1.What causes a car to catch on fire ?I know wires shorting out , gas leaks on really hot parts , but what else ?

3.Dad was telling me sometimes when a car backfires it can catch on fire ...is this true ?

4.Does a fuel injected car and a carbed car sound the same ? Lets say you have a carbed 84 2.8 camaro and an 85 fuel injected 2.8 ..will they sound the same ?

5. I get alot of static electricity in the winter time when I touch things or touch other people . I was wondering , what if Im at the gas station and I go to pick up the pump handle and I get static electricity .....Am I just ganna go KA-BOOOOM ?

 

1. iono
3. maybe, b/c it is unburnt fuel, HENCH fuel is combustible, if theres a spark, that's where it'll start
4. i've heard both, a carbed, vs/ mine, the carbed sounded around the same as mine, but you have to put in the picture how well each car is running, if both tuned up to the perfect condition, i think carbed would sound a little louder
5. that's a krazy question, i dont' know that one either

 

Believe it or not, this very topic was just on 60Minutes last month. It happens quite frequently and people, or cars, or both go up in flames. They were pointing out that you should always ground yourself before you touch the gas pump.

 

That's hilarious.. Ground yourself before touching the pump...... Damn..that's scary stuff. Going to pump the gas. Picked the wrong pair of socks. Mom forgot to put the static cling sheet in the dryer today. Zap. BOOM!

And carbed and EFI thirdgens SHOULD sound nearly the same, but since they've got different fuel delivery methods entirely, there will be some differences. Such as...2.8's and 3.1's got the same exhaust, yet sound very noticeably different. What changed? A 3.1 got more stroke. That's all....but it was enough to change the exhaust note quite a bit. I can listen to both drive by and tell which one is which.

 

AFGT is dead right on this one , you should always ground yourself first to discharge the static electricity. It happens more often than you think.

As far as a backfir through the intake causeing a fire . Yes it can happen especially with aftermarket intake filtering systems , but rarely with factory equiptment . I know with a carb system If you get a fire in the carb keep cranking with WOT and it will pull the flame into the engine and put it out.

 

I would have to assume they would sound similar at idle but at the upper end they would sound quite diffeent

I say this because of the air intake system, every time you change the routing of the air intake on any car it dosn't sound the same as it did before in the higher rpms especially if you go to an open element. so i would be inclined to think that the carb and the mpfi system would affect the sound just because of the route the air takes to get there

 

Yes, they would sound slightly different since carbs have a distinct sound to me that I can tell the difference. I don't think the difference will be that noticable.

You don't always need a spark for a car to catch on fire. If you have a major oil leak and the oil is dripping on a 600 degree exhaust manifold, and you are driving for a long time, yes something plastic that is nearby might catch on fire. Something similar almost happened to me before I discovered the leak just in time.


I do believe it was either the Pinto or the Pacer that would spontaneoulsy combust. I still don't know why it occurred, but there was a recall for them.

 

The Pinto blew up if it got hit in the back.. Gas tank issues. Glad I don't own one..some jackass forgets to use the brakes...he gets a scratched bumper, your piece of sh*t Ford explodes...not cool....

 

shoot , I'll tell you one thing , next time I get gas I will be making sure to ground myself !!!!

 

Unless you are wearing a cotton jumpsuit that just came out of the dryer, you are rubbing your feet against the carpet of your car, and you are petting a rabbit, you should be fine.

That kind of thing doesn't happen often enough to be concerned about it.

 

I think that kinda depends on the car too.. My dad's Cavalier has a statically charged body I swear.. Zaps you ALL the time.. My car has never once zapped me.

 

I've zapped myself on my door handle a few times !

 

yeh, i've zapped myself on the bird several times too...and this school i'm at , i swear that i gather more static electricity walking down the hall, than on any other type of carpet known to man. I can walk down the hall at the dorm, touch my door handle, and boom, enough spark to fire fuel in a combustion chamber, it sux. And back in st. louis a few years back, they started making a big deal of grounding yourself at the pump, becuase like a gazillion - or 3 people had started fires when trying to pump gas (that or they blew themselves up). And remember, our gas doors are plastic, sooooo.....get out of the car, touch the glass, touch the plastic door, grab the pump and boom. hehe, would suck though.

 

a friend of mine was havin a problem with his car it would not start so he took off the air cleaner lid and started messin with his carb, when he tryed 2 start it it back fied and his hood lineing cought on fire. just make sure u got the cover on the air cleaner when the hood is down and watch when its off.

 

My moms escort use to give me a big A$$ shock every time I got out of the car. I think its them tweed, or wolven seats that do it.

 

Hoses can burst, too. Say you've still got the original power steering hoses on there, from 1982, and the hose decides to crack at one of the pressure fittings, and sprays your hot engine with power steering fluid.