Bad fathers' day...308 just burned...what now?

sorry to hear, hate to say it but might have been better if you were a little slower with the extiguisher anyway might still be a total - hopefully you had a stated value policy

 

You saved your Son's life on Father's Day.

It certainly beats the alternative.

Happy Father's Day

 

Wow. Glad you and your son are ok. I also took my son out on a drive this morning but it was fun and uneventful.

I feel really bad for you just looking at your pictures.

I have been working on an idle and off-idle adjustment on my car too. Coincidentally, I had a fuel odor in the engine compartment last summer. Took it to the local F-car mechanic and he just said all carb cars smell that way. I knew better than that but I could not find the leak.

Finally, I was working under the hood with the engine running and I saw a fairly large trickle of fuel coming off of one of the fuel hoses on the passenger side tank. By then, I had found a good mechanic and I limped the car over to his shop. Probably should have had it flat-bedded over there has he had recommended but drove it anyway. Seeing your event makes me shudder!!!

I should think that you can repair the damage as long as it is confined to the top of the engine. If stuff got down the carb throats, that could be a little more work....but the carbs can be repaired.

Good luck,
Mark

 

Gary, i am so sorry to read about this happening. i dont know how to answer the insurance question for you, but fchat member FARMERDAVE may be able to help you. perhaps you could PM him.

i took both of the Ferrari's out today for a blast. what happened to you really makes me think. i really hope it works out, perhaps the engine is saveable. best of luck to you.

 

I have a feeling that your insurance company will take care of you. I don't see a reason why they wouldn't.

Very sad to see the pics... but as has been said above, the most important thing is that you and your son are safe.

Cars can be always be fixed, or replaced. Same can't be said for yourself or your loved ones.

 

That's a bummer and sorry to hear of it. Things happen so just try to look forward. I'd begin to strategize to have it totaled. Good luck with moving through the hassle.

 

Sorry for the car, but as Wax said you and your son are OK.


That's a blessing.

 

If I had to guess, I'd say the fuel lines between the tanks broke. It's important that they get changed at every major service.

On my old carb car, they were original. I had them replaced and they broke apart in my hand.

 

Mine burned 4 years ago, about 6 weeks after I got it. What I would strongly recomend is that you get it towed to a dealer for an estimate, it will put you in a much better position to negotiate with the insurance company....my insurance company had no idea what they where looking at really.

Mine fire didn't get into the engine bay, it was in the exhaust which set the bumper on fire and burned a bit of paint on the back...I figured $2k-$4k. The dealer said $19500. I settled with the insurance company at $16500 if I recall right. Then took the opportunity to rebuild the engine, add a supercharger, euro bumpers, basically I put it back together the way I wanted so it turned out fine in the end. Good luck.

 

Very sad to hear, but as stated before you and your son are safe.

Did the car lose power at all before the fire started? Many 308 fires start when you lose a full "bank" of ignition for some reason, then raw unignited fuel ignites in the catalytic converters (which run very hot). If this happened, you would have noticed a loss of power.

 

That is an excellent recommendation. Get it to a Ferrari dealer and let them work with the insurance co. adjuster to help the adjuster understand the extent of the loss.

 

Sorry to hear that... First thing comes to my mind when I read it was your three years old son in the passenger seat. I am glad you got him out ok...

 

Scary!!! At least you guys are alright. This should be an eye-opener to all us 308 owners. "Check you fuel lines!!"

 

Gary,
I'm very sorry to hear that this happened. Thank God you were able to get your son out and you both are OK. The 308 is just a car. I know it seems worse than that right now, but compared to what could have happened, this was nothing.

I am also in the Boston area and would be happy to take a look at it to see if I can help you figure out what might have happened. I definitely think the car should go straight to FoNE for an estimate before you attempt to settle with your insurance co.

What year is your car? Does it have cats? A bank ignition failure dumping fuel into one cat is the way a lot of fires get started. If your fuel lines were new, it seems unlikely it was from there. Running without the airbox won't light your car on fire all by itself.

PM me if you want to get together.

Birdman

 

Sorry about your loss....

When was the last time you had it serviced (belt or engine out)?

 

From the pictures, it looks to me like it was the top of the engine. So a leaking fuel line or leaking carb (a stuck float, float set too high, gasket). But the fuel would have needed something to ignite it, just a hot engine usually won't do it....I actully had a metal fuel line crack while I was driving down the highway and spray 1/2 tank of fuel all over the engine and engine bay, no fire ....popping back through the carb and a flame shooting out the leaking vacuum port you were trying to find or more likely of out the top of the carb since the air cleaner was off it would have a straight path.

IMO it is a pretty bad idea to drive a car without an air cleaner. At a minimum you suck dirt into the engine which will wear the pistons and rings much faster. Worst case you kick up a stone or something and it gets sucked into the intake and bends a valve or breaks a piston. Personally I don't even like to start an egine without an air-cleaner.

 

I was waiting to hear something like this. How many miles on the car since this work was done?

BTW - I "flight-check" my car before every run. Start it up, open engine bay, check lines while idling.........

 

Bummer dude, but at least you and your son are ok. Did you check the fuel line between the fuel filler and the gas tank? That is another one that is often not replaced and known to leak.

This is an old thread I started about replacing the hose:
http://70.85.40.84/~ferrari/discus/messages/256120/206949.html

Best of luck.

Dom

 

As a new carbed 308 owner, I'll check all my hoses--previous owner's mechanic says most were replaced, but I'd better find out for sure.

Here's a note when getting fuel hoses--it comes in 2 important varieties: fuel
injected and non injected. The injected is reinforced for higher pressures, thus likely to be longer lasting. Anyone know what pressure the fuel pump operates at to feed those Webers?

 

Between 3.5 to 4 lbs psi.

 

Man this makes me sick to see your car and scares the heck out of me. I too have been playing with my carbs and I'm now wandering about my fuel lines. Looks like I have another project. Thank God you and your son are OK.

 

A leak from the fuel line, dripping onto a hot exhaust will start a fire. With all that water and stuff inside the engine, I would guess your engine is toast. And with all that fire damaged paint, I would also guess that your car is totaled.

Sorry. Best of luck to you,

 

Being a recent father (3/31/05) I'm glad nobody was physically hurt, but I also really feel bad for you and hope that it will work out in the long run. It will provide you some more "bonding" opportunity.
FWIW, if you send the car somewhere, you may want to take the jack, spare, tool kit, anything else that is unattached out before. I have been told that if the Ins Co. totals the car you may not be able to get this stuff out and this stuff would be either saleable or a good memory.

Sorry,
Mark