Engine Fire!#$%

Driving home from work recently on a Hot Day in heavy traffic. Just got off the freeway and was stopped at a light. Started smelling something like burning leaves. Proceeded onward after a green light. Was attempting to brake a little when I noticed my brake pedal almost went to the floor. Quickly pumped my brakes and they came back up to pressure. Holy Smokes!!! WTF?!@# Went a little further and started smelling buring rubber. WTF Over! Just a few seconds later white smoke came rolling from under my Taco hoods. I was in the middle lane of a three lane one way expressway and knew I had to get off the road quick. I quickly exited right onto the shoulder cutting off a guy in a white chevy truck. But there was some room. Got the Taco stopped and hopped out of my Taco popping the hood. Raised the hood to see flames coming out of the driver side of the motor. I looked around to see if there was anywhere I could get something to put the fire out. The guy in the chevy truck had seen I was in distress and stopped in traffic and got out of his truck. I did not know if he was going to either whoop my butt for cutting him off or what,..but I asked if he had a fire extinguisher. He said no,..but he had a large cooler full of ice cold gatoraid. Which he dumped on my motor and put the fire out. This guy saved my Taco!!! It would have burned to the ground in a few more seconds as the fire would have spread.

I thanked him sincerly and we looked at the engine for the cause. Apparently, a peice of tumbleweed with a peice of paper towel had gotten lodge next to my exhaust manifold and finally caught on fire. Damaging my wire loom next to the manifold and an ABS sensor line. The chevy truck guy immediately left because he was holding up traffic.

I looked my truck over,...got back in it and started it up. Everything seemed to work,..ABS light on however,..had break pedal and drove home. When I got home I looked over the Taco a little better and the starter wire to the solenoid was bare and a few wires were stressed wth heat and the ABS sensor wire was toast. I removed the harness on that side cutting the harness going up into the intake area as it snakes everywhere. Had to remove the air compressor and alternator too.

Being an Electrical / Electronic Engineer I replaced the damage wires and refurbished what could be refrubed in the harness and reinstalled the harness splicing where needed and using solder and industrial strength heat shrink where needed. Viloa,..better than new!! My Taco is saved!!! But that was a very close call.

Lessons Learned ?

(First of all I take very good care of my Taco.)

1. Keep a Fire Extinguisher in your car. You never know.

2. Check you engine for debris. ( I have no idea how that crap got there.)

Also,..I Thank the Good Lord for the Angel in the White Chevy Truck.
(I owe him for that and owe him some GatorAid. I wish I had asked his name but in the confusion of the moment I forgot.)

4. Tough Little Truck. Best there is.

Thak You Very Much.

 

so, basically a chevy saved a toyota? hmm...

glad she didn't burn down and you are safe.

 

Damn tumbleweeds..........glad it wasn't worse.

 

He was prepared because Chevy's burn all the time. Glad the damage wasn't worse and you are ok.

 

I would have let my truck burn to the ground and collected insurance.

 

glad yer ok... count your blessings!

 

x2

I love watching tumbleweed explode off of the ARB bumper. Maybe I'll be more careful.

 

Well I'm going to go make sure I have a fire extinguisher in my truck now...It gets pretty damm hot in houston.

 

I'm sure that would have crossed my mind also

 

I would do about anything to keep my ol'Blue Taco going. My Taco has been very good to me. She has a few scratches and dents but I just consider them marks of character.

I am old fart and owned alot of cars and built several but this was the first fire I ever experienced in an automobile. I refused to take it to the Toyota House as they would have probably charged around $5k to fix it and I would have been stuck with $1k deductible. Fixing it myself virtually cost nothing,..just blood sweat and tears. Did I mention it was Hot?

Anyway, Thank You for the kind words. These Tacos are awesome trucks.