Just thought I would share this with you guys.

Was on a ride with my buddy from Atlanta to Savannah, GA (about a 3 hour ride) in his 3rd gen. We left Atlanta about 10:00pm that evening and was gona do a straight run, drop off a friend and come right back.

I was doing the first leg, running about a buck ten or so, when I noticed a little light from under the dask between my legs. At first I thought it was a reflection of some sort giving the speed at which I was travelling. The light continued, and started to flicker.

Unknown to me, he had just installed some aftermarket driving lights, and they weren't hooked up correctly, as it had no relay. The power demand from the lights cooked the wires, and started a fire under the dash.

Here we are in the middle of nowhere, a fire under the dash, travelling at 100+ mph, both of them sleeping and I had no idea.

After I stopped to investigate, then is when it flared up, and the under dash was on fire. Luckily for us all, my buddy had a piece of emergency most of us often overlook, a fire extinguisher, and we put out the fire in a matter of seconds.

With many of our aftermarket mods and electrical syatems in place, I thought it was a good gesture to post this thread, since even I do not have a fire extinguisher in my car (needless to say one will be in by the time this thread is posted).

We spend a lot of time and $$ on our cars, and I would hate to see in go up all in smoke (pardon the pun) for lack of a $20 piece of equipment.

I know many of you will say, "I don't have shoddy electrical wiring", get it anyway.

Peace!!!!

 

Good idea!

I suppose the fire estinguisher can also be used to break glass if you're trapped, or as a weapon in an emergency!

Though if it's not well secured, it can also become a lethal missile in the event of a crash.

 

a $.25 fuse would've save all that headache...if you want to get fancy a $5 dollar relay would've helped too.

but it's a good thing to have in the car anyway.

 

Yup.. correct installation and a fuse would have completely solved that problem in the first place.

But yeah.. a fire extinguisher is a good thing to have for those oddball problems.. like a few months ago when I saw another car pulled over on the side of the road with a fire under the dash....

 

i gots one

 

to Rasta Man.

Good looking out. Irregardless of whether the installation was correct or not, a fire extinguisher is a wonder "mod" to have.

 

You're right on the money. I intended to get one and kept forgetting it. Thanks for the reminder.

 

what kind should you get? theres a different extunguisher for gas and electrical fires. if you get an electric one, would that work if you had a fire start under the hood due to gas? or vice versa

 

Get a dry powder type extinguisher that will work on oil & electric - the powder kills the fire by removing the oxygen. If in doubt, ask your local fire dept or safety shop.

 

I have one but then again my dad owns a fire extinguisher business. I have one in every car I own and one in every cabinet in my house.

I dont remeber what the letters mean but you have different types of powder.

I think abc is a good general one to use. I will see my dad later today and ask him what the different letters mean and post again.

 

can he get me a small Halon one?

 

Dan,

he has some halon stuff left over. He doesnt re fill them so he tries to replace them with new abc extinguishers. He usually has one or 2 that he has picked up but not sure if they are small ones or not.

I will check.

 

ive been debating on this. guess i should get one. i cant afford a fire in my car !

 

here you go guys

A-paper/wood fires

B-grease/oil fires

C-electrical fires

D-burning metals (magnesium/Al.)

K-new one out for kitchen fires.

so if you have a ABC extinguisher it is for paper/wood, grease/oil & electrical.

if you had a BC ext. then it would be for grease/oil & electrical...you get the idea.

so you guys that want an extinguisher in your car then get an ABC one. I would call a local fire extinguisher company and get a good extinguisher instead of a cheapy wal mart one. The reason why is that it can be refilled and serviced which will be cheaper in the long run and is made of better materials (in the trigger and nozzle area). I know I have helped out a few people before on the side of the road with small car fires and just had my dad refill it.

I would also recomend at least a 5lb since a 2.5lb is too small if you dont catch it early enough and becomes a larger fire...ran into this one time trying to put out a fire on someones car. The 2.5 my dad had wasnt enough but luckily he had a larger one too.


Dan, I see why you want the halon now after talking to him. He said he may have a 2.5 or 5 lb. halon...catch me on aim later on. It cant be shipped but if he has one then I can give it to Chris at NOPI to take to you...well thats if he (chris) agrees to do it for you...he may charge you a freight fee lol.

 

i got mine from home depot for 10 bucks. "cheap throw away kind", but ive used 2 already (welding and what not)

 

very good idea

 

Good, good info. Now this is a tread with some really useful information.

 

on this very good tip. I was actually thinking the exact same thing ~2 weeks ago when my car overheated. Luckily, the smoke coming from the front wasn't from any fire, but I couldn't stop from thinking what coulda happened if it was more serious and I didn't have an extinguisher around.