Help!

GENERAL

Car fire worry

Q From the picture you will see the situation that suddenly arose when my neighbours car suddenly caught fire. The Mercedes soft-top had been left on trickle-charge overnight, and the car had only been returned after having £2000+ of work on the roof folding gear four days before.

Luckily cyclist’s riding past saw smoke coming from under the bonnet, knocked on the owner’s door and pulled out the plug from the charger. The owner and myself used hose pipes on to the bonnet, which by this time had flames coming from underneath. I was aware of the danger of explosion as there was a full fuel tank.

I was expecting to see the fireman use foam, but they used water – the same as we had. Have you some thoughts on this as to what people should do, and what extinguishers are good buys?

John Whitlam

A Having personally experienced a Renault Megane catching fire and going up in flames I can say from first-hand experience that the speed in which the vehicle turned from depositing a few whiffs of smoke until it was literally an inferno was less than a couple of minutes. Luckily the vehicle was not in the workshop at the time, but in the seconds it took me to run inside to get an extinguisher to arriving outside again, any attempt at quelling the flames with a single extinguisher would have been useless. The fire brigade did arrive quickly and as in the case of your neighbours vehicle they doused the flames with an abundance of water.

There are of course different kinds of vehicle fires, and I believe the Mercedes incident as with the Renault incident I experienced were both electrical fires. If time had allowed, disconnecting the battery may have reduced the problem, but in both cases once the electrical short has taken hold – and whilst there is current in the wiring a small extinguisher would be of little use. Petrol fires are much less of a problem now than they were – this is because fuel injection systems are for the most part sealed, and unlike the old carburettor fuelled engines there is far less chance of escaping fuel igniting.

I would also mention that the fireman I spoke to informed me that due to the self-sealing fuel pipe now used and the enclosed fuel tank ventilation systems, it would be very unlikely for the fuel in the tank to begin fuelling the fire.

Another safety point is that if smoke is seen coming from under the bonnet, there is a possibility that raising the bonnet will allow the flames to erupt into a much larger problem.

The Fire Brigades advice when detecting a car fire is: Switch off the engine. Release the bonnet – Do Not Open. If the vehicle is occupied get everyone out of the vehicle. Get far away from the vehicle and stay away, keeping onlookers and others away. Dial 999 and call the fire and rescue service.

If, and only if, you believe it is safe to do so, attempt to put out the fire with a dry powder or foam extinguisher. If the fire is in the engine compartment, do not open the bonnet but aim the extinguisher through the radiator grille or under the edge of the bonnet. Use with caution and if in doubt, don’t attempt to tackle the fire.

They go on to say. Never use water on an engine fire – it can short out wiring and spread burning petrol with disastrous effect. It is the massive quantity of water that the fire hose can deliver which makes it the option used by the Fire service in certain instances.

In many circumstances a small extinguisher will have little effect, but the recommendation is to use foam or powder, both of which if used on an engine fire will cause permanent and irreversible damage to the engine. In the workshop the C02 extinguisher is always the first choice as no harm is done to the affected area. Anyone who has discharged a powder extinguisher will know just how much damage the resulting powder emission creates.

A 2kg Powder Fire Extinguisher can be purchased from this website https://bit.ly/CMLYoFe and this may be a good standby for any potential vehicle fire problems. Although from the same website the C02 version is available for under £40.

FORD ESCORT

Plug problem

Q My 1993 Escort MkV convertible with the 1.6 Zetec engine requires a new timing belt and spark plugs. I thought I’d better look at the plugs, as there has been a misfire from time to time recently. The amount of water around the plugs deep down in their sockets was incredible and I feel sure that was causing the misfire. Unfortunately, they are well and truly rusted-in. I’ve left them soaking in duck oil but would much appreciate any tips to try and free them off without damage.

Richard Sanders

A Leaving them to soak is a good move. It will also help if you can run the engine for a short time before removal, to warm up the cylinderhead, which should expand the alloy slightly and ease removal. If resistance is felt when undoing the plugs, try tightening them a quarter-turn before continuing to undo them.

The water in the void where the plugs sit is quite a common occurrence and can come from one of two sources: either rainwater creeping down from above, possibly through the washer jet seal in the bonnet, or coolant leaking through a corroded core plug. There are two core plugs in the cylinderhead, between cylinders one and two and between three and four. If these are corroded and leaking, the cam cover will need to be removed to renew them. This is quite a simple job.

FORD FIESTA

Battery charging solution

 We are both elderly enough to have to stay at home because of the