Are there any known fuel line issues that I haven't heard of?
My 08 that was bone stock except for a Cobb downpipe and stage 2 tune burned to the ground last night. It had just under 20k miles and no previous issues.
I don't drive the car much and keep it in my storage. Last night I went to get a burrito at the local Mexican place, about 1 mile away, to charge the batt and roll the tires.
On the way back it was misfiring a bit so I put my foot into it and ran it up in second. About 3500 rpm the motor cuts out like I turned off the ignition but no CEL or anything.
So I coast to a stop and try to start it. About 30 seconds total (6 or 7 attempts) I hear a poof from under the hood and smoke appears.
I run out and like an idiot, open the hood.
The engine compartment is instantly a fireball, and I don't mean a fire, it was like someone poured 5 gallons of gas in there and lit a match.
The car was engulfed before I could call 911, and by the time the fd showed up the car was on fire front to back.
The car had no work done to it besides the two listed above. I'm thinking a fuel line had to burst or something.
Any ideas?
I get to have a fun phone call with the insurance today, and the fire guy said I can expect a call from the inspector because of the "odd circumstances" but wouldn't elaborate on what those were.
You vulture, let the man grieve!
Plus, did you see the front wheel? dp is probably only good from scrap metal.
My idea:
On your way back from taco town, a fuel line connector coming into the regulator/rails from the pump somehow worked itself loose in your engine compartment. This part is under pressure based on how hard the fuel pump is run. When you put you foot into it, fuel pump duty cycle went up and the loose part completely popped apart cutting fuel to you engine (spraying into the engine bay now) and causing the car to die instead of of just misfiring. When you tried to restart the car, the fuel pump was run hard again (attempting to prime the system) every time to flipped the key off and back on. This probably could have pumped around 5 gallons of gas into your engine bay. All you needed at this point was an ignition source like a starter solenoid, hot turbo, etc.
Did you smell gas at any point?
It kinda looks like there's a big pool of burning gas under the car in the first picture, all the way to the back of the car.
I think I might just mount an extinguisher in my car. Instead of because race car... because your car.
I haven't been through all the posts so I might not be the first to say this, but from the sounds of things even a large fire extenguisher likely would not have done the trick. A LARGE model may have put it out for a bit but it sounds like it was already pretty hot, so it probably would have lit off again.
A fire extenguisher is a good thing to have on-hand, but the hood mat will actually do about as good of a job in many cases.
Glad to hear it turned out okay in the end. That must have been a tough thing to watch.
when did you get the stage2 done ?
i would post that you had stage2 done or delete the post
your insurance company might find out you had modded your car and refuse your claim
just trying to save you soem trouble had a couple of friends with insurance issues
Thanks blurple, that sounds like what I was thinking.
Does the fuel system use the crappy quick disconnects (push lock) like GM uses? My druamax popped off a fuel line by the tank in the return side, luckily that only caused a mess
And when I checked the rest I was able to yank another free.
The storage I used to keep it at had a mouse problem, interesting you ask.
My blazer does not start and my rv water lines all needed to be replaced cause of those little bastards.
Yeah sorry on the dp request, I think it is nothing more than scrapetal at this point. I'll try to get some photos of the engine compartment today for public amusement.
As for insurance I'm not going to hide anything, although thank you for the heads up. I think if I lie about something and it ever comes up, that will look worse than taking it head on. Besides, the police have the car at their yard, so it is there for anyone to see. I got the dp and stage 2 at 300 miles cause of all the factory tune tales of woe.
Oh, and what looks like fire in the gutter is a reflection I think. I took some video right after the photo and nothing is there. I don't recall any fire over there and I think I would have noticed that because it's a large field of dry grass.
But then again, my attention was slightly diverted.
And now that I think about it I did smell gas, I thought it was from the exhaust because of a no spark issue and it was flooded. The way the motor cut out made me think is was an ignition issue.
I'm such an idiot, I kept cranking it and had the throttle wide open, it would almost catch and sputter and I thought if I could only get it to start it would clear its throat...
I had a very similar thing happen only it wasn't in my Sti it was in my wife's denali. It was on easter and the kids were in the car. When the cops/fire dpt arrived they said that there wouldn't be an investigation, considering the whole family was there, easter, you name it. I think that they are concerned that you did it intentionally. The ins. company paid us nicely for it. They asked us what the condition of the interior is. I said,"Ash" haha ,"I mean it was in mint condition" The insurance company didn't investigate either because how burnt it was. Just say you were hold onto it with low mileage so it would be worth a ton and you kept it in immaculate condition. (sounds like you did) I'm sure your day was as crazy as ours. When our inferno was going I was trying to back up our family and stuff from our pile about 40ft from the denali, The cops said,"don't worry its not like the movies, these things don't blow up." just then a small explosion sends a windshield wiper 80ft in the air and it lands at our feet. Shortly after that a soccer ball (I just gave my son) exploded like an M-80
Were there any witnesses, perhaps at the Mexican restaurant, that can help vouch for your story. That way it doesn't sound like you pulled over and poured gasoline all over your car. Not saying you did, but the firemen might think so.
Ya know, i hadn't even thought of that angle. But i bet that's what the fire chief was referring to with the "odd circumstances" comment.
Unfortunately it was in a parking lot of a business that was pretty much empty about halfway between the mexican place and my storage. Although there was plenty of traffic on that road before the fire, i dont expect anyone to be a witness about me not torching my pride and joy.
Im not sure what tree i would start barking up with the possible mouse issue. Im still kind of numb about it, wish i could go back to yesterday when i still had my car.
so sorry to see this thats terrible. also, this isn't the first time I have heard of this happening with a GR, I think it's happened to a few others but not enough to cause concern, but it sounds like there is something going on. someone should look into this (someone who can search better than me)
Judging by the carnage I don't think there will be an insurance investigation. The FD will say it was not intentional and they will pay you for a full loss. It happened pretty quickly in my case. Although the DMV was pissed that we didn't get the plates off it. we were like really????? Our family almost burned to a crisp and you think I should have waited around for the 1000degree metal to cool off so I could get the plates.DMV:tdown::tdown: FD,PD,Ins.:tup::tup:
I called AAA to file a claim and apparently my policy (on all 4 vehicles and 2 motorcycles) lapsed 3 weeks ago. I guess they forgot to bother letting me know.
Now i know exactly how people rationalize going completely f-ing postal.
I had AAA and they did EFT for payments, they fuct up on their end and didn't pull a payment. My car at the time got broken into, they looked at past payment history and paid me on good faith basis. Good luck.
On the humor side to this, your FAV MOD: smoking tires
holy isht! glad you got out, dude. wow. I would be in complete shock, I am in shock....it went from " wtf, my motor just cut-off" to "holy fockin isht, is that smoke?" to "OMFG no! fire!" to "I can't believe my eyes, the entire car is engulfed in flames"
I hope your insurance gets you in a new ride soon.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
IW STi Forum
4.1M posts
121.3K members
Since 2001
A forum community dedicated to Subaru Impreza and STI owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, engine builds, exhaust, modifications, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!