Car caught fire!!

S3 OKR

S3 OKR

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I bought a S3 and got some bits put it (fmic, 3inch turbo back exhaust, intake)
Also gave it a full service and cambelt and water pump. The car come out the garage today so i take it for a drive. Everything seems fine. So i put my foot down for a few mins in the lanes and notice smoke coming out the engine bay so i pull up into esso and open the bonnet and see the top of the engine where the charge pipe,heat sheild is on fire and the manifold is glowing red. Had some water and put it out just in time. Does anyone know if the heat shield can catch fire as thats the only thing near the manifold that i can see. I dont wana be catching fire everytime i drive the car
Has anyone had the same problem.
Ive booked the car for a map at Rtech on the 4th. Need to do something about it.
Thanks
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did you throw water over your red hot manifold? - that might have cracked.

could it have been oil spilt over the manifold from your service caught on fire but some of the hoses on top of the cam cover look burnt too.

is it possible the turbo back exhaust is leaking? when my stock downpipe flexipipe broke the hot exhaust gases melted my boost gauge pipework.
 
Stuart B said:
did you throw water over your red hot manifold? - that might have cracked.

could it have been oil spilt over the manifold from your service caught on fire but some of the hoses on top of the cam cover look burnt too.

is it possible the turbo back exhaust is leaking? when my stock downpipe flexipipe broke the hot exhaust gases melted my boost gauge pipework.
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Not so much the manifold, the fire was catching the rubber seal where the skuttle panel is but some water may have dripped down, had to be done didnt want anything else catch fire...Will a oil spill catch fire ? And i dont think the exhaust is leaking.
I have no clue atm. My last s3 had a simular problem. That was the bulkhead sound proofing touching the down pipe and was smoking...

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this is why i decided to get a small fire extinguisher in my car, Hope i never have to use it but could be crucial if anything did happen. hope you get whatever the problem is sorted before your remap :icon thumright:
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For the car to have caught fire like that I would imagine that it would have needed an accelerant of some kind, oil or whatever....

Its fairly common on jobs like this for oil contamination to occur as you handle the parts and also common for it to burn off like that...

Its easy for fluids like that to catch alight... turbo engines generate a lot of heat turning manifolds and downpipes red hot...

Mine caught fire on a dyno day once as a hose I used on the turbo coolant line to the block split showering an already glowing (heat wrapped) downpipe in G12 coolant which is actually flammable

Under normal circumstances heat shielding won't catch fire but given enough heat and something combustable covering it then a fire could happen

<tuffty/>
 
as tuffty said, oily heatshield, usually torn and dont go back on properly, draped onto glowing manifold, and yes will ignite
 
ToughlilT said:
this is why i decided to get a small fire extinguisher in my car, Hope i never have to use it but could be crucial if anything did happen. hope you get whatever the problem is sorted before your remap :icon thumright:
View attachment 171980
Click to expand...
That looks really neat. Where did you get it from.

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<tuffty/> said:
For the car to have caught fire like that I would imagine that it would have needed an accelerant of some kind, oil or whatever....

Its fairly common on jobs like this for oil contamination to occur as you handle the parts and also common for it to burn off like that...

Its easy for fluids like that to catch alight... turbo engines generate a lot of heat turning manifolds and downpipes red hot...

Mine caught fire on a dyno day once as a hose I used on the turbo coolant line to the block split showering an already glowing (heat wrapped) downpipe in G12 coolant which is actually flammable

Under normal circumstances heat shielding won't catch fire but given enough heat and something combustable covering it then a fire could happen

<tuffty/>
Click to expand...
Yeah that does make sence. They did the rocker cover gasket too so most likely some oil went onto the heat sheild and dripped onto the manifold.
Thanks

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badger5 said:
as tuffty said, oily heatshield, usually torn and dont go back on properly, draped onto glowing manifold, and yes will ignite
Click to expand...
What would be the best solution to fix this ? Will removing the heat sheild fully be ok or shall i keep it on. Thanks

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I would think Rtech will refuse to do the remap until all the fire damaged parts are replaced so looks like you will have a busy Christmas.
 
Don't remove any heatshielding... its there for a reason...

All you can do is clean everything off with brake cleaner or some APC and warm water, make sure things like insulation isn't loose and close or touching anything that will be hot...

General rule of thumb is... if its in line of sight of something that glows its going to get hot... manifold and down pipe will be like an electric heater and we all know what happens to stuff left in front of those

<tuffty/>
 
Flowrider99 said:
I would think Rtech will refuse to do the remap until all the fire damaged parts are replaced so looks like you will have a busy Christmas.
Click to expand...
From what i can see nothing needs replacing from the top. Im going to take it to the garage later to get them to have a propper look.

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<tuffty/> said:
Don't remove any heatshielding... its there for a reason...

All you can do is clean everything off with brake cleaner or some APC and warm water, make sure things like insulation isn't loose and close or touching anything that will be hot...

General rule of thumb is... if its in line of sight of something that glows its going to get hot... manifold and down pipe will be like an electric heater and we all know what happens to stuff left in front of those

<tuffty/>
Click to expand...
Thanks. I think some of the heat shield is loose and maybe was touching the manifold. I will get them to put it on properly and clean it with brake cleaner. Thanks for your help.

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S3 OKR said:
That looks really neat. Where did you get it from.

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Click to expand...

It's from https://kap.industries/ in Australia was inspired after @IanPG got it for his. It's for a mk4 golf but fits with some spacing, only thing is getting it shipped to the uk wasn't cheap i paid far too much for it in the end but happy with the placement and look
 
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Those little fire extinguishers might just do the job on a very small fire like the one in the orginal post but most of them are empty after a few seconds use & usually when you see flames it's too late.
 
S3 OKR said:
What would be the best solution to fix this ? Will removing the heat sheild fully be ok or shall i keep it on. Thanks

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Click to expand...
removing it off the red hot glowy thing will fix your fire thing..
Removing it completely will then leave the rubber exposed which itself will burn and charr and fail
 
badger5 said:
removing it off the red hot glowy thing will fix your fire thing..
Removing it completely will then leave the rubber exposed which itself will burn and charr and fail
Click to expand...
Just had a look at it and when i touched the heat shield it just fell apart it burnt so much that when i tryed moving it it just crumbled. I would mostlikly need a new one. Is this something tps or someone will sell ?

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ToughlilT said:
It's from https://kap.industries/ in Australia was inspired after @IanPG got it for his. It's for a mk4 golf but fits with some spacing, only thing is getting it shipped to the uk wasn't cheap i paid far too much for it in the end but happy with the placement and look
Click to expand...
Thanks i will have to find someting local.

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S3 OKR said:
Just had a look at it and when i touched the heat shield it just fell apart it burnt so much that when i tryed moving it it just crumbled. I would mostlikly need a new one. Is this something tps or someone will sell ?

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Click to expand...

you can try and make your own of a fashion. we buy materials from here> https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/s/heat-insulation

or TPS will sell replacement jacket. i dont know its price tho
 
Update. So took the car to the garage few days ago and they found the problem saying that the red pipe that connects the charge pipe to the turbo has a split on it and is leaking abit of oil making it drip onto the manifold causing the fire... does that sound right ? How much oil bes in these pipes??

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There will be 'some' oil in them due to the fact the PCV returns to the inlet... lots of oil though could indicate worn engine or turbo

<tuffty/>
 
S3 OKR said:
Update. So took the car to the garage few days ago and they found the problem saying that the red pipe that connects the charge pipe to the turbo has a split on it and is leaking abit of oil making it drip onto the manifold causing the fire... does that sound right ? How much oil bes in these pipes??

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Click to expand...
split pipe is boost leak. oily pipes is engine breathing heavily... some oil mist is common, excessive is sign of blowby and wear issues. old cars now. not without their wear and tear issues these days. make it air tight, add the heatshielding back on and it will go on fire free for miles
 
badger5 said:
split pipe is boost leak. oily pipes is engine breathing heavily... some oil mist is common, excessive is sign of blowby and wear issues. old cars now. not without their wear and tear issues these days. make it air tight, add the heatshielding back on and it will go on fire free for miles
Click to expand...
Will sort the boost pipe out. How can i fix the breathing. Ther was a few breather pipes split that i replaced last week. Could it have been that ? Also the garage said that my turbo is weak and on its way out. But the car boosts fine and ther is no smoke. I booked it in for a map on the 4th and now thinking twice about mapping it with a weak turbo. Any advice ?
Thanks

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Will VCDS give feedback of turbo/boost performance? Worth a thought!

Depends on how much you trust the garage, they may be trying to get a new turbo out of you but on the other hand if you do have a weak turbo you would only be wasting money on a remap to have it done at a later date with a new one fitted...could always explain situation to tuner and ask for a rolling road to gauge performance before going ahead with remap.
 
Won't rtech do an engine health check before they map it, don't just trust any old garage telling you 'you have a weak turbo' that's £1k based on what measurements?
 
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Stuart B said:
Won't rtech do an engine health check before they map it, don't just trust any old garage telling you 'you have a weak turbo' that's £1k based on what measurements?
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Yeah im still going to go Rtech and get them to check it propper. They know what they doing.

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So changed that top pipe and drove home opened the bonnet and see smoke coming from the same place. Noticed the heat wrap was touching the manifold so went back and got them to take the heat wrap off. And it was all burnt. Car seems fine now. Will give it a run tonight just to make sure. Got it booked at R tech tomorrow.
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Not so much of a great day
Update. So went to Rtech and while doing pre map checks we ran into some problems. Done a smoke test and a boost pipe from the throtle body is leaking and the pcv needs changing they also said delete the N249, also need to change the thermostat and them temp done stay up. They checked my fuel pump and said that it needs changing but i have a recipt of it being changed just over 10k miles ago?? So i asked them how much to do all this work and they said they can only quote me on the pcv and thermostat for now as they dont know how long it will take for the rest and what parts are needed ? They quoted me 3 hours labour just to do the pcv delete ? Does that sound right... i asked a mate whos a mechanic and he said for someone like Rtech it wont even take 1 hour...i dont want to be getting ripped off. Any advice ?? Thanks

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I disagree.

Fuel pump will be an hour assuming you hae done it before. Longer if not.

Thermostat is a bitch of a job with the alternator/inlet manifold in place. Not impossible but a pain. 2 hours easily.

N249 delete is an hour if you want to do it neatly.

PCV etc will depend on how ruined the existing pipes are as you come across them.

As you need to sort the PCV system out, as well as the thermostat you’d be just as well removing the inlet manifold to do it all at once.

Its all pretty easily doable. But not in 3 hours.
 
S3 OKR said:
Not so much of a great day
Update. So went to Rtech and while doing pre map checks we ran into some problems. Done a smoke test and a boost pipe from the throtle body is leaking and the pcv needs changing they also said delete the N249, also need to change the thermostat and them temp done stay up. They checked my fuel pump and said that it needs changing but i have a recipt of it being changed just over 10k miles ago?? So i asked them how much to do all this work and they said they can only quote me on the pcv and thermostat for now as they dont know how long it will take for the rest and what parts are needed ? They quoted me 3 hours labour just to do the pcv delete ? Does that sound right... i asked a mate whos a mechanic and he said for someone like Rtech it wont even take 1 hour...i dont want to be getting ripped off. Any advice ?? Thanks

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Click to expand...
did the car actually get onto the dyno at all then?
 
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