Disaster narrowly averted

[crashnzuk]

My dad was hitting the road Saturday to finally head back home. I went to give him a hand hooking up the trailer and then followed him down the road a bit since I happened to be going the same way he was headed. At the second stop light I noticed a whiff of smoke come out of the right front wheel well so I had him pull over. Turned out the fuel filter had a pin hole in the bottom and was spraying fuel on the valve cover which then ran down and soaked the exhaust manifold. We slapped a new filter on and he was back on his way. It was just luck that I had to go the direction he was instead of heading back home. He was headed out to cross the Sierra Nevadas, I can only assume it would have ended with fire.
Travis..

 

[towcat]

It's not as bad as it looks.
With the two piece 7.3 filter assy's, a leaking filter base is not at all uncommon. They leak directly onto the manifold. I lived with one for a year before I came across the 1 piece filter(WIX 33617). It take alot of heat to get diesel fuel to ignite.

 

[DeepRoots]

there is a large difference between diesel being sprayed under pressure onto something hot and diesel leaking onto something hot.

 

[gatorman21218]

As a certified pyromaniac I can attest to this. Diesel poured on the ground seldom/ if at all will light with a match. Gasoline however....

 

[Agnem]

Still would have made an ugly mess. You definitely averted something. I like that kind of luck.

 

[argve]

scary for sure... but yeah a leak takes forever and a day to get hot enough to burn but if it was spraying then the time table changes...

 

[SparkandFire]

Company I worked for had a '93 F350 4x4 w/460 burn to the ground and start a small forest fire on a mountainside down in so-cal a few years back on account of a failed power steering pump- truck had been in the dealer 3 times for ps leaks and they had replaced the pump about two weeks before this incident. I've never ran down a hill so fast in all my life!!!

Leaking fluids can be scary, no doubt.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

All this brings the question - how many of us have fire extinguishers in their trucks? I used to have two in my carbureted Chev, now I'm down to one in the diesel and the other went into a car I sold to a buddy.

 

[towcat]

All this brings the question - how many of us have fire extinguishers in their trucks? I used to have two in my carbureted Chev, now I'm down to one in the diesel and the other went into a car I sold to a buddy.

I have one 5lb in every truck. my gray truck has that and a 10lb in the utility box also. I have put out many fires with the 5lb units on gasser cars and trucks. Only one person refused to reimburse me for discharging the extinguisher on his chev TPI fire. I won't lift a finger for him next time.

 

[A_G]

diesel will ignite by flame at 140* F
diesel will auto combust at 400* F

thats why Big truck are allowed to have there fuel tanks on the exterior of the frame.

My 67 caught on fire once, used a fire extinguisher. got a small on in every vehicle

 

[oldmisterbill]

I have a fire extinguisher on the floor between the drivers seat & the door,. That is a nice place for one -you can just open the door & its right there or you can grab it on the way out of the cab.

 

[The Warden]

I have a couple of small fire extinguishers that I need to get recharged and get at least one put in the truck. VERY important thing to have IMHO...although one thing people forget is that they need to be inspected periodically, and looking at the gauge doesn't necessarily cover it! I had a full fire extinguisher in my old van, and I guess the pressure relief valve went bad or something on those lines. It started hissing, and I barely had time to get it out of the cab before it started discharging on its own I think there were still chemicals in it (don't remember which type of extinguisher it was), but it discharged until it was completely depressurized.

FWIW this discussion reminds me of some training I did with the Scouts at a Coast Guard station a number of years back. They had pots filled maybe 1/4 of the way with diesel fuel, and they would ignite the fuel and, after a safety/how-to lecture, send a kid (dressed in full fire gear) with an extinguisher to put the fire out. It was meant to train the kids on how to properly operate a fire extinguisher to put out a shipboard fire. The USCG people had to use a lit flare to ignite the fuel in the pot, and even with the flare, it took a full minute (or even longer if the wind picked up) to get the fuel burning...

I would recommend a dry-chem ABC extinguisher...they're messy, but you'll be able to put out any fire that you'll see on one of these trucks (or on any vehicle, unless you have a car with magnesium wheels....if a mag wheel catches fire {a rare Class D fire}, you may as well break out the Smores )...

 

[Russ]

All this brings the question - how many of us have fire extinguishers in their trucks?

I carry one in the camper and one in the tool box of the truck.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

I have a fire extinguisher on the floor between the drivers seat & the door,. That is a nice place for one -you can just open the door & its right there or you can grab it on the way out of the cab.

That's an excellent point, mine is on top of the dash on the passenger side so still fairly easy to reach, but I'll get another one for the driver side and put it right where yours is.

I carry one in the camper and one in the tool box of the truck.

Ah yes, I need one for the camper as well, thanks for the reminder.

 

[crashnzuk]

Yeah, fire may or may not have been in the cards, but it was certainly a lucky catch to stop a huge mess and lower MPGs. Sucks pumping the liquid gold onto the ground Although there seem to be an increasing number of burn spots on the interstates in recent years. I'm sure it sucks to be one of those who find out the hard way. I do wonder if there's an extinguisher on his truck I have one behind my seat in the Dodge, and one in the camper. I talked to him today, and he made it home with zero issues.
Travis..