All Burned Up

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Maybe it all started with a broken air intake hose eh HAYES :D

EDIT: I am totally fixated on this thread, I really need answers to prevent this from happening. The OP got lucky in my opinion. Things could have been horribly worse.
 
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

off going to check on my extinguishers....

glad you're OK but sorry for your loss..
 
audaciousduo said:
It was just a logging road and we were on the way back from some hot springs. Had what looked like steam come from the front of the hood and pulled over. But the time I got to the front of the truck the latch was melted and the paint was bubbling. We have the whole event captured video's and photos so I'm not concerned about them thinking it was fraud. Its very evident from what we have that we were lucky to get everyone out. It took 30 minutes from the first sign of smoke to burned out shell. I checked all the fluids before we went out as per usual she was in top shape. That was a great truck and we went a lot of cool places as a family in it. I hope my next 80 is as good as we sure miss it already.
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Was your truck left alone for a couple of hours? Sometimes small animals will crawl up into spaces from underneath and gnaw on wires or build nests from flammable material. It doesn't take long and the more heavily wooded the area, the more choice of material to build from and the bigger the variety of varmits. If the fire originated in the engine area, that's wide open underneath to that possibility.
 
NLXTACY said:
Well that helps and will also help with your insurance as well. Negligence sux. BTW, what year is your truck? Diesel?
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Standard 4.5 L gas motor.
 
80t0ylc said:
Was your truck left alone for a couple of hours? Sometimes small animals will crawl up into spaces from underneath and gnaw on wires or build nests from flammable material. It doesn't take long and the more heavily wooded the area, the more choice of material to build from and the bigger the variety of varmits. If the fire originated in the engine area, that's wide open underneath to that possibility.
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Yes it was. My girls were having the time of their life in the hot springs for about three hours.
 
Any guess as to the side of the engine it started on? Or where did the blisters show up first?

What a bummer, glad everyone got home OK and I hope your girls didn't get too traumatized by the whole event.
 
Glad to hear your family wasn't hurt. I can't imagine what it must have been like watching your truck burn to ground with your family being that far in the bush. A lesson to all in being prepared when travelling alone.
I wish you the best with the insurance company and your search for a new truck!
 
MARLIN375 said:
Any guess as to the side of the engine it started on? Or where did the blisters show up first?

What a bummer, glad everyone got home OK and I hope your girls didn't get too traumatized by the whole event.
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On one of the videos you can hear my four year old say "we are never going to get home now" I think they are fine. She hasn't stopped talking about it and even wanted to bring a picture for show ant tell at pre school.
 
canman said:
Glad to hear your family wasn't hurt. I can't imagine what it must have been like watching your truck burn to ground with your family being that far in the bush. A lesson to all in being prepared when travelling alone.
I wish you the best with the insurance company and your search for a new truck!
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Thanks for the good wishes. I'm optimistic. Sure hope I can find one as good as the last one.
 
We went on a wheeling trip this past weekend. On one of our stops a friend comes up and askes if this sounds like an electrical problem?

There was a sizzling sound coming from the engine bay.

It was the charcoal canister venting fumes. He then pulled the gas cap and you could here the gas boiling and the pressure in the tank was tremendous.

He ended up loosing about 5 gallons of fuel.

We found two things that brought this on.

The engine was running hot at around 230* and the engine bay cooling fan (3fe) was not working.

Combined it appeared that the gas in the tank was being heated by the fuel returning to the tank via the FPR.

For the rest of the trip he kept the engine temps down and everything was OK. We're now looking into why the fan wasn't working and any cooling issues.
 
photogod said:
Glad your safe! Starter fire maybe?
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I'm baffled, no real wheeling at all. There was a VW syncro van up at the hot springs, it was a forrest service road. We crossed a few little water channels with the deepest being five inches. I've been through bigger puddles in the mall parking lot. I'm pissed off as we planned on five more years out of that truck and you never know if I'll get one as reliable as the one we lost. Other than general maintenance the only thing that ever went wrong with it was the plastic gear in the power antenna broke and it only went half way up. It was a fantastic truck, was more capable than my old Defender 110 and ten times more comfortable for the family. I may have to travel to get another one as we don't have many in Canada.
 
Those pics made me sick. I'm glad you and your family made it out safe and didn't get stuck in a forrest fire. I'm sorry about your loss. This definitely motivates me to have backup fire protection.

Best of luck with the claim.
 
No matter how bad losing the truck is - the important stuff got out safe.

Trucks - even 80's are just hunks of steel.

Easily replaced in the long run - think of the fun you'll have with the new build with the wisdom of having done it once already and having learned from that.
 
Was your truck left alone for a couple of hours? Sometimes small animals will crawl up into spaces from underneath and gnaw on wires or build nests from flammable material. It doesn't take long and the more heavily wooded the area, the more choice of material to build from and the bigger the variety of varmits. If the fire originated in the engine area, that's wide open underneath to that possibility.
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If you didn't think it was electrical I was going to mention that possibility. We (:princess: and I) had a Marmot living in the engine compartment of our Camry. We were out driving one day I asked her if she noticed the terrible smell coming from the ac vents. The :princess: (who prides herself in her keen sense of smell) said she didn't notice anything. When we got home a few minutes later I opened the hood and found a rats nest of shredded hood liner stuffed in and around the exhaust manifold of our Camry. Oh yea, mixed in was a bunch of turds. I guess marmots don't mind crapping where they sleep. Anyway, I go back out around dusk to stuff some fabric softener in a few nooks and crannies because I read somewhere rodents can't stand the smell. Low and behold I open the hood and find a marmot staring up at me. I start yelling at my wife to grab my pellet rifle while I keep an eye on it. Surprisingly she responded pretty quick and two shots later I had a trophy sized marmot (not really trophy sized but pretty damn big for a guy used to shooting tree squirrels). The :princess: proceeds to tell me she now remembers seeing a funny looking cat walking around the car a few days before. I think that was after she was yelling at me about not blowing up the engine with the pellet rifle. I'm sure the hood liner was fireproof or fire retardant but if the marmot had used other materials I too could have had a burned car.

I'll have to see if I still have pictures.

Sorry for your loss but glad everyone was OK.

I never thought the marmot story would end up on MUD but hopefully it gave you a laugh in an otherwise :crybaby: time.
 
X2 the fire extinguishers at least carry one just in case, oh well... :frown:

I've got one fire extinguisher in all my cars.

NLXTACY said:
Damn that is freaking sad to look at. No fire extinguishers? This is why I have two and why I am working on my fire suppression mod. This is just panic inducing because I would flip out if this happened to my truck.
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OMG!!! SOrry to hear about your lost. Thank god it is just the truck, hopefully you can find a better replacement. I have been procrastinate about getting a fire exinguisher, I am going to look into it now.
 
Anyone have some photos of good mounting locations for extinguishers?
 
Wherever you mount it internally, it's a great idea when on the trail to strap it onto a bumper in plain view. In a panic, having it on the outside of the vehicle is good for fast access to both you and more importantly to other people. Also if you've rolled and the truck starts smoking while you're stuck inside however briefly, others can manage the fire while you focus on getting out.

Putting it on the roof is highly visible but obviously a roll over can make it unusable for you just when the battery is shorting on the hood and fuel starts leaking.... Bumpers are a great spot.

For a semi permanent internal mount, I've always felt an extinguisher should be accessible directly to the driver. On the floor behind the center console would be my choice, and the mount should be uber stout since in an on road collision that thing would be a missile. Cargo area would be second best, and I'd mount it high so less chance cargo is going to block it.

DougM

DougM
 
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