Many years ago... I was installing a starter solenoid on an early B, The
wrench I was tightening the battery cable nut with touched the break line
coming from the MC and instantly melted the line. The break fluid caught on
fire and was dribbling out of severed line feeding the fire. I was able to
smother it a towel so the break line was the only damage. If you had a bare
wire ground agenst a break line it could cause a fire and cause your breaks to
fail.. Id inspect the lines and see if any are melted through. I would suspect
you had an electrical fire that caused a wire to short through a break line.
You pictures look hart breaking.. I'm glad your okay and good luck sorting it
out.
Dennis
67 MGB
Steve Shoyer wrote:
> I was driving today and at one point I stepped on the brakes pretty firmly.
>The pedal acted normally for a moment, then sunk to the floor. I tried
>pumping, but there was no pressure. I saw some steam coming from under the
>hood, and as I was pulling to the side of the road, I saw the paint on the
>hood starting to bubble - not a good sign. When I stopped the car, smoke
>started coming out of the engine bay. I tried using my little fire
>extinguisher, but that didn't seem to do very much. The fire engine got there
>pretty quickly, and they poured lots of water on (and into) it, which did the
>trick. They were very careful about the car, asking about the hood release
>before they used more forceful methods to open the hood. Also, the tow truck
>driver was careful about not crushing the brake lines, helped me push the car
>off the driveway into its usual parking spot, and then wouldn't take a tip (I
>tried, really!).
>
> My two-year-old son was excited about the really big truck in the driveway,
>but he was upset that I wouldn't let him play in the car. It's still pretty
>soggy and smells like it had been on fire.
>
> Anyway, a few questions:
>
> 1) How could a fault in the brake system cause a fire? I'm assuming that
>something burst and was spraying fluid in the engine bay.
> 2) What do I need to do to get it repaired? Is the engine usually junk after
>a fire? They put a lot of water behind the dash, and the instruments are
>pretty foggy.
> 3) What is the best way to deal with the insurance company? I have a regular
>policy on the car (low mileage discount, that's about it).
>
> I did take some pictures, so if you aren't too squeamish:
>http://www.shoyer.com/mgb/fire!.htm
>
> I guess my car won't make it to MG Day at the Museum of Transportation again
>this year...
>
> Thanks for any suggestions.
>
> --Steve (1980 MGB)
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