3.2 carb engine fire running again, It lives again. Options

[mate914]

Letting sit over night. Two hours after floating in gas, floats sank and absorbed gas.
Matt

The floats are cracked but still float. I was concerned as to what caused the engine fire. I was hoping to find something simple, I did not. Car sat for about two years before I acquired it. I will put pictures of both.

[r_towle]

Sadly I have found quite a bit of water in modern fuel, along with rapid evaporation due to high alcohol content.
I’m about to remove/replace/fix my third car this year regarding the entire fuel system.

I would suggest that it’s possible those floats/bowls may have had something other that fuel in there during the long storage.

[r_towle]

I’m now going backwards with carbs.
Put a shutoff on the main fuel line.
Idle the car when parked.
Turn off fuel
Let car die when carbs are empty.
Use fuel pump to fill them up each time ( turn key and wait for tone to change)

[sixnotfour]

PMO is now owned by Empi,,sorry for your loss..

[mate914]

Do you think this is from modern fuels? The car did sit for at least two years with empty bowls. Then I put about 800 miles on the car with mostly modern gas, two fill ups were normal old school gas.

Matt

Sadly I have found quite a bit of water in modern fuel, along with rapid evaporation due to high alcohol content.
I’m about to remove/replace/fix my third car this year regarding the entire fuel system.

I would suggest that it’s possible those floats/bowls may have had something other that fuel in there during the long storage.

[StarBear]

So glad you found the root cause, Matt, and that the fire didn’t do more damage. Glad it made it through the Gathering!
Onward!

[VaccaRabite]

If the carbs were rebuilt years ago, yeah its possible the floats were made with plastic that was not ethanol tolerant. I have no idea what they are made of now. I know I just rebuilt a set of carbs for my bus and I'll be watching the floats.

Zach

[r_towle]

So what I’m finding is the fuel at the gas station has water in it because of the ethanol.

I’m never going back to the local station, but I suspect it’s everywhere.

[rfinegan]

It would be hard to say if the cracks in the floats cased the fire or the fire cased the floats to crack...would need more details on the previous state of the carbs/ floats? Perhaps Dry seats too, from sitting for 2 years?

[Rob@EMPI]

Hi Matt, Sorry to hear about your fire. PMO Induction would like to help get your carbs back in top condition. Please message me at robm@empius.com

[Rob@EMPI]

also for reference PMO gaskets, diaphragms and seals
are E85 compatible.

[mlindner]

Rob, thats a great offer. Thanks for stepping up to the plate. I have your PMO's for the last five years and love them. Mark

[mate914]

Thanks Rob. I will be reaching out.

Matt

Hi Matt, Sorry to hear about your fire. PMO Induction would like to help get your carbs back in top condition. Please message me at robm@empius.com

[Root_Werks]

Zoinks!

At least you did find the smoking gun.

It may not be the floats fault, more what someone stored the car with. Bad gas, wrong gas?

Either way, seems like a straight forward fix.

I had a line on a CIS 911 crack many years ago. Sprayed fuel everywhere while driving. First stop sign, could smell it. Pulled over shut down. No fire = damn lucky.

[73-914]

So what I’m finding is the fuel at the gas station has water in it because of the ethanol.

I’m never going back to the local station, but I suspect it’s everywhere.

Stewart's Premium alcohol free

[Cairo94507]

@Rob @EMPI

Now that is a very nice offer. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[mate914]

I think the gentleman who owned this car before me knew how to take care of it.

[blabla914]

sorry your car was damaged by a fire. Engine fires are scary for sure.

It's my understanding, and your photos would confirm, PMO carbs use IDF floats. I have two sets of IDF carbs from the late 80s which have been in on and off use since bought. I have never replaced a cracked float in an IDF. I've never been particularly careful about where I buy my fuel or prepare my cars for winter, though they only sit for a few months tops. CT has been 10% ethanol for as long as I can remember. A little fuel stabilizer in the fall. Some dry gas once or twice a year and it's never been an issue for me.

I think it's highly probable the fire cracked the floats and not the other way around. I'm not going to go and toast one of my IDF floats to prove it. I am an engineer that works on autoclavable devices made of plastic. I believe the plastic IDF floats are made of is a thermoset plastic. that means it wont melt when subjected to heat, it'll just degrade. I feel it's completely expected that a plastic float would crack from the heat from an engine fire.

[mate914]

sorry your car was damaged by a fire. Engine fires are scary for sure.

It's my understanding, and your photos would confirm, PMO carbs use IDF floats. I have two sets of IDF carbs from the late 80s which have been in on and off use since bought. I have never replaced a cracked float in an IDF. I've never been particularly careful about where I buy my fuel or prepare my cars for winter, though they only sit for a few months tops. CT has been 10% ethanol for as long as I can remember. A little fuel stabilizer in the fall. Some dry gas once or twice a year and it's never been an issue for me.

I think it's highly probable the fire cracked the floats and not the other way around. I'm not going to go and toast one of my IDF floats to prove it. I am an engineer that works on autoclavable devices made of plastic. I believe the plastic IDF floats are made of is a thermoset plastic. that means it wont melt when subjected to heat, it'll just degrade. I feel it's completely expected that a plastic float would crack from the heat from an engine fire.

I am not an engineer. I am a craftsman, god given. You might be right, then again The fire did not affect the other carb. Look closely to other carb photo, you can see cracks staring. I could see the fire making cracks bigger but not both sides. Fire was put out within 90 seconds. The plastic did not show any signs of melting, only of a dry rot. But I am willing to learn. I crave knowledge.

Matt (IMG:style_emoticons/default/flag.gif)

[porschetub]

sorry your car was damaged by a fire. Engine fires are scary for sure.

It's my understanding, and your photos would confirm, PMO carbs use IDF floats. I have two sets of IDF carbs from the late 80s which have been in on and off use since bought. I have never replaced a cracked float in an IDF. I've never been particularly careful about where I buy my fuel or prepare my cars for winter, though they only sit for a few months tops. CT has been 10% ethanol for as long as I can remember. A little fuel stabilizer in the fall. Some dry gas once or twice a year and it's never been an issue for me.

I think it's highly probable the fire cracked the floats and not the other way around. I'm not going to go and toast one of my IDF floats to prove it. I am an engineer that works on autoclavable devices made of plastic. I believe the plastic IDF floats are made of is a thermoset plastic. that means it wont melt when subjected to heat, it'll just degrade. I feel it's completely expected that a plastic float would crack from the heat from an engine fire.

Don't agree ,as OP stated the unaffected side is showing evidence of cracks starting in those floats..no fire on that side because they didn't get waterlogged with fuel and overcome the float valves which is what has happened on the other side,raw fuel getting down the throats results in a decent backfire.
After that event all throats would be on fire as even with pump power off residual fuel pressure continued to flood the fuel bowls and overspill fuel into the throats .
IMO the main backfire would have been when other cylinders fired and blew out flaming raw fuel out the air filter resulting in the burn damage to the filter and surrounding area.
No way that I can believe the floats as heat damage they were just buggered,besides the fire was never in the float bowls anyway.
Nice to see PMS stepping up ,cheers.

I am not an engineer. I am a craftsman, god given. You might be right, then again The fire did not affect the other carb. Look closely to other carb photo, you can see cracks staring. I could see the fire making cracks bigger but not both sides. Fire was put out within 90 seconds. The plastic did not show any signs of melting, only of a dry rot. But I am willing to learn. I crave knowledge.

Matt (IMG:style_emoticons/default/flag.gif)