NOT going to try that again!!!

1. Thanks for all the suggestions about starting diesels in cold weather, even though I wasn't the one that asked.

2. Note to self: DO NOT preheat intake manifold with propane torch, if the top of the engine is covered with oil-soaked goldenrod fluff, chaff etc. left over from bushhogging last fall.

3. Gatorade will put out a fire, but smells funny. Didn't put it out completely, but slowed it until I found a pail and some water.

4. I am happy to report, 911 works on cell phones, used to be some glitches.

5. If you have buildings on a public road, but out of sight of your home farm, find out and memorize the 911 address.

Looking back, the whole thing was pretty stupid of me. I was running late and didn't want to wait the full two hours for the block heater to work. The only time I leave the heater plugged in overnight is when I know I will need the tractor first thing in the morning. Today I wasn't going to need it until after ten, so I planned to plug it in when I got there at 7:30-8:00. As things worked out I was delayed and it was nearly nine when I plugged it in.

Ten o'clock or so I hooked up my jump box for a little extra cranking power, cranked it and nothing. No ether, four miles to town and back for ether when I'm already late, not happening. Try a little propane torch on the intake manifold, like they suggested on YT.

AAARGH FIRE!!!! Scraped out a lot of burning stuff with my hand, fire crawling up the valve cover, call 911, "The fire department is on the way, stay away from the machine."

Flag down passers-by, "Got a fire extinguisher?"

"Got Gatorade."

Meanwhile I had come to my senses and gotten a pail of water from a spring about twenty feet away, basically washed all the burning material off the engine and on to the ground, where it went out.

Called 911 to report fire out, "Fire department five minutes away will continue their run."

Fire department arrived, assistant chief and one man in the small truck. I promised them a donation,

The tractor still wasn't warm enough to start, had to wait another half hour.

It gets the heart pumping for sure. It's good there was no damage. I've been involved with four engine fires that I can remember. Two were put out with snow. With the other two, a garden hose happened to be hooked to a hydrant close by. I don't care to be involved with another one. Jim

Never experienced an engine fire.There have been however,a few vehicles that I wish would have burned!!!HaHa Glad everything turned out OK!

Glad you & the tractor weren't hurt. The insult was the tractor still didn't start after all that.

So in terms of the YT advise we can assume Bubba & Billy Bob struck out. Note to everyone else- don't try this at home .

My Brother's VW bug caught on fire once, they put it out with BEER, yep shake you up a can and pop it open and it'll spray all over. But then someone came by with a real fire extinguisher and made sure it was really out, made a pretty big mess, boy I hate cleaning that dry chemical stuff off of an engine.

sounds like the only problem is that you put it out too soon. It probably would have burned itself out pretty soon anyway, and then it probably would have started.

glad you didn't burn up your tractor. couple years ago we were out plowing for the state. I am a the state yard getting loaded with salt and my buddy pulls inwith his truck. air dryer froze up pissing air out asks me for my little torch but it wouldn't work so he took a handful of rags soaked them in fuel put them in a can and lit it. the forman came out saw the campfire under the truck just shook his head and walked away.lol little crude but it worked.

It was right under the fuel tank, and I wasn't
waiting to see if it would burn out.

I know this is a tractor fire, but if you have a vehicle catch on fire, raise the hood immediately. I've stopped to help at several vehicle fires over the years, where they just sat there and let the closed hood get so hot that no one could touch it to open it. It just takes a minute to get too hot to touch. Or - on a newer vehicle - the hood release cable malfunkted from the heat. It's frustrating to be there with a good big fire extinguisher in your hand, and no way to get to the fire.

Here is a thought, how about just opening the valve on the torch and pointing it into the intake (without lighting the torch) and cranking the engine. I know it isn't as flammable as ether but would that work?

had a guy tell me his combine caught fire he said he put it out by pissing on it lucky for him no flash back!!!

Lucky for him he had enough nnalert....

The lesson here is to keep the tractor CLEAN of dust and chaff.

I keep telling the cow guys around here to do that as a preventative measure.

One guy laughed at me 'til chaff around the cab-post mounted offset exhaust on his green 6400 set the accumulated mess under the cab on fire!

He was in the yard and they had a big tank of water and pump set up in a truck for filling the sprayer, and put it out. Otherwise he would have lost the tractor.

He's pretty fastidious about keeping it clean now, a leaf blower or straight-through air nozzle on a big compressor works wonders!

Another reason to keep things clean is the block heater. It's NOT uncommon for cords to burn off and that does a pretty good job of setting the accumulated mess between the engine and frame rails on fire!

A neighbor lost a turkey shed repurposed as a machine shed that way a few years back.

He plugged in the block heater on a COLD day and shortly afterwards the cord sparked/burned and set the hay and straw mess on the DEERE 4630 loader tractor on fire.. He couldn't start it and get it out of the building because it hadn't heated up yet, and by the some the RFD got there, it was too late. The tractor, a couple of other modern tractors, a couple of antiques, and the shed were a total loss.

I know it's tough to keep a loader tractor that's used every day around hay, feed, straw or silage clean, but every bit of housekeeping helps in keeping the risk of fire down.

Few years ago I was headed to a friends food plot with the 4450 MFWD and offset disk. Smelled something burning, thot it was in the cab. no.....got out, saw smoke in the front pumpkin.....bearing had gone out, fire is under the what, 40-50 gallons diesel fuel. Had a can of pop in the cab, shook it, sprayed it into the gearbox, put out the fire but it immediately rekindled. I"m over a mile from the nearest farm, but there is water in the ditch. I always carry a coffee can in the cab, with essentials, like roll of TP, ether, etc. So, dip into the ditch,gravel included, throw multiple fills into the gearbox to quench the oil fire. Figured gears are shot anyway. Was not a cheap day!

My dad had a bearing go out on the combine years ago while combining wheat. The repairman came out and burned it off. He had plenty of water ready and doused all the hot pieces. He said he had seen chaff smolder for days while working on combines at his dealership.

must not have an enlarged prostate

Few years ago I thought I was going to lose my JD 1020; a wren nest I didn't know about was on top of my block/manifold and caught fire. Problem was, though a wren could get in that space easily enough, I couldn't---no way to access the fire, and nothing to fight it with except dirt. Basically had to just let the bird nest burn up. Lucked out.

A CO2 extinguisher is good to have laying around. Not only will it put the fires out, it can also be used to stop a run away diesel engine. The CO2 sprayed at or near the air intake will displace the oxygen needed to keep the engine running. They also don't leave the enormous powder mess everywhere when done.

A CO2 extinguisher is good to have laying around. Not only will it put the fires out, it can also be used to stop a run away diesel engine. The CO2 sprayed at or near the air intake will displace the oxygen needed to keep the engine running. They also don't leave the enormous powder mess everywhere when done.[/quote]

Or set the torch so it is blowing into the intake. I've done that before. It's not much but it's warmer air going into the engine.

(quoted from post at 20:41:09 12/13/13) It was right under the fuel tank, and I wasn't
waiting to see if it would burn out.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I suppose you couldn't see my tongue in my cheek from where you are. Timber skidders are notorious for burning. They get a build up of leaves twigs and oil built up between the skid pan and oil pan and transmission.

LOL!

I'm glad it worked out for you. I'm going to buy fire extinguishers for my tractors.

Many yrs. ago Was moving rd. bales one day with a tractor that spends alot of time bushhoging . Friend stopped by and offered me a beer . Long story short some shaff caught fire and the shaken beers made great fire ext. Hade to buy him another 6 pak.

Friend put unlit torch in intake of an old drill rig diesel ,to much and blow the head right off.

Most days I couldn"t dribble enough to put out a match.

A friend and I were standing on a street corner in the upper east side of Manhatten when a gal driving a brand new BMW 7 Series experienced a fire under the hood. She jumped out wearing clothes that looked like she'd just stepped out of Saks 5th Ave and, I swear, the FDNY rolled up. They were literally there in less than a minute. The drivers door was open but did they waste any time looking for the hood release. No Sir! Out came some of the biggest crowbars I've ever seen and did they ever go to work on that BMW! About two minutes later the BMW was unrecognizable but it didn't burn! No Way did it burn with NYs Finest on the scene. (;>))

Sorry. That should have been "NYs Bravest". If they find out I will never be forgiven.

I had the cylinder of a gas engine fill with gas. I pulled the plugs and hit the starter. After I got the gas out, I tried to air it by rolling it over with the starter. ALWAYS pull the coil wire first. It shot the burning gas about 8 feet and lit the dry leaves on fire too.
SDE

(quoted from post at 09:19:28 12/14/13) A friend and I were standing on a street corner in the upper east side of Manhatten when a gal driving a brand new BMW 7 Series experienced a fire under the hood. She jumped out wearing clothes that looked like she'd just stepped out of Saks 5th Ave and, I swear, the FDNY rolled up. They were literally there in less than a minute. The drivers door was open but did they waste any time looking for the hood release. No Sir! Out came some of the biggest crowbars I've ever seen and did they ever go to work on that BMW! About two minutes later the BMW was unrecognizable but it didn't burn! No Way did it burn with NYs Finest on the scene. (;&gt)

Click to expand...

When you have smoke in a building first thing they do is break out all of the windows in order to be able to find the fire. Back in the old days they taught "try before you try and shake before you break" in other words see if it will open before breaking it.

I was gonna do that to a battery charger that was on fire.My milk cow had left a half pail of water so I used that.

Put the torch in the air intake. Or if you have power there, use a hot air gun, works even better.