Fire extinguisher in my garage saved the day!
Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 1:32 pm
Had some excitement this morning! A couple days ago, I fired-up the old '89 to see if it would run. I haven't run it in a long time. It ran, but barely. I moved some cars and took it down the street, but barely made it back to the garage with it. Flash forward to this morning, I go down to the garage armed with a can of Seafoam and some fresh gas (tank was empty or near empty). I wanted to keep the car in the garage in case it conked out. I didn't want to have it stranded down the road. I get it fired-up again, but need to keep revving it to keep it alive. I had all of the doors open for ventilation and I was trying to work the Seafoam through the motor. After revving it for awhile and it still running like crap, I gave up and shut it off. I walk over to my work bench and for some reason I turned and looked back at the car. I am thankful for a shiny floor, because I saw an orange glow reflecting from under the car... FIRE!
I grabbed my fire extinguisher that was only 10' away and got low to have a look. Apparently hot exhaust and decades old oil/grease leaks are a bad combo. I had a full blown fire near the cats! I pulled the pin and gave it a couple good sprays. Fortunately the freak'n fire went out.
After I had a moment to access the situation, I realized this could have been a REALLY bad day! The car was buried behind others in the garage and all of the other keys were back at the house. If I didn't have that BEAUTIFUL fire extinguisher readily available, it could have been catastrophic! If I had more time and more wits about me, I would have sprayed from the other side (away from the 00R). The R got a dusting and the floor was a mess. This gave me a reason to pull the cars out for a trip around the block to blow the dust off and to give the floor a good cleaning. I finished with a California duster for the cars and put them back for some more slumber. The 89 will not be run again until it's time to restore it!
If you don't have a fire extinguisher in your garage, go get one! (I need a new one!)
I grabbed my fire extinguisher that was only 10' away and got low to have a look. Apparently hot exhaust and decades old oil/grease leaks are a bad combo. I had a full blown fire near the cats! I pulled the pin and gave it a couple good sprays. Fortunately the freak'n fire went out.
After I had a moment to access the situation, I realized this could have been a REALLY bad day! The car was buried behind others in the garage and all of the other keys were back at the house. If I didn't have that BEAUTIFUL fire extinguisher readily available, it could have been catastrophic! If I had more time and more wits about me, I would have sprayed from the other side (away from the 00R). The R got a dusting and the floor was a mess. This gave me a reason to pull the cars out for a trip around the block to blow the dust off and to give the floor a good cleaning. I finished with a California duster for the cars and put them back for some more slumber. The 89 will not be run again until it's time to restore it!
If you don't have a fire extinguisher in your garage, go get one! (I need a new one!)
