Maclab58
Well-known member
I just wanted to share an incident I had a few weeks ago after working on my A. This was a classic case of not being careful and it could have cost me my car. I was replacing my hood clamps and while I had it torn down I decided to have my hood shelves powercoated. So the hood came off and the parts went out for powdercoating. When I had it apart I noticed the support rod bracket on the radiator was loose so I kept it in running condition and drove to the radiator shop to get that fixed. About a week later I got the shelves back and I spent the next Saturday afternoon putting everything back together. Everthing went great and when I losened the radiator hose to move the radiator forward to put the hood on I wrapped a rag around the hose to lessen the coolant leak. I put it all together and fired it up and went of a test run. I FORGOT THE RAG!!!!!!!!
After a few miles the car stalled and I had to push it into a parking lot. I thought I smelled something burning.................. I popped the hood, SMOKE, FLAMES, the rag was on fire as was the air filter cartridge. I had no water or fire extinguisher. I did have tools! I got the air cleaner off and the rag out with a screwdriver. The engine had stalled from sucking smoke into the carb. with that done, the car fired right up and off we went, no damage done. I now carry a fire extinguisher and I will double check what I have been working on!
After a few miles the car stalled and I had to push it into a parking lot. I thought I smelled something burning.................. I popped the hood, SMOKE, FLAMES, the rag was on fire as was the air filter cartridge. I had no water or fire extinguisher. I did have tools! I got the air cleaner off and the rag out with a screwdriver. The engine had stalled from sucking smoke into the carb. with that done, the car fired right up and off we went, no damage done. I now carry a fire extinguisher and I will double check what I have been working on!