My Festiva Caught on Fire and Burned to the Ground...

[1990new]

Sorry about your fire Al... Hope you had comprehensive insurance coverage... if so you should get at least enough to buy another used Festiva.
Was that the one that you had installed the engine from the Aspire?

[ryanprins13]

No, I don't think it was the alternator making the noise. Again, here's the explanation: When ever I would have the key off, something was running in the motor section of the car, it sounded like a very small fan noise. I pulled every fuse and the noise would still be there...something working and taking battery juice. The sound came from directly under that large aluminum intake manifold where underneath of it is the fuel injectors. I can't remember if I ever pulled any of the main fusible links (3 of them) in order to try and stop the noise but now I have some thoughts about it. I'm wondering if an injector could have been pressurized or running even when it's not supposed to...even when the key is off? Here's why I'm thinking that:

I was going down the road and the Festiva started to skip and sputter and the lights blinked back and forth and went dim so I pulled over to the side of the road. At this time all the dash lights were kind of going crazy, blinking off and on and dimming. When I got off the road I quickly turned the key off and had the shifter in reverse like I always do when I leave the car. Then I tried to turn my flashers on and they did go on but only for about 2 or 3 seconds and then they stopped. All of this happened in about 5 or 7 seconds. And then a weird thing happened one second after that, the car kind of 'burped' and actually moved. For a second I was shocked and thought some one bumped me, then it moved again slightly and poof!...fire came shooting out from under the hood and rose about 2 or 3 feet. All of that happened in just seconds also. Now, since the car moved, that makes me think that it turned over, the pistons moved. Now I'm remembering something as I type this. After the first time it jerked and moved, I thought the car was trying to go even though it was off so I was hammering on the brake - had my foot on it as hard as I could. I had the brake to the floor the second time it jerked...just before the initial fire and it jerked a second time.

Could an injector have been trying to spray fuel in a port? It just seems like an injector failure because if it was a fire caused by wires how could that have caused it to crank? Any ideas anyone?

Ok, anyway...here's a couple of pics of the aftermath:

Burned Festiva Pic-01
Burned Festiva Pic-02
Burned Festiva Pic-03

Wow, those pictures look bad!
I think it was more likely a short that was causing your starter to engage.
A possible explanation of all the lights going weird before it happened is that a fire started while you were driving, melted through a fuel line which sprayed fuel everywhere and thats what caused the large burst of flames once you stopped.

[harpon]

Yeah I had a Nissan Maxima wagon burn up that I was driving across the country. I has just bought it and it had little power- The mechanic at the gas station cleaned the injectors and it was running better.. So I had just crossed over the border from California to Arizona and stopped to get a bite- I had just got out of the car when I heard a loud "Whooom!"

There were flames coming out from under the hood. I had a fire extinguisher and put it out pretty quickly but it melted all the engine compartment and was a total loss for an older car. Apparently the injector rail or an injector sprang a pressure leak, and the stupid thing sat right above the hot exhaust manifold, so it just burst into flames after crossing the desert 150 miles or so.

I was stranded and ended up living in Needles CA for three years afterwards. Anyway, I always try to have a fire extinguisher on any long trips now

[ajbremer]

Thanks guys! Ya, that was the engine I got from a 1994 Aspire. I was keeping track of my milage for at least 3 tankfuls right before the fire and it was getting 39.5 mpg. I loved that engine, it had pickup and kept going and never failed me. Problem was I put it into a car where the previous owner did some weird wiring and I fought it all the way to the end (and didn't win). I only had liability insurance but from now on I'm going to get full coverage. I just bought another white Festiva only around 2 weeks before this fire and it has a blown motor but an excellent body and perfect wiring. Now I'm looking for a motor, any help would be appreciated, I live near Tulsa Oklahoma and I need a car!

[ryanprins13]

Thanks guys! Ya, that was the engine I got from a 1994 Aspire. I was keeping track of my milage for at least 3 tankfuls right before the fire and it was getting 39.5 mpg. I loved that engine, it had pickup and kept going and never failed me. Problem was I put it into a car where the previous owner did some weird wiring and I fought it all the way to the end (and didn't win). I only had liability insurance but from now on I'm going to get full coverage. I just bought another white Festiva only around 2 weeks before this fire and it has a blown motor but an excellent body and perfect wiring. Now I'm looking for a motor, any help would be appreciated, I live near Tulsa Oklahoma and I need a car!

Hey, insurance is different everywhere, but here you can get 3 levels. Just liability, liability + comprehensive (no collision), then everything including collision. Comprehensive is super cheap to add on, covers hitting animals, hail damage, fire, theft, vandalism and so on. Its like an extra $100/year for me whereas collision more than doubles the premium even though they wouldn't pay me more than the deductible for my car, lol.
The only thing i can think of that makes a fan/whirring noise isnt where your describing, but its close. Did you have daytime running lights? The resistor thats bolted to the firewall makes that kind of noise and gets pretty hot. But i can't see it lighting anything else on fire and pulling a fuse should turn it off unless the po messed with the wiring real bad...

[ajbremer]

About the possible problem that caused my Festiva Fire:

As I've mentioned previously, there was always a slight whirring sound as if a little fan was on underneath the intake manifold. No one on this forum mentioned anything that could be in this area making that slight fan noise. Recently I've been told by someone that some people (he mentioned teenagers) put little fans in there to act as turbos or something to that effect to increase the air going into the motor and thus giving it more power...could this be?

I first thought to myself, 'wait, I put that 1994 Aspire motor in there myself!' but now that I think about it, I think I left the original intake manifold and used it...I really don't remember. I'll have to go back to some old pics and see if they jar my memory. Anyway...now it's got me wondering if the po added something there. Has anyone heard of this type of thing?

[Joeyman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjHEFqFh7g0

could be this?

[ryanprins13]

The only ones i have heard of go in the intake tubing, not the manifold. You could do a quick google search to see if any go in the manifold though.


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[UglyEd]

Wow just watched the video sorry to see ur festy go like that man glad ur ok.

Uglyed and the Steve

[Doug Brown]

A tip from an ex-Fire / Arson investigator. Whatever caused the fire is still there. It may be melted and charred, but it will be there. I suggest you look in the area or part where you heard the noise and carefully examine the remains and look for something "non-Festiva". You may have to remove a big part to do an exam especially if there is something inside a hose or duct. Take pictures of the scene as you found it before starting your exam, and then take a series of photos as you dig through / hunt for the problem. Be sure to wear gloves (any fire scene is incredibly dirty and oily) and wear a respirator or very good dust mask to keep all the nasty particles out of your lungs!

[scitzz]

What a suck fest

[Fecomatter]

Paul I think he has some ac parts you can use