I wanted to get some assistance from the group and apologize for the long post. I have a 2005 Bentley Continental GT with 70K miles. I went out to start up the car to get the fluids flowing and I I let it run about five to ten minutes, I noticed that there was smoke coming out from under the car on the passenger side wheel well. I shut the car down and went over to that side thinking it was an antifreeze line had popped, but when I looked over the wheel, I could see flames in the middle of the cavity where the steering rack is located. Fortunately I keep a fire extinguisher in the garage and was able to put the fire out relatively quickly with the help of a water hose. I can’t stress enough now to keep a readily accessible fire extinguisher in your garage and I ask all of you to get one today if you don’t already.



I believe that what may have happened is a rodent of some kind may have gotten into this area and built a nest since I was able to find some leave debris when I vacuumed the area with a hose extension to figure out what caught fire. To access the damage, I believe the engine will need to be taken out to inspect the damage and to clean the area to make sure there is nothing left that is flammable. You cannot see from above what might be damaged. I am planning on having Jason Gianetti to pull the engine and do the repairs, including updating the vacuum lines to metal since they run exactly where the fire was located at. One line that crosses this cavity on the passenger side to the airbox was also melted from the heat.

I have the insurance company coming out this week to do an inspection since this area is almost impossible to get good visibility on it with pictures and for them to start up the process. I wanted to see if the group can answer the following so that I can knowledgeably talk to the insurance agent on what might have been damaged and possibly get the pricing in advance:



· Besides the vacuum lines, are there other lines in this area that would be damaged by a brief fire. No damage is evident from the top of the engine.

· Is the steering rack able to withstand some fire for a few minutes and be OK?

· What are the lines that cross in front of the vacuum lines, are these brake or fuel lines?

Anyone have an idea of what else might be damaged due to the heat?

Below is a picture I got off of this site showing and another engine out and another picture showing the melted line on the passenger side.

 

Hello @Mars911 ,
I am so sorry to hear this..

The picture you used is of ExFS' 2005 GT, and being that he is across the pond, I believe that his GT was RHD, therefore the brake booster is on the left facing the front of the vehicle as you pictured, hence the two extra lines, as my 05 GT body only has one line across that area, and it it the brake line to the right (LHD) front brake caliper as seated in the vehicle, if I am correct in my assumption that his vehicle is RHD, those are the two lines from the master brake cylinder, to the ABS pump.

What I also see is that, that bushing doesn't look to good, and more importantly, I believe that I see the wiring harness for the right front wheel speed sensor, and the pad wear sensor to be melted, I placed green dots on this wiring, and red dots on the green air line, I can just barely see the green line going to the strut, so I don't think it is the line I am seeing.

As to the vacuum lines, it's not just the small vacuum lines in that area, but also the large lines and their plastic check valves that reside in the rack area.

As far as the rack itself, depending on how long and how hot it got in there, the black soot looks like it got going pretty good, and let's not forget that there is wiring going to the servotronic valve on the rack.

The flap for the cowl drain is also in that area.

Are there any signs of power steering fluid or tyranny fluid anywhere ?

Your thoughts @Bentley tech NY ?

I will edit more to this as I think about it.

I know that Jason will take care of you !


Johnny

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It'll be interesting to see what the insurance company does. Based on the car's book value vs. the cost of repairs plus potential unknown problems from the fire, I wouldn't be surprised if they total it.

 

Johnny,

Thank you very much, I appreciate it.

Bruce,

I am concerned with that as well with the insurance company. The car itself is great and I may see if I can get them to just let me keep it and just pour what's needed into it to get it going again. I may try to balance it out and have them pay a set amount I just plan on kicking the balance in out of pocket. Once the engine it out of the car, I can access what needs to be done to get it back to where it needs to be. Everything else on the car seems fine and I just put new front shocks on it and it was running great.

 

If you can keep them from totaling it you'll avoid having a salvage title which kills resale value. Of course if the CarFax report shows a fire that'll be bad enough!

 

@Mars911 ,
One thing to keep in mind, depending on your state, and which insurance company you have, they may not let you keep the car at all, I had a fire a while back with my Cadillac DTS, and State Farm would not let me keep the vehicle, they said had it been anything else besides the fire, I could have kept it, so I would check before you officially put in the claim, I phone discussing the incident is not formally making the claim.

Johnny

 

Johnny,

Thanks but a little too late on that advice. I will have to see which way this goes on the car. I am with USAA and they make you submit the claim online before starting anything up. Since mine was minor hopefully they will be OK with this. Plus they are sending out an adjuster to see the damage, which is pretty much impossible to view without the engine out.

Thanks
Marshall

 

The fun never stops. So I received the quote back from the insurance company adjuster and since they could not really see anything from their pictures, they came back with a quote for $593 to steam clean the engine bay and have a mechanic check it out and the from suspension as well. I got quite a laugh out of when it came in and gave them a call. The insurance company was nice and said I need to get it to a mechanic so that they can give an accurate estimate. I let them know that to really know, we have to drop the engine, but I am getting a quote and plan on having Jason Giannetti do the work. I just have to get a quote together. I went in and took my digital inspection viewer which is like a borescope, but for walls and was able to see that the center vacuum hose was melted. It took me a while to realize what I was actually seeing, but once I figured it out, I was able to just pull up the vacuum hose since the end is gone. Now to track down the part numbers.

 

What caused the fire in your DTS? I just bought back the DTS that was my first car and restoring it is my current project

 

Honestly that makes sense from their end.. they're not going to pay for an engine out before knowing it needs engine out.

If you do go the buyback/cash route with this, it's possible that center line can be bypassed without engine out. A few people here have done it including me.