Almost used my... Fire Extinguisher!

[paaiyan]

So I'm driving home on a familiar route, albeit not my normal one. Exit the highway and proceed south on the state highway. I'm in the right-hand lane as I cross what passes for the Arkansas River these days. There's a white pickup in front of me. As I finish crossing the bridge I see an old, gray, 80-something pickup with the hood up, and an SUV behind it with flashers on. I spy a glance of a short, stout woman with less than a full mouth of teeth holding a gas can and a man who I presumed was the driver of the SUV. Suddenly the white pickup in front of me lurches to the right and pulls onto the shoulder. I glance back at the old, gray pickup and see them.

Orange flames! *Collective gasp from the audience*

I pull over right in front of the white pickup and exit my Jeep with fire extinguisher in hand, right behind said pickup's driver who also has one. Smart man! As we arrive at the front of the old beater, I look around and see no flames, so I ask if the fire is out and if we need to call someone or pull the thing out of traffic. Crazy lady "reassures" us by saying "oh it does this all the time" as she leans over the engine which was, until very recently, enveloped in a rather vigorous conflagration and proceeds to pour gas in the general vicinity of the carburetor and then attempts to start it.

The engine sputters and spews exhaust and gasoline as my fellow "firefighter" and I back away not-so-slowly. She repeats this process, with the engine turning over a couple times only to die shortly thereafter. She finally manages to get the thing started, jumps out quickly, closes the hood and takes off without a word to any of us. No filter on the carburetor, just close the hood and go.

The other drivers and I exchanged bewildered glances, then my fellow "firefighter" and I wait for a clearing in traffic and cross back to our vehicles. I say "What drives someone to pour gasoline on a recently-on-fire engine and then drive the thing away like nothing happened?" He replied "I don't know. I'd have hosed it down with the extinguisher, called the fire department and walked away."

They walk among us, folks. Stay safe out there.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[oakchas]

BTDT... Not the firefighter thing..
If you know your vehicle's quirks, and you know it does this from time to time, and you know what's wrong but can't afford to fix it...

No biggie. Toothlessness has little to do with mechanical knowledge... And in another thread, Homey thinks he'd take from folks like her...

Ain't gonna happen.

[paaiyan]

Toothlessness does, however, have a lot to do with meth (or rather meth has a lot to do with toothlessness) which is prevalent in this area. Given her appearance and bat-crap crazy demeanor, I call meth.

[oakchas]

True enough... I'd forgotten the new cause of tooth decay...

[Arborigine]

I started my career as a VW tech. I have extinguishers in all my vehicles except the bikes. I have had happy insurance companies buy me new extinguishers a few times over the years, and have also gained customers by their use.

[paaiyan]

I still need to get my wife an extinguisher now that i think of it. Hard to swallow the money I'd spend after this weekend though. We dropped a sizable chunk of change on new car bags and finishing our medical kits.

Yeah Oak, I don't mean to sound prejudiced, and I know it does. But meth is a big deal around here.

[mr.stuart]

This was common in the 70's,before fuel injection. Since I worked on cars for a living back then,I did this many times. The trick is do not pour too much,liquid in the combustion chamber can crack a piston, and do not put your face over the carb. I would not do this now,someone would call a HazMat team. I recall many fellow mechanics who were routinely missing an eyebrow or half a beard.

[Phillep Harding]

I have to pour gas in the carb on my 82 truck after it's been sitting a while. That or ether. Always put the filter back before firing it up, though. (The engine is inside the cab.) Sometimes catches fire like that, but that's why the filter goes back on first.

I keep swearing to put an electric fuel pump in there for priming. Or an outboard squeeze bulb.

[archer51]

BTDT many time. A gas can to prim the carburetor used to be a standard tool carried in vehicles.

[Ksgunner]

Have to confess, been there and done that... and I don't have any theeth besides what the dentist sold me some time ago....

[mlr1m]

Have to admit that this was once pretty common. Not so much anymore though. Caught a bit of my scalp on the underside of a car hood once when the carb back fired while I was preforming this procedure. What was once common will now bring out hazmat, the EPA the BATF and the bomb squad.

Michael

[WHEC724]

Gas is for sissies. When you decide to get serious, you break out the ether. When I was a kid, it was the only way to start my dirt-bike in the winter.

[mlr1m]

Gas is for sissies. When you decide to get serious, you break out the ether. When I was a kid, it was the only way to start my dirt-bike in the winter.

Yup, ether was a common staple of many a starter kit. Lots of folks carried it for cold starts. I still keep it around as a degreaser, old habit. Nowadays you will be suspected of cooking meth if you have it with you.

Michael

[Arborigine]

I have worked on many cars that don't have accelerator pumps. After they sit a while you squirt a little gas down the carbs to fire them off. I use a metal oil can. Early cars have "priming cups", updraft carbs could be a pain to get primed.

[RemMod597]

We had an old M151A1 in our motor pool that had starting issues.
Solution was to remove the air intake hose, apply Mogas to carb, cover carb intake with flat of hand, crank engine, and pop hand away just in time to avoid the backfire flame.