ENGINE BAY FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DavisJD]

Ok, so driving home this morning, my car, (which has a 4agze) started fouling up really badly all of a sudden. It would still run, but it wouldn't rev over about 1500rpm, or get me faster than 3km/h.

After me trying to limp the car home for 5 mins in this state caused my extractors to glow red hot, and my clutch line to catch fire because of this. Lucky I carry a fire extinguisher, (I think I will make the replacement cable a proper banjo fitting!)

Anyway, the clutch line and fire isnt the problem I know why that happened and how to fix it. However the intitial problem is where the trouble is.

I checked each cyclinder had spark, it did. The glowing extractors make me think plenty of fuel was getting through, though I will still check it. So, the next step is checking the coil and igniter. Am I right in thinking this way, or has anyone else got some advice as to what the problem might be.

Anyway I'm going to have a nap before I look at this, bad chest infection, + fire, + cold morning = death...


Thankyou

James

[dustyae86]

sounds kinda like spark related. and then your still getting all the fuel in the exhaust... or not sure how your ecu is, but also and air leak then it adjusts the af ratio accordingly and makes it rich as hell

[ke70dave]

gee that must have scared ya a bit!!!!

hope i never have to use my fire extinguisher....

anyway...

running uber uber hot....that points to running lean to me!! and possibly ignition timing way out?

fuel generally "cools down" an engine, where as having less fuel (lean) makes it faster (while heating it up), but if you go to lean...then it will run crap and run uber hot?

[balistic]

..sounds like timing might be out? Has the dizzy moved?

[SpotterOne]

Sounds lean to me too.

If it were excessively advanced, it would ping it's head off and very shortly thereafter clack itself to death.

Strange that it kept running for 5 minutes though. More investigation required....

[riojin]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (HighLife @ Aug 19 2008, 09:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=577150)</div>
..sounds like timing might be out? Has the dizzy moved?[/b]

I'm pretty sure he is using coils and CAS (cam angle sensor)


I'm pretty sure it will be either a stuffed CAS or stuffed coils or leads/sparkplugs. i had the same initial problem of my car crabbing along.

check your plugs, they fowl up pretty easily on gze's because most gze's run a little rich up top.
if its not your plugs then check your leads and coilpacks to see if theyre all sparking.
if they are sparking check to see if theyre sparking strongly (my source to this problem was spark that wasnt strong enough).
check all connecting points throughout the ignition system for corrosion (my solution to this problem was clean corrosion off everything).
if everything is clean check your CAS and see if it has moved or is loose

[munki]

+1 for lean also.

I would start by checking the fueling system, clogged lines stuffed pump or injectors. do you have a lift pump and HP pump? it is possible for the engine to get enough fuel from the lift pump alone.

[buster86]

the three most common things that will cause something like that are
overly retarded timing
missfire on 1 or more cyls causing fuel to combust in the exh manifold
blocked exhaust


exactly the same thing happened to my car years ago when i first got my ems going
the car was idling mega ritch then it started to miss, i tried revving it to clear it out and then the contents of my cat came rolling out the tailpipe,the extractors started glowing, i stepped on the clutch and the hose burst and caught the engine on fire from memory the plugs had fowled up pretty bad causing the miss.

[awang]

normally a glowing red extractor indicates/associates u're running lean

[rallystanza]

Yeah James check your timing. My mates GZE did the same thing when the timing belt skipped a tooth.

[DavisJD]

Thanks for the help everyone.

Have got a new clutch line to replace the one that got melted and started the fire. Got a proper banjo fitting this time so it wont happen again!

Still sorting through the original problem, will let you all know how I go or if I need any more help.

[DavisJD]

Ended up being the timing, the timing belt had come slightly loose, replacing the bearing on the tensioner as well as the belt.

Hopefully hasn't caused any other damage!

Thanks for all the help everyone.