Memorial day to remember and forget

[illinilee]

Memorial Day 2012, one to remember

In Sept of 2009 I found and purchased a classic Mercedes benz. A 1992 500E. It needed work, but it was a one-owner car with 108k miles. The front fenders were rusty and it didn’t idle well but hell I didn’t care. That v8 at full song made me very happy.

Over the last 1.5 years I have driven it less than 1000 miles because I had been repairing and replacing parts. I have replaced the upper engine harness, ETA and mass airflow sensor and had recently just gotten the car back to a good running state. The next step is getting paint estimates. Well, the next step was getting paint estimates….

On the way home after filing up with $90 worth of v-power my car caught fire and burned to the ground. One of the fuel lines let go [started leaking] close enough to the hot exhaust pipe for ignition. This happened Monday evening, so I’m still struggling with everything that happened, what could have happened, and where to go from here. Basically from the a-pillar back is toast.
The good news: Nothing was lost that can't be replaced. In preparation for painting I had pulled all of the plastic cladding, and front and rear bumpers along with the fenders. The engine and trans will be salvaged among a few other parts, so stay tuned.

illinilee

 

[Hi-Power]

OMG... I am so sorry to hear about your incident. Thank God you are fine!

 

[zman]

So sorry to hear this...I too in the past suffered the exact same situation, however the BIG difference was the car was not a 500.

 

[Ron500E]

OMG... sorry.


Where are you located, I'm in Glenview.

Kind Regards,

Ron

 

[szvook]

That blows hard, very sorry to hear that, but you are ok and sounds like you have plans already - well done sir!

 

[gerryvz]

So sorry to hear this, but agree that at least there was no personal injury or loss of life. Wow, a good impetus for us to check our fuel lines.

May I have your VIN via PM so that I can mark the demise of your car in the database, for future record-keeping purposes?

Again, sorry to hear about what happened. Will you get another 036? Will insurance cover your loss?

Thanks
Gerry

 

[gsxr]

Oh my. Very sorry to hear that, glad you are OK. Can you tell us the location of the fuel line that failed...? Probably something that the rest of us should keep an eye on! Was it a metal fuel line that corroded, or a rubber hose that ruptured...?

 

[philnor]

So sorry to hear of your loss. Especially after the work you have done. I have been doing something similar over the years, lots of work but little driving. The last thing which took me off the road was a serious fuel leak. Fortunately at the Rear in the most inaccesible of places. Leak was dues to failure of the stainless steel crimp type fastener/clip which had cracked, difficult to replace and aafter waiting three weeks for them I couldnot fit correctly and used a jubilee/worm clamp. I have found two more failed st/st clips on Fuel lines Original 92 items. Anyone else thinking of checking fuelines, bin the original MB clips dont replace. Use a quality norma or better worm drive clamp and renew the rubberpoly whatever fuel line. Not sure that MB supplied hose is the best, I have had to repair replace fuel lines on other old Mercs and the best off the roll material is without VAG/AUDI. Phil

 

[jhodg5ck]

jeez..and I thought i was only an exotic/V12 trend these days.. Lame. Best of luck w/ insurance, hope ya'll come to an agreeable number, just be prepared to Wait and Fight!

My gentle suggestion, on the next 500E you acquire, add the fire extinguisher under bracket/unit to the front seat..that likely would have made this frustrating but far from a total write off.


J

 

[gsxr]

My gentle suggestion, on the next 500E you acquire, add the fire extinguisher under bracket/unit to the front seat..that likely would have made this frustrating but far from a total write off.

+1. I have the factory fire extinguisher on nearly all of my cars, although I hope to never need it.

 

[036]

Oh damn....
It´s like if you like dogs- either you take one immediatly after previous died, or never....
Sorry to hear about your lost, wish you strength and patiens.

 

[illinilee]

Fire extinguisher...novel idea.

Thanks for the condolences.

The VIN is WDBEA36E1NB792693.

 

[J-Sauce]

If it means anything, I've heard the small gloria extinguishers would do little to dowse a large blaze. They only offer a few seconds of usage. Don't beat yourself up too much. I suspect with an actual fuel leak on a running engine, you would not have been able to put it out even with an extinguisher.

 

[DerFuror]

A car fire is a terrible thing (especially if the source is in a difficult location to extinguish, or if you can't do anything about it).

Fire extinguisher...novel idea.

A fire extinguisher is actually a very prudent idea, especially for vintage autos which are more prone to have aged fuel system components. I have one in every vehicle I own regardless of age.

I grew up working at my Dad’s full service gas station. Every employee was trained on fire extinguisher use. I can still vividly recall dousing flames on several cars at the pump island. It always seemed to be on the hottest days of summer when some POS car would ignite upon startup after taking on some gas. Smelly underhood fuel leaks would find their way onto a baking-hot exhaust manifold or ignite from a carb back-fire. Crappy positive-ground British electric fuel pumps, fittings & wiring were also misfortunate contributors.

FLAME ON! As the pump jockey (and sometimes only employee on-site), I had to react immediately & decisively. Sometimes if the car was a real leaky POS, the fire extinguisher couldn’t completely finish the job. The little POS cars, I pushed by hand away from the pumps out into the street for the fire department to deal with. The big POS cars got pushed away from the pumps out into the street by the big wooden bumper of my Dad’s 1944 4WD Willys.

If the car owner was a real scumbag I’d let it burn real good before calling the fire department. I must emphasize that there actually were repeat offenders. I put out the flames on this one grease-ball’s car (the kinda pain-in-the-ass guy who would aggravatingly stop by multiple times a day for only a couple bucks of gas each time). The sonovabitch barely thanked me, didn’t offer to pay to have the fire extinguisher recharged, or tip me for saving his day & car. At a later date, it caught fire again at the pumps!

I pushed it out into the street & watched it burn.

No fire extinguisher.

Don't go thru the anguish just experienced by your fellow member. If you don't have a fire extinguisher in your car, get one. It doesn't have to be a Gloria. It just has to work.

Also, when's the last time you inspected the condition of your car's fuel lines? I found & replaced a split line at the fuel tank on a neighbors Suburban yesterday. He couldn't figure out why the truck wouldn't run & erroneously thought it was the fuel pump. He happily returned an unopened/unused fuel pump. Good thing the tank was empty, too. He is a semi-heavy smoker who's kinda careless with his smokes.

 

[w124rider]

+1. I have the factory fire extinguisher on nearly all of my cars, although I hope to never need it.

Is there an original extinguisher that goes on w124?s

 

[gsxr]

Is there an original extinguisher that goes on w124?s

Yup:
http://www.w124performance.com/images/W124_fire_ext/

 

[illinilee]

I live Homewood, IL (south suburban Chicago) and had the car towed to my local Indy shop to strip. They're a great group of guys, and really empathized with my loss.

The next day I dropped by they had the rear on jack stands, and had pulled the fuel pump/filter assembly. The fuel filter had been crushed to the extent that leading edge was split for 2 inches. Evidently I ran over something, although I don't remember any contact, that provided the need fuel supply for a really big fire.

The fuel lines were intact. Picture to come.

illinilee

 

[gerryvz]

That's really interesting, because there is a thick plastic cover over the entire fuel pump area underneath the car. I have a difficult time imagining what you would have hit to pop open that fuel filter -- you definitely would have felt it. Did the shop tell you what the condition of the plastic covering was? Was it damaged/cracked/crushed? If there was no external damage to the covering, then it would have been some sort of internal problem (or possibly corrosion?) what would have fragged the fuel filter.

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[illinilee]

The plastic cover was installed, pre-fire. Last year (Nov 2011) I replaced the fuel filter, and reinstalled the cover. I also remember see the cover as I was inspecting and planning to drain the diff. after my drive. The cover definitely didn't survive the fire.

Lee

 

[vanaegan]

so sorry for your lost bro..