I nearly died a firey death...

So... it doesn't end. I just went out to have the wife snap a shot of the bike back together and running, and as I was about to take off, the bike started bogging...

Then my wife pointed to a puddle... then the bike erupted into a seven foot fire ball while I was still on it... Of course, everyone across the street was watching as I riverdanced to extinguish my jeans. The fire was put out, and the damage is minimal for the amount of time it was burning - upon first glance anyway... Intake boots are bubbly, but I have spares - fuel line is burnt, but that's no big deal - airbox is in surprisingly good shape - battery was untouched... Back tire is burnt up, but needed replaced anyway...

What the hell happened? My wife is a bit distraught that I nearly blew up, haha - I personally think it was one of the coolest visuals I've ever been involved with... HOWEVER, I really thought I was done. Quite a disappointing evening. Any input would be appreciated, and I haven't had the balls to fire it back up and trace a leak.

P.S. Used Kevineleven's truck bed liner idea on the tank - the stuff survived a fire... Impressive.

 

DAMN!!! I'm glad u made it thru that sh!t..

 

It's sad... I just come to expect it. I just want to ride the bloody thing down the road... I imagine I've pushed that off a bit further. And I'll just about bet that once the fuel issue is addressed, something else will happen. Such is life... you wake up - the day goes well - come home and wrench - goes well - go for a ride - AND BOOM! Fireball engulfs you and sets your legs and bike on fire... I believe Socrates wrote about this issue.

 

Got any pix?

Some kid with a Cell Phone?
Security Cameras nearby ... anything?

Next time ... Drop and roll, OK?
Get the fire on you out!

Glad you can share the tale with us, from the comfort of your home, instead of being on an I-V in the Burn Unit!

 

I guess now we know who has the HOTTEST XJ bike. Glad to hear you're okay,though!

 

LOL!! :twisted:

 

i hear the petcocks are a bad disine mine was stuck open from rust in the tank and look to see if the floots in the carbs arnt stuck open. Glad your ok.

 

yamyboy I love ur Avatar.. "Off topic" But its SWEET!! :twisted:

 

It was hot... I had to cut a couple inches off my hair this morning... I was a bit disappointed that my wife didn't get a picture... It was definitely one for the album. I'm going to take it outside this afternoon and see if I can't figure out what happened. I'll keep everyone posted, and if it blows again, I'll ready the camera.

 

Well first you need to find out where the fuel came from - then we can start helping out. REALLY glad to hear you're not par-boiled.

 

WOW makes anything I've been through with my bike trivial. Glad you are OK.

 

Too bad you didn't have any marshmallows with you!

Seriously though - glad you are ok! Because of this, I am now keeping a fire extinguisher with me in the garage and in the drive way when working ;-)

Keep us posted!

 

Here's a link to Phil's fire

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... art=0.html

Phil didn't give a detailed explanation. How many of us are letting the bike idle to warm up, while we go back in the house for something?

You know you HAVE to paint flames on it now ! !

 

I had a puddle of gas under mine one day. Turned out to just be a stuck float.

Glad you're okay. Make sure you've got the weenies and marshmallows ready next time. :lol:

 

Damn... Poor phil... I am so thankful I took it out of the garage... Though if I were in the garage I would have noticed the puddle a lot quicker. I wish I had a picture of the actual fire... I'll take some pictures at some point today, when I try to trace what happened... I also found where I riverdanced on the sidewalk, as part of my boot is on the cement, but the overall damage is truly insignificant compared to what it could have been. The fire extinguisher is a must, I had to run inside to get a trash can, run to the back hose to fill it, and then run back up front to extinguish the flame. Took a couple trips too. One of the guys at the bar was the local fire fella, and he went and nabbed the truck and brought it over just in case it reignited. A drunk fire fighter - my life is in good hands, haha.

 

Oh, and I absolutely dig the flame paint job idea... certainly would mean something now... haha. I am also glad I am not a shorts guy... always jeans... otherwise I'd probably have given myself a Brazilian burn job... The flames went up my legs, and wouldn't you know the first thing my wife said was, "You could have set your b@lls on fire!"

 

Phil was working on the bike at the time and it wasnt' running. He failed to keep in mind that a gas water heater and an enclosed space are a bad combo, especially without a fire extinguisher handy (subtle hint folks).
On a brighter note, his pals bought him another bike that had come up for sale and was in beautiful condition. Nice to have friends like that.

 

My friends laughed... So did my Dad... before he shared the story of his old shovelhead setting fire at the carb... I have the carbs off now, they were gummed up with burnt stuff, but damage still appears minimal... Still confused as to what happened. My wife said the drip sped up considerably in the couple seconds the puddle was noticed... so it went from no leak to small leak to pouring leak in a minute or so. There doesn't seem to be gas in the oil... the petcock seems fine, and the fact the tank didn't blow is a testament to that... the 90 degree filter I purchased is a bubble of melted plastic, but the lines attached to it are in pristine order... and the drip was coming from that side... perhaps a faulty filter and a bad case of wrong place, wrong time?? Any thoughts? I'm not sure that much gas could have come from there so quickly without my notice. The line seems to be without leak, but one of the clamps was pretty loose. The gas didn't come from the air box - I really don't think the carbs were to blame. It also didn't come from the exhaust, which was a problem I had when a couple cylinders weren't firing due to faulty plugs. Occam's Razor... I am theorizing the fuel line failed somehow...

 

Not sure of the technical name, but if the o-rings on the carb to carb fuel lines go, you'll get a steady flow of gas flowing out between the carbs. Which runs down the heat shield, and then onto the heat.

 

I’ve had 2 instances with this bike that were dumb and my fault. (I’m knocking on my wooden head as I type this that it didn’t turn out badly) I sometimes run the bike low on fuel and have to flip to reserve while ridding and in doing so flip it to prime instead. While riding, the bike reacts the same but if parked that way my floats get over run by the pressure from the fuel in the tank (worse after a fill up) and she leaks a bit. Now once I was at home and opened the garage door to a wave of gas smell easy to detect, clean her up aired out garage no worries. The 2nd time I was out for a ride maybe an hour in hit the reserve (so I thought) Stopped for fuel. Road another ½ hour and she started to bogg down like it was fuel starved. Then I caught a whiff of gas as she shut down. I hopped of to notice that my fuel line had popped of the carb stack and because I had flipped it to prime (instead if reserve)gas was pouring on my hot mill. I flipped the lever to normal and ran 20 yards down the road. I sat it out till the bike had a chance to cool before going back. Sooooo now I always check that lever.

 

Last night after I pulled my carbs set the float heights and cleaned the bowls, I pushed my bike to the middle of my drive and brought out the fire extinguisher. Then stood to the side and started it after looking for leaks. Before this story I would have fired it up in the garage without another thought.

A little paranoia can be a good thing!

 

Suggestion to Sno and Mods- - We come up with a "sticky" for new members that cover the fire hazard and the obvious causes and fixes then directs them to the various "new to XJ's " threads.

It could be part of the sign-up page, or the confirming e-mail.

Also "mandatory bike identification" for Noobs. (what a great audience)

 

Sounds like a good idea to me.
Particularly the safety and the mandatory "Bike Thumbs" in the Signature Section.

There are people asking questions about their bikes and we have no clue what their bike is or anything.

Now that chacal lists everything in his vast inventory in one Post or another; I'm not scrolling through all of it and all the old posts to try and see how many miles are on somebody's bike.

Fill it out in the signaturue section and let it be there for all the world to see every time you hit "Submit".

 

Ok - a bit of clean up - cleaned carbs - new airbox boots - fuel line - some of the rubber is a weird blob now (such as the shift lever peg), but she's back together. Not only that, but she fired right up (not like she fired up last time). I let her idle in the drive for a substantial amount of time with an extinguisher ready and checked for leaks... Nothing. Jumped on and took her a few miles down the road, also nothing... I can't ride much further until I get new tires, but everything seems to be fine now.

 

glad to hear you didn't give up on her and that things are coming along well.

 

I'd say: "You dodged a bullet"

But, it's more like you dodged a few!
Glad you're OK
Glad the Bikes OK

You should buy a Lottery Ticket.
You're on a roll!

 

Don't waste your money on a lottery ticket, you've already used up your luck <chuckle>

Before relaxing into a state of contentment I strongly advise taking a good close look at the petcock and make certain it is 100%. I was having a lot of trouble, thinking it was something with the carbs, and it turned out the problem was the petcock. After using a rebuild kit on that, all was good. One of the problems experienced was gas filling the carbs, the airbox, and then leaking out down the bike. That would be an excellent candidate for what you experienced, especially given the parts that were "cooked" and the location of the fire.

Michael

 

While this is old, I have to say thanks for sharing. I really needed a chuckle tonight. I am glad that everything turned out OK.

Went for a short ride today. Parked in the garage like normal and went inside. Everything has been fine, but I came back to the garage later to find a pretty good puddle of gas below the bike. Tap the carbs to see if it is just a stuck float. Kick it over a few times to see if all is well, and gas comes flowing out of the overflow adding to puddle. Crap! Gas water heater in the garage, growing puddle of gas. Hmmm.... Better act fast. I run and grab a shop fan to start pushing the vapor outside and evaporating the gas.

So, off the carbs come again (they were scheduled to be off any way for a throttle shaft seal repair any way). While frustrating for sure, it's nice to be riding something unique so it's well worth it.

 

Joe; That indicates more than a carburetor problem. Unless you left it on PRI you have a petcock issue as well.

 

Yes, the petcock is brand new and not rebuilt and was not on PRI. It is working as it should, and I am not sure what really caused the problem. The only thing that changed is that I need to replace the throttle shaft seals. Just to experiment, I sprayed some lube on the old seals to see if they would close up for a couple of days while I waited on parts.

Any ideas on why that would make a difference? It's the only thing that changed. I just went ahead and pulled the carbs until the parts get in this week from Chacal.

 

i agree a fire extinguisher is a must in a garage, thats the first thing i did when i moved in to my new place before i started to work on things was install a fire extinguisher. although ive never had to use it i know its there in case. im suprised ive never had to use it. ive done alot of stupid stuff with unsafe conditions. you only started your bike. :S if you end up finding the real culprite let us know because i dont want the same thing happening to me aswell.

 

glad to hear you are ok

 

Gezzzz, I thought the dangerous part was riding the bike ... glad you OK and thanks for the heads up. We're all in garage mode right now getting ready for the new season .. so heads UP. (Northern Hemisphere)

 

Heh... I remember this like it were yesterday. I did eventually come to the resolve that in a certain position, gas would actually leak from the front of the old vacuum petcock. I can't be 100% sure that it was the fault of the petcock, but looking at the damage a such, it would make sense. I went ahead and swapped out for a gravity fed, but I'm "Oh, So cautious" when I flip it to anything other than OFF... which is a welcomed word on the petcock, as far as I'm concerned.

On a lighter note, my XJ has received quite the status here in my rinky dink town... "Hey, is that the 'flaming chopper' I heard about?"

My hair has never fully recovered...

Maybe I can find the post-fire pictures on my wife's computer to share this evening.