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How many of you have had a tractor or car fire???

J

JOCCO

Well-known Member
Tractor, car, truck or other equipment catch fire? What was the cause and the aftermath? Me: I have seen quite a few from others but only had minor issues myself (put out quick no damage). WELL YESTERDAY WAS NOT THE WIFES DAY!!!! A VAN AT HER WORK, SUPPLIED TO HER BY THE COMPANY, DECIDED IT WANTED CREMATION AND NOW!!!! SHE IS OK, VAN IS NOT!!! So what episodes have you had.
 
My first job was a a VW Porsche technician. I carry a fire extinguisher in all vehicles except my quad and motorcycles.
Had a few, no serious damage
 
(quoted from post at 14:52:52 10/30/15) So what episodes have you had.
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Back in the 1970's I had an AMC Rebel (horrible car, but only cost me $125) with a world of electrical and mechanical gremlins. The heater/defroster stopped working so I just wired in a switch below the dash so that I could turn the fan on. Unfortunately I wired it in BEFORE the fuse.

One day I smelled something and then felt my legs were hot. My legs WERE ON FIRE! The wire got so hot it melted the wire insulation and the burning plastic was dripping onto my pants and had started them on fire! For years I had a burn scar where the plastic had stuck to my leg before I could get the car stopped and myself put out.

That was an interesting car. No gas guage, no speedometer, door locks were broken, overheated regularly, weathervaned in strong winds, horrible in the snow.
 
About 10 years ago combine. Some chaff in the engine compartment. Just smoldering, no open flame. Smelled it in time. Got lucky with that one.
 
My Farmall 450 caught fire under the dash this summer, cause was a short in the starter. The end result was that I had to replace everything electrical, and I mean everything.
 
Had my share of fires on vehicles I've been around. Had a '96 Suzuki King Quad back when I was in high school...on my way out to the field to get the cows, I noticed my leg getting very hot, evidently whoever had changed the oil overfilled it and it came out the dipstick--right onto the exhaust manifold! Was close to a stream so I was able to get the fire out quickly enough that there was no damage save for a few singed leg hairs.

Fire number two was electrical...the '69 C10 I drove in college burnt up one evening on the way home from church thanks to a bad ground. Was able to salvage the truck, but rewired it and promptly sold it. Kinda wish I had't...
 
My nephew lost two machine sheds full. Ford Expedition started it. Ford of course wouldn't do anything and building insurance does not cover any licensed vehicles. He had taken comprehensive off of the motorcycle and cars so he lost three vehicles, two without coverage, and a crotch rocket with no coverage. The equipment was covered. The JD FWA was almost new. They still miss tools and miscelanous items every day. Tough to recover totally from.

Make sure you have good insurance on any of your licensed vehicles, the building insurance will not cover them.
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Lemon "G" JD, about 6 months old. Carburetor overflowed and tractor burst into flames. That was one of the many, many problems that we had with the pile of junk.
 
When I was a kid, I had two VW bugs catch on fire - both as a result of the fuel inlet fitting coming out of the carburetor. The first one was in the middle of nowhere, but the second burned up downtown at 10 o'clock on a Saturday night, so lots of people got to watch that one
 
My 300U almost caught fire once. I was cutting hay and saw smoke coming out from under the hood. A bird had built a next on the manifold and on this tractor that put the nest next to the gas tank. Fortunately everything turned out OK.
 
Drove a combine I wished would have burned.....used to park it near trees when left in the field overnight in hopes of a thunderstorm coming in and lightening would hit it.....no such luck
 
Had a New Idea Uni Harvester catch fire one time. Electrical and it set off the gas. I was running at night and saw a glow on the ground beside me from the engine compartment being on fire below and behind me.
 
Had an H Farmall catch fire under the hood from a mouse nest on the exhaust manifold. Hadn't been run for awhile. Luckily I was wearing leather gloves and threw the nest on the ground and stomped it out.

Once was welding on the muffler on a JD 105 combine. Hot slag dropped onto some grease under the engine and started a fire. It was by near my shop with a hose handy to put the fire out. In retrospect, I should have let the dammed thing burn and collected the insurance.
 
I stopped at a gun show on my way back from a Saturday meeting in town, going back to a motorcycle camp out in the mountains, long before I lived there. Among my purchases were two balls in a blister pack treated with something that explodes when they bounce. I decided to stop at a gas station rather than try and go 20 miles to the next one. As I stopped at the pump flames came around my leg. It appears the balls vibrated enough together to ignite the paper on the blister pack, and my nylon saddlebags and the 50 or so sheets of paper I had in there. Grabbed the waterhose and put it out. Good thing I didnt try to go farther, once those foam filled seats ignite its all over
 
Back around 1970, had a 58 Chev, driving down the street. Heater had sprung a leak, took it out to get repaired, so there was a big hole under the dash. Heard a big puff & the seat was on fire beside me. Slammed it in park & bailed out at 35mph. Think it started as a fuel pump leak that sprayed on exhaust pipe, then fan blew the fire to interior.

Willie
 
I had my JD 5020 catch fire from a electrical short under the dash. All the build up of chaff over the years covered with hydraulic fluid started burning. My car was about 50 ft from the tractor with the extinguisher. I ran (flew) to the extinguisher and put out the fire out before any major damage. Stan
 
Should ad that I been in on 2 chainsaws catching fire a Mcculloch and a Partner The mac I was using a large old superpro when I was holding a ball of fire!!!! Pretty much ruined bothsaws
 
Kind of funny we had a G do similar. No serious damage and it was not a lemon. What other issues did you have with it.
 
I had a 6400 JD light off on me one evening. I had just finished feeding, and was on the way back to the tool shed when I noticed flames coming out the right side of the engine area. I was about 100' from a hydrant, and threw the tractor into a higher gear, then doused it down with water. I disconnected the batteries and called the insurance company. They told me to get it fixed. The bill was over $4k, so I talked to the adjuster, and he said that he'd rather pay that than some $50k for a new tractor.....
 
55 ROUNDBACK JD COMBINE, FLATHEAD, VERT EXHAUST PIPE..STRAW HAT BLEW OFF AGAIN ,NOT ABOUT 2 STOP WHEAT CUTTIN...GRAIN TRUCK FLIES ACROSS FIELD 2 ME, WAVING...ENGINE RUNNIN FINE, ABLAZE, GUESS WHERE HAT LANDED...EVER NOTICE HOW LITTLE H2O U GOT, MID WHEATFIELD???
BE BLESSED, GRATEFUL, PREPARED, NIK VIET VET...JUST TOOK A SET OF PLUG WARZ..
 
yep, just this past september. Me and my two sons throwing/stacking hay on a trailer pulled by my 2000 F250. Truck started smokin.. Youngest son (20 yearold) hops out and says trucks smokin.. I jump off trailer and the exhaust pipe behind motor is on fire.. then caught the ground on fire underneith.. at which I open the tool box on this truck to get the fire extinguisher that I carry.. wasnt there..young son runs to his truck which is parked aways in the field to get his..in the mean time my oldest is trying to unhook the trailer and Im grabbing gater aid, water jug, spit, what ever I could get and started throwing it at the fire.. young son shows up with his extinguisher and finishes the job.. thank goodness I taught them well to carry fire extinguishers. Went out that night and bought him a new one.. all these years I have always carried one until that day.. I had it out was trying figure how to mount on tractor.. The F250 blew the trans seal and dripped tranny fluid on exhaust which caught fire and dripped on the ground below.. Good news is no damage.. replaced seal with better one and ground only suffered about a 2' x 2' spot.. could have been worse..
 
Had a 2005 1/2 ton Silverado catch fire. It had had the "gremlins" of the electrical kind. Was unloading fire wood and all at once the cab looked like someone was inside smoking about 20 cigars all at once. Ran 300 yards to the house and gotva fire extinguisher, too late fire was already coming out the window. 911 operator says stay away fire dept is on the way. They arrived in 20 min and got to see it burning the last of the tires. They told me to stay away and as long as its contained and of no danger let it burn out. Insurance was the trick its not like hitting a deer and filing a claim. They make an appointment to call you and you spend the next hour explaining the trucks history,your finances , and about 200 other questions. I do feel I was treated fairly as far as the settlement goes they even paid for a new plates...but that interview I never care to have happen again. I had nothing to hide and even had a bunch of repiar bills to show for major electrical repairs,but that claims person was something else. They basically figure I bunrt the thing up until they determined i wasn't bankrupt and the thing was paid for. The best part of the whole deal was them paying me to tow it out to the driveway lol. I figured 300$ was fair they didn't have a wrecker guy that would leave the gravel and I had my 300u international and a chain.
 
We had various smal fires in the combines through the years. Worst one burned some hydraulic hoses. Never lost more than a day on any of them.
 
Funny you should ask. Not long ago several mistakes led to the burning of my 8N. The first mistake was filling the gas tank to maximum capacity. Second mistake was attaching a drag. Third and final mistake was attempting a hill that was too steep. Gas dripped out of the tank and spilled on the battery and ignited. Just a little fire, no big deal. Back down the hill, gas will stop dripping and the fire will go out. But....the drag wouldn't let it back down and I had already shut the ignition off. Didn't want to restart a burning tractor so I tried to put the fire out br throwing dirt on it but that didn't work. Only thing to do was to take a pic with my phone and watch it burn.
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The "G" came from the factory with a bent connecting rod, which caused a scored cylinder. Had to take the block and get it bored out, which eventually opened up a sand hole in the casting and flooded one cylinder with coolant.

The crankshaft was machined wrong at the factory so could not hold the clutch hub nor the flywheel in position to control the endplay of the crankshaft. Just one dang thing after another. When my younger brother took over the farm, he gave the G to our nephew who wanted to collect some 2 cylinders.

Nephew soon soured on JD because of the large 4-wheel drive JD that he bought, because it would cost more to replace the clutch than the tractor was worth. Now he has a Versatile 4WD and likes it better than the greenies.
 
Wrens built a nest in an almost inaccessible place near the manifold of my JD 1020. Nowhere near water, but I managed to throw enough dirt in on it to stop it. No real damage.

I was gassing up another guy's IH back in the early 60s. He was paying me to clip his pastures with his tractor. A small amount of gasoline ran into some chaff, and when I hit the ignition it went "Whump! Here again I managed to put it out with dirt. Needed a new wiring harness.

Was working on Pinto once; tried to turn the engine over forgetting I had a loose fuel line. No real monetary loss, considering the value of the car.
 
I have been very lucky in that department. My garden tractor lit up last summer but I was within spitting distance of the house. Have a whole pile of ABC extiguishers. I almost ALWAYS have one on or nearby to where I am working. Don't forget to take your ABC units and turn them upside down and right side up half a dozen times once every year. Keeps the powder form packing. Very cheep insurance and you are silly not to buy a few.
 
There's nothing quite like a bearing going out on the straw walkers and starting wheat stubble on fire. That chopper is like a sprinkler of fire. Luckily it was a five acre field surrounded by woods and a dirt road. My VW bug burned in high school because the dork that changed the motor mount didn't tighten the hose clamp. And NO the dork wasn't me. It was warranty work.
 
Was lining up big bales to haul with my 450 Farmall. Was close to a highway so parked it behind a tree up under the branches. Want back two days later and started it up and soon smoke was coming out from under the hood. Packrats had built a nest on the manifold. Did get it out.
 
Farmall 400
Float in the carb. stuck
cylinder filled with gas
Pulled the spark plug
Hit the starter gas shot out about 6 ft
Hit the starter again
Plug wire ignited the gas and I had dry leaves on fire next to the tractor
OH CRAP
Ran for the water hose. All good again, but oh boy did I see some bad stuff about to happen.
SDE
 
About fifteen years ago, I had run into town for minute and when I came in sight of the house, my daughters 93 Mustang was sitting in the yard and it looked like I saw smoke come out the window. I pulled into the yard and there WAS smoke coming out the window! I stuck my head in the front door of the house and hollered for to call the fire department while I grabbed a garden hose. I had everything knocked down by the time the fire dept. arrived, but they put foam on it anyway. There was mostly smoke damage, had to replace the complete interior, and sound system. It had the premium sound system which had an amplifier under the passenger front seat and the tech. told me that the amp had obviously shorted and was sending too much current to one of the rear speakers which overheated and caught fire. I don't know about all that stuff, so I couldn't argue with him, and didn't care to. All I know is that if I had been five minutes later my daughter would have been looking for another car!
 
I had a Ford Aerostar van catch fire and burn in my driveway.
Think it was the alternator or something real close to it that shorted out and started the fire.

Losing that van was a piece of cake to deal with when you consider my house had burned to the ground just 2 years earlier.
 
'episodes' A couple - no fun at any time. No loss of life, human or animal, BUT some hospital required burns. Again, no fun.
 
When I was 19, my Ford LTD started on fire in heavy traffic in a large town.

Was able to get pulled over to the curb. I actually thought it was overheating and steaming... and was going to open the hood. A passerby hollered, "DON'T open it!!"

Phone booths still existed back then... I dialed 911. The firehouse dispatch kept asking, "What is your emergency and your location?"... I'd answer them and they would ask me again.

Finally a guy from a service station came running across the street (zig-zagging through moving traffic)... whipped the hood open and doused the fire with an extinguisher.

Next the fire truck finally showed up and really doused everything. The Fire Marshall called me that evening to find the location of the phone booth... after they checked it out - the Fire Marshall called back and explained it was a faulty phone booth. I could hear the them just fine - but they could not hear any of my replies to their questions. It turns out they found me because a person drove to the fire station and reported the fire and my location (it was before cell phones).

Not a fun experience and scared the daylights out of me.

Car was towed away and was a total loss... ended up buying a little cherry red Mustang with the insurance settlement.
 
I have had a few where the carb back fires and catch fire but got them out fast. I still remember back when I was in CT and riding a motorcycle around with a girl friend on back we saw a car driving by use that was on fire. I did a fast U turn and caught up to it and got them to pull it over before it got real bad. Even got the fire out pretty fast with a couple of sodas they had. Sure did scare the girl that was on the bike with me because I spun around so fast and did a wheelie catching up to that car
 
Years ago I was working on a Farmall 300, was taking off the gas line and gas spilled onto the engine block, tried to maneuver the line out and raked across the battery terminals, sparked and caught the gas on fire. I was able to use a rag to beat and snuff it out with no damage but boy was I scared, I was working inside the barn with the tractor next to 3000 bales of hay.
 
Had a wiring harness fire while out on a date on my Road Runner , only damage was the harness and a battery cable that i cut to stop the fire . Another wiring harness fire on my 88 Ford one ton on a dark and raining night in Dec. while delivering a tractor , that one was a touch and go thing as the truck was setting next to the guys barn and the wind was blowing towards the barn , we would knock the fire down and it would come back . Cut the battery cable and thought we had it and it started again due to the break away battery on the trailer . Five guys running with five gallon buckets of water from the milk house back and forth . Not sure what started but nothing 6 grand could not fix. Had my one combine light up while splitting a corn field . Found out a five pound extinguisher was not enough but the garden hose hanging on the house trailer was that was about three hundred feet away . I ran down some corn to get it out in the green hayfield and clost to the trailer . someone saw the fire and called the fire dept . I had it out by the time three trucks came racing across the hay field. A bearing on the cylinder variable speed shive went bad and caught the dust and fodder on fire . Yep had enough fire to last me .
 
A little advice - on the modern cars with cable operated hood latches, the moment you think you have an underhood fire, pull the hood release and get the hood up. I've tried to extinguish several car fires where the hood was too hot to touch and/or the cable mechanism had failed from the heat. I've put out at least a half dozen engine compartment fires with my little truck mounted fire extinguisher, but I've struck out on several where the hood was either still latched or too hot to touch.

My own fire - I glanced at the dash gauges on my 630 JD and figured my ammeter had shot craps - the needle was pointing at 9 o'clock. Then I saw the flames. I'd just filled the gas tank. Jumped off with my leatherman pliers and cut every wire that I could reach - luckily got the ones that needed to be cut. A wire hold-down had broken, and the alternator wire had gotten against the exhaust and shorted after melting the insulation. Saved the tractor and baler, but had to do a midnight re-wire on a steep hillside in the hayfield.
 
OH Man ,, I have had a few ,.,.my 4020 diesel has burned wires twice, all by itself ,,watch out for battery chargers and coolant heaters ,. had a few fires from that junk ,. , bak when I was in school, I rode on the back of the ihc 203 with a fire extinguisher , one very dusty year ,, it caught fire a dozen times or more .. just could not keep that dust away from the holt motor,,. my brother and I lost a 510 massey 30 yrs ago , that was probably the worst personally ,neighbor lost his 6620 jd in my field, had a problematic latch on the door,but he got out,,. set the oily shop floor on fire with a pc of hot steel ,numerous back fires under the car hood ,, no biggy , threw my coat over them , that smothered them out,20 yrs ago my 850 nh roundbaler started wrapping twine on the main shaft that is covered by the box shield ,.,. I was rollin corn stalks,. and the pikup had all my attention until i saw fire ,,kept going till the bale was full dropping little flamelites along the way across the field , so that it would kik out , kikt it out on fire , let the bale burn , and went back running don the flames with the tractor . most recent fire was a roundbale tipt into the tire and started burning
 
Another fire I had was in my wood chipper. The exhaust was near the ground, and caught some leaves on fire next to the tire, and the tire was blazing before I got it out. How could I forget that one, it wasn't that long ago either. Stan
 
In my youth me and a friend did some vehicle renovations as a hobby.
We had just finished a car a couple days before and it was sitting outside awaiting a buyer when my friend lit the burning barrel 30' away and chucked in a pail of used oil and dirty diesel in it to get burned as well and then he went to feed the cows.
As luck would have it the barrel had a hole in the bottom and oil ran from there underneath the car,...you can guess the rest.
He was lucky he did not burn the whole farm to the ground as the car was sitting next to the shop.

Other than that i had a baler fire i caught on time when turning around at the end of a swath and after kicking the burning bale out i killed the smoldering belt with my coffee.
The bale burned up but that was it,..luckily no wind that day.
 
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