Car almost caught fire!!

[cdover73]

I was out driving the other day and got in it pretty hard. When I got home and drove into my garage I noticed a weird smell. Not oil and not clutch, just weird. I raised the hood and could smell it more from the passenger side of the engine bay. Then I looked down and noticed smoke coming from the cracks in the side sill! I was able to grab a water hose and spray into the seams and eventually got it cooled down. The side sills was VERY HOT to the touch. I mean it would burn you!

I have installed high flow cats and the Mopar Performance cat-backs. Every time I put the side sills back on I make sure the insulation wrap is fully seated and no gaps. I think what happened is the insulation may have had an area where it wasn't fully sealed and let heat get to the plastic. I haven't taken it apart yet to see what the damage is, but at least it is nothing outside the trim that is visible.

Question....should I buy some header wrap and wrap the entire exhaust from the manifold back? Would it hurt to do this by holding heat in anywhere? This is the first time this has happened since I put the exhaust on. But I also got in it a lot harder than I normally do. Thoughts???

Thanks,

 

[Mopar Steve]

The extreme heat is a symptom of another problem. Possibly sticking fuel injector dumping too much fuel.

 

[Steve-Indy]

Like Steve said...also look for gaps at the exhaust joints.

 

[steve e]

Also get rid of the cats, they **** eggs. The best thing I did for my Viper, side sills are cool to the touch.

 

[Free2go]

How did the car almost catch fire?

 

[cdover73]

Well there was smoke. And where there's smoke there's usually fire. I think had I not had a hose handy to cool it off it might have lit. Plastic and paint burns.

I got rid of the factory cats and added single high flows to each side. Crossover is gone too. Are you saying run no cats at all?

Just curious but if an injector is sticking shouldn't it throw a code? How do I check for this?

 

[Free2go]

I'm quite happy with no cats, and the side sills are always cool. I also love the smell of burnt fuel and letting everybody within a four block radius know I'm going for a drive when I crank it up.

 

[cdover73]

I took the sill off today. It was a plastic spacer on the bottom of the insulation jacket that melted. So a couple questions. Is it critical to not have ANY holes in the insulation? I have a couple small roughly 1/4" holes where clamp bolts cut through at some point. 2nd, would wrapping the exhaust in heat wrap the entire length help or would it hold heat in and cause other problems?

I did a code search and nothing showed on my diagnostic tool. How else can I check for faulty injectors? I have a thermal heat temp gun. I can try letting it get to normal temp and check each header tube to see if a particular cylinder is running hotter. But im not sure if the headers are equal length or not so that may not be of much help. Any thoughts?

I can say it only did this after I went out to play. Other trips under normal driving didnt cause any problems with excess heat. Im also back to having oil coming out of my oil fill cap. This is a new cap because I was having the same issue before and replaced it. It stopped for a while but I found fresh oil under it today. I also run very high oil pressure. Up to 80 psi under certain conditions. 40 on the other end when warm and in idle traffic. Does this sound odd?

Thanks,

 

[Free2go]

I took the sill off today. It was a plastic spacer on the bottom of the insulation jacket that melted.
I can say it only did this after I went out to play. Other trips under normal driving didnt cause any problems with excess heat.

So it didn't actually almost catch on fire.

 

[cdover73]

Not sure how much more it would have taken to light, so I still say yeah. A LOT of smoke. Not sure what answer you're looking for....

 

[ViperJeff]

If it's not this, Free will question your Dx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ49E_Wp2OE

 

[broomrider]

^^^^^^^^^^OMG^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[Free2go]

The title to the thread seemed a little dramatic. I would have preferred "car was smoking bad!". That is all.

 

[sidwin]

wow that car fire looked like i started from the passenger compartment which is amazing. or maybe it started right at the engine bay and spreaded in. i've been in a car fire before and it is insane. the exhaust melting some plastic is exactly that.. melted plastic.

i would get some exhaust wrap and wrap it back up and then if you are really worried a thermal blanket wrap. those things are amazing how they handle heat. not pretty but they are designed to take indirect heat.

 

[broomrider]

Never fear Broom has already coached cdover73 what to do. It will take care of the problem totally.
Stay safe you guys.