Re: SER1. Today's cautionary tale.

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Hi Tom,

Glad you had a fire extinguisher handy; further from one things might not
have turned out so well.  You may have already done it, but the first
accessory I bought for both my Rovers was a chemical fire extinguisher
that I mounted on the gearbox cover right ahead of the shift lever.  I can
imagine instances where I might not be able to grab it, but in most of
those I probably wouldn't be able to save the beast anyway :-)

George E Sollish	Chief Engineer		Auto Gear Equipment
			Project Manager		The Payne Lake Project

On Mon, 2 Aug 2004, Tom Wykes wrote:

> Date: Mon, 02 Aug 2004 12:50:54 +0100
> From: Tom Wykes <tw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx>
> Reply-To: series1@xxxxxxxxx.xxx
> To: series1@xxxxxxxxx.xxx
> Subject: SER1. Today's cautionary tale.
>
>
> I got to work at 8:30 this morning and at 12:00  The receptionist rang me
> to say
>
> "Tom there's smoke coming out of your car"
>
> So I grabbed one of the Co2 extinguishers from the reception area and ran
> over to my 86". sure enough smoke coming from the engine bay and some small
> flames visible. A quick shot of Co2 through the rad panel and up from under
> the wheel arch seemed to kill the flames. Then I had a friend stand by with
> the extinguisher whilst I lifted the bonnet (hood). He chucked in a
> cautionary blast as I opened it.
>
> No real damage, and the car still starts and runs fine.
>
> Cause.  I had topped up the oil a couple of days ago and had left the
> filler cap on the battery and forgotten to replace it so when I drove it
> the cap had lodged between the live terminal and the inner wing. I guess
> the paint had held out for quite a while but after driving to work it must
> have started to arc and the cap as a result had got very hot. Hot enough to
> ignite the oil residue in the breather and melt a small hole in the wing
> where it had been arcing to.
>
> A: GET A BATTERY TERMINAL COVER.
> B: PUT THE CAP BACK.
> C: DON'T USE THE BATTERY AS A TRAY.
>
> I guess I owe the receptionist a drink or two. Especially as I'm parked
> next to the "VP engineerings" £40K Merc.
>
>
>
>
>
> Regards.
>
> Tom Wykes.
>
>
>
> PCB Designer
> Cambridge Broadband.
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> tw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
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