This weekend I was driving to breakfast when I came upon a man watching his 1970 something Ford pickup truck burn on the side of the road! I u-turned and pulled up across the road from him, pulled out my fire extinguisher and went and shot it up under his hood. It put out the fire, but it didn't last nearly as long as I would have thought. It was a Small 2.9# ABC fire extinguisher, I am guessing, but I think it was at least 10-12 years old. I never even look at the gauge to see if it was in the green.
I have always carried a fire extinguisher in any old car I have driven, but I am needing a New GOOD one to carry, and would like input from others on what they carry and why? Thanks Dan

_________________
1964 Dart GT

Bought a ABC $30.00 version at the hardware store....should last a few minutes....
Better than those cheap $15 models.

_________________
Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

Personally, I would suggest a CO2 extinguisher. Kills the fire, without the dose of chemical powder to screw up everything under the hood. They are more expensive, but CO2 isn't corrosive like the powder.

Roger

I'm with Roger. Dry chem is corrosive, and when you hose it off with water, it just delivers that corrosive liquid inside all the joints you can't get at to flush.

_________________
"Louise", a 1976 Dart Custom project, (now sadly reverted to being just an "organ donor" to our other project Darts.)

I would go with the CO2 extinguisher. I have both ABC and CO2 for the shop. I have used the CO2 to put out a fire on a car that had a plastic intake explode when all cylinders ignited at the same time and caught on fire. (Chevy) The car belonged to a customer of the body shop next door. The second was in February when I spotted the neighbors kitchen on fire and was able to put it out before it spread to the rest of the house. No powder to clean up and well worth it. But now that you mention it I do need to get some for my cars.

_________________
Fast is fine but accuracy is final. You have to learn to take your time ... in a hurry
- Wyatt Earp

A buddy and I put out a fire in '67 newport that puked it's tranny dipstick and coated the 383 in Dexron, carb backfire lit the engine bay up like a forest fire...the large CO2 extinguishers failed to displace enough air with the engine running to put a dent in the fire, we grabbed one of the small chem extinguishers and that put a dent in the fire until it ran out, we luckily had another larger chem extinguisher handy and got the fire out with that.

I ended up pulling the engine and tranny and putting a 400/727 and demo derbying the car since it was just 'ugly' after that incident.

I ended up giving the guy a ride home. The VFD showed up just before the tow truck and told the guy he was lucky he had a fire extinguisher .
I went to Walmart and bought another ABC, mainly due to the price, but I am looking into a CO2 in the future.

_________________
1964 Dart GT

When I worked for a Cadillac Deallership ther was a doctors office next door were a lady's engine caught on fire. A tech and I herd the screams when we got there we opened the hood and the old tech I was with grabbed the upper radiator hose with a rag . He then slit the hose were it secures to the thermostat housing and squirted the coolent on the fire . I had never thought of that. [/url]

_________________
Fast is fine but accuracy is final. You have to learn to take your time ... in a hurry
- Wyatt Earp

I like the "built-in fire supression system" radiator hose "tip"...

Trouble is that you would be lucky to see / find a coolant hose, on many of today's new car engines.
DD

Was that "old tech" raised on a farm? I treasure the ingenuity of anyone raised farming or ranching: having to make do with what ya got, because the nearest hardware store is a 2 hour round trip away. Exceptions always, but we in the urban areas get lazy, and the inventive thought processes begin to wither, I think. (My parents were both farm kids.)
I'm not sure that fighting a possible fuel fire with water was such a good idea, but with fire you try to do what ya gotta do , in a hurry, now.
So many cool ideas come through this forum, many of which I wish I could lock In my memory bank to bust out when needed. Cutting a radiator (or heater) hose to fight a fire is one of those jewels for the ol' memory.

_________________
"Louise", a 1976 Dart Custom project, (now sadly reverted to being just an "organ donor" to our other project Darts.)