]

Glad you escaped without a problem.

MANY years ago (1968 I think) in my youth I was driving to work in my Frog Eyed Sprite (my pride and joy at the time) down the King's Road Chelsea when I smelt the petrol rather more than usual. I flipped the bonnet forward to be met by a roar of flames from the carb. No fire extinguisher, but there was a double decker bus stopped picking up at a bus stop. I leapt at the drivers cab - ripped his door open - took his extinguisher, and emptied it into the engine bay. Flames out I now walked back apologised and gave him the empty - he was very good about it and just grinned. I trimmed the offending nylon reinforced fuel pipe back - it was now very soft of course - remade the jubilee clip and drove off to cheers from others waiting at the bus stop !

 

[Dave Russell]

I have never needed it, but I keep a four pound Halon extinguisher nearby the drivers seat. Halon costs more but if you have ever used a dry powder type on a car, it leaves a terrible mess which is corrosive if it gets damp.
D