{Then I pulled
{all of the spark plugs (which were soaked with gasoline) and gently
{heated them with a lighter. Then I lit a match and burned the excess
{gas out of each cylinder. (Be careful not to burn off your eyebrows
{or set your car on fire!!!) Oh well, I was in a hurry................
It must have been a BIG hurry for an important meeting.
Deliberately igniting uncontained fuel in an engine compartment is
something which I would never consider doing. My experience with engine
fires is confined to a couple very exciting and educational minutes
when a manifold backfire ignited the raw gas which I was using to prime
the manifold of an old Bosch K-Jet fuel injected car which I was
reviving from a 5 year slumber. It's a real stupid feeling you get when
all you can do is sit there, watching it burn and waiting for the flames
to go out. Through no real damage was done, the potential for disaster
and bodily harm was quite high. When someone else asked about doing a
similar operation, my reply began:
1. Position your fully-charged fire-extinguisher (with safety pin
removed) and pressurized garden hose within reach. Evacuate the
children, elderly and other flammables to a safe distance where
they can watch any potential fireworks instead of participating in
them. Instruct them how to quickly dial 911 should they hear an
explosion and see a greasy plume of black smoke where you were
standing. In other words, be careful, don't underestimate the
explosivness of gasoline.
That, as well as other experiences such as watching white gas vaporize
and explode under inappropriate use and seeing the skin of mechanics and
racers who have gotten badly burned, has given me the utmost resect for
flammible liquids and gases. Another step in my education occurred when
I purposely dumped and burnt off some of the old gas from the same car
just to see what happens when a gallon of gas cooks off all at once.
The force of the ignition and the resulting fire as very dramatic. I
prefer not to be around gasoline and when I am, I get real paranoid
about sparks and flame. I'm glad that you you didn't get hurt.
/\ Lawrence Buja Climate and Global Dynamics Division
\_][ southern@ncar.ucar.edu National Center for Atmospheric Research
\_________________________Boulder,_Colorado___80307-3000__________
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