Tranny Fluid Fire ??? Ryan B ??

[mudslinger99]

well hopefully you just cleared out the crud that was plugging your vent.
i'll keep my fingers crossed for ya...
keep your fire extinguisher handy. I had the same thing happen, puking tranny fluid is no good, it took 2 small extinguishers to put out the fire under my k5.
Ever since i always keep an extinguisher within arms reach.

After seeing this post by Ryan it got me to thinking on just how it happened ? How would leaking tranny fluid cause a fire ?

The reason it got me to thinking I just recently got a 84 K-20 and had a tranny line bust and it blew fluid all over my motor and all underneath the truck clear to the bumper.. It leaked so much fluid that before I relized it happened I had left about a 200 ft trail of fluid with the tires before I seen all the smoke in my mirror..

The hose is connected to the metal line that goes to the cooler in the radiator.. I had my father-inlaw bring me some fluid, hose and tools to fix it but it busted again on the way home because the hose was not the right kind.. I have since replaced the piece he gave me with reinforced tranny hose that has the string cord or whatever it is in the center from Napa.. So that makes 2 times this has happened and no fire so I'm wondering how it would catch fire.. ?

Signed .The fellow that is now looking for the old thread on where to mount a fire extinguisher in the cab

 

[Codeman96]

Yep it can happen. I overfilled mine and got it warm and it forced some out onto the collector on the header and I had a flash fire it went right out but it was some scary sh**! I found my fire extingisher real fast. (never leave home without it)

 

[Ryan B.]

Hey dude. yah unexpected fires are no fun.
When i first got my truck 6 years ago, I had rubber hose just for transmission cooler lines going from my tranny to the radiator/tranny cooler, one of those busted and spewed tranny fluid all over the headers.. fortunately it didn't catch fire that time, but scared me enough that i tracked down the fittings for the tranny and ran hardlines all the way instead of hose!

The time when my truck caught on fire.. My vent was plugged in the transmission so every now and then it would puke fluid out of the dipstick like some of the other guys on here talk about..
So i was out wheeling at hollister and i flipped a u turn to park under a shady tree with the other people in my wheeling club.. well as soon as i park i hear "FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE!!!" I hop out and look under my truck and see what looks like Dripping Firey Lava running off the headers! The tranny fluid came up out the dipstick and puked all over the engine and headers.. i guess it was hot enough to catch it on fire as soon as it hit it...
So I grabbed the fire extinguisher out of my truck and put out the tranny fire... then when i thought all was good and i could relax someone started yelling "YOUR ENGINES ON FIRE!!!" ... so i popped the hood carefully and then someone else ran over and emptied another fire extinguisher into my engine compartment.. some of the wires and the air cleaner (K&N pre filter) was on fire as well...
So shewheeler went into town and brought me back a new air cleaner, i grabbed some wire and electrical tape outta my tool box... and luckily i was able to repair what was burned...
When i got home the next week i pulled the tranny out and found that when i rebuilt the tranny i somehow got the front pump gasket 180 degrees off so all the holes lined up except for the vent hole in the gasket!!! so my tranny wouldn't vent!
Since then i've heard half a dozen other guys on here having the same damn problem and their truck catching on fire.. I remember one dude i told him to stick a piece of wire up the vent to puncture through the gasket so the tranny would vent.. that saved him the hassle of pulling the tranny and the front pump to replace the gasket!

 

[mudslinger99]

That story makes me think just how lucky I was when that happened to me.. I'm usually the one that has all the bad luck I had never really give much thought to the fact that it could have caught my truck on fire until I read what you had said.. I should not have cussed so much about the hose breaking and having to fix it on the side of the road while I was waiting for my father-inlaw to bring me some tools and stuff to fix it

The truck I just bought has 2 6inch rubber hoses connected to the metal line right at where the metal fitting goes in to the cooler in the radiator.. I guess they just got old and cracked after sitting at my buddies house while I was doing some repairs.. I had drove quite a few times but only short distances to check things I fixed.. So I guess when I started driving it a liitle farther they finally gave out even though they didn't show no signs of wear.. I couldn't beileve how much fluid it lost so quick.. There was not a spot under the hood or underneath that the fluid didn't get on.. There was no smoke coming from the hood area until I pulled over I guess because I was moving to fast.. I didn't see it until I looked in the mirror and seen all the smoke and the wet trail my tires were leaving.. I lost 6 quarts of fluid by the time I seen it and pulled over to shut the truck off.. To make matters worse it blew again on my way home

I bought the rubber hose to replace it that is supposed to be for tranny coolers and so far it has held up fine for about 500 miles or so.. I talked to a fellow at Napa and he said he would bend me new hard lines if I brought my old ones in so he could match the bends for about $20 bucks each.. I need to get a tranny cooler for it so I haven't got the hard lines yet.. But now it has moved up on my priority list

Thanks for the reply and the story, but most of all the motivation to get this done sooner rather then later Also you gave me the final push I needed to get a fire extinguisher to put in the cab

 

[dyeager535]

Leaking torque converter seal, no inspection plate cover, and catalytic converter inline with the converter fluid sling path can cause a fire.

I had a tranny line burst (crack) on my car, the crack leaked the pressurized fluid in a perfect path onto the manifold. Luckily it wasn't hot enough (more likely so much fluid) to combust, but it smoked like I had a holed piston.

 

[Roz]

just happened to me last month. i got my tranny recored ($1600 later)and customed, the nimrod put all new everything on it Except the $15 detent(TH350). the old crusty cracked thing busted an the very bottom when i went to hook it up, i had it in my hand went to line it up and snap . guy said bring it in and they would fix it free(darn right). the dumb thing lit right up about 2 mi down the raod at a stop light(right at the corner to shop ) some girls sreaming fire and im at her then realize its me when the undercaot starts cooking. igot it out fast and cost me spark wires and new fire extingisher<whew>. i now carry 2

 

[surpip]

tranny fluid has a very low flash point, but im shure you have come to this conclusion already

 

[dontoe]

I'm ready, I hope!

I'm gonna put one on the passenger's side soon!

 

[icer97]

I had a friend burn his truck up due to tranny fluid. He was in a mud run and he broke his front driveshaft. It smacked his tranny cooler lines breaking them and was ignited by the headers some how. By the time we got to him, it was to late. The whole cab burned along with everything under the hood. It melted his carb clear down into his intake! So I ALWAYS carry a fire extinguisher.

 

[Hossbaby50]

My truck has been on fire twice from tranny fluid.

1st time:

My 208 leaks out the rear output seal and the driveshaft slings the tranny fluid all over the bottom of the truck. I flung up on the cat converter. This didn't case and automatic fire, but when the cat started going south and got really hot it caught on fire.

2nd time:

I had a little mishap offroad and my 208 blew apart which caused ATF to go everywhere underneith my truck. It hit the other side's cat and caught fire.

Both times were small fires that got put out right away. Neither caused any damage from fire so I consider myself lucky.

Harley

 

[mudslinger99]

This thread sure is making me more nervous after the leak then when it happened.. Like I said I never heard of catching fire from tranny fluid and really didn't even think about a potential fire when it happened.. With the amount of fluid I had under the hood and all over the exhaust from the front to back I am considering my self very fortunate..

 

[dyeager535]

These posts are why I personally don't use rubber hoses unless there was no steel line in the application.

Some of these just wouldn't be preventable, but that one time of my own was enough for me. Chances are probably slight that anything WILL happen, just IF it does.