Just curious to see who has an extinguisher in the car .. You hear story of VW's going up? Any good stories out there?

I've heard a few good stories. If I ever build up another VW it will have a bomb system plumbed in. Abit overkill, I know... But still, you can never be too careful. Fire extinguishers do a good enough job, but if it starts getting serious, only a race system will do.

At <$30, why not?

I second that modulus. It's VERY cheap insurance!

Cam,

Where do you get the parts to plumb a system into your engine bay???
Any idea on a cost $$$ (a rough figure?)

Any help would be great!


Cheers
Mick H

Not sure entirely. I saw one on a street WRX years back. Always made a mental not of it. Give revolution race gear a call. They stock most of that sort of gear. The one in Ringwood, down here is like a candy store for big boys. Or try calling CAMS (confederation of Australian Motor Sport) directly. They're really helpful and know all the shops around the country who do all the top work. I once enquired about a rollcage from a friend. Just called their reception desk and they put me through to someone who put me onto a guy who had fitted one to a new SL55:o

I would say get one done proffesionally, the specialists really know what they're doing and can normally fit out rally cars with their eyes shut. Plus you know it's going to be pointing the right way and work if (God forbid) you'd ever have to use it.

i carry one and my bus isnt even aircooled! better to be safe...

Being aircooled or not does'nt mean squat! Old/loose fuel lines and flammable shit build-up is the cause of fire. How many 993 Turbo Porsches do you see on fire?

I've seen more Holdens and Toyotas on the side of the freeway burning than I have VW's.

Modulus, forgot. Theres always e-bay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2443281394&...

yep !! wouldn't be without it

Iv'e always had one in every car I have owned, up front where the driver can get hold of it!
Rob....

yes i carry an extinguisher, and no i havent any good stories (or if you were waiting to hear of some destruction!)

one each in the fastback and KG and two in the kombi (one up front and one at the back). even got one in the wifes tarago.

we have one in the KG.
Luckily didn't need it about a month ago when the sediment plug in the carby fell out, dumping the contents of the float bowl and pumped fuel onto the motor. We smelled the stink & shut down the motor tout suite; but were very lucky I think.
My fault too: I hadn't tightened the drain bolt properly after blowing out the carb.....
Andy

several years ago i was driving along one of the freeway style roads in canberra, having just picked up my then g.friend from her parents to take her back to sydney. she prided herself on being very well dressed and as usual was wearing black....
as we were driving along quietly, suddenly there was a v loud PSSSSHHHTTT and the car filled with white smoke. she screamed, neutral, ignition off, window down (with my head struck out so i could see where i was going) and pull to the verge (she is still screaming). about this time i realized that it wasn't smoke... the car had filled with white powder.
thoughts growing in my mind, we pile out of the car, i look back in... yep she had set the fire extinguisher off (the pin was broken and always fell out). one look at her and i needed the car to hold myself up... she is still freaking and i'm nearly wetting myself.
needless to say when she realised what had happened (and looked at herself) (she was covered from heavily waxed hair to painted toe) she was less than amused... even more so as it was all i could do to not fall over from laughing... the next two hours of the trip was accompanied by nothing but engine noise.

So we can deduct from that story that the fire was definitley extinguished. LOL

soon to get one !!!, i got told from an auto-salon judje (spelling) that you can get points for having one visible in your car, more points if you get it chromed up!!!:thumb

dom!!

There may be a time when a fellow motorist may need to use yours. :thumb

use whos????

I've always had a fire extinguisher in the car, not only in my Beetles. Any car for that matter, can catch fire. Great insurance too.
Regards,
Mark:thumb

always got a fire extinguisher in the van since the electrics went up under the dash due to lots of water and bad conections.
i was lucky it put itself out after i blew on it for a bit :P but ever since that i always got myself a decent extinguisher, the ones with the pressure gauge are better as a freind of mine had a fire in his van ( non vw ) and his fire extinguisher never worked correctly, not a happy man

I have to buy another extinguisher,
I used the one in the 76 camper to save the 76 camper on Wednesday.
without it, I would have definately have had to watch it burn to the ground.
If you would like to read about it, do a search for posts by Herbie
or "Freakin Kombies and fire, Whats with that $h1t":cry
I keep one in Herbie too.

Yep, just put one in last week.

on the way to the penrith panthers forum last year, it was my oval's first big run (newcastle - sydney) since i had bought it. the fan belt snapped whilst on the highway and was replaced. as we headed along the highway towards liverpool and about 10km from the event, my cabin started to smell and very quickly filled with black smoke. with images of VWs on fire in my head i pulled over immediately and my passenger and i literally dove out of the car and onto the road. smoke was streaming out of the decklid louvres and out the open doors and i felt so helpless as i thought i was about to watch my lovely oval burn to the ground. but the smoke began to clear so i grabbed the decklid handle and ripped it open, to see the smoke was coming out of the generator. seems a piece of the fan belt has fallen into the hole at the top of the generator and caused a small fire, creating lots of black smoke due to the rubber.
a friendly veedubber on his way to the forum picked us up and we searched the swap meet for a generator which there were none of, ofcourse! i bought myself a new battery and cruised home with the lights off and some friends following behind (thanks blk56 and bronze).
well i made sure i got a extinguisher straight after that, u never want to feel as helpless and i did that day.
i think a few ppl will recognise my car from that day on the side of the road \/

Nearly 20 years ago, my mate's Baja caught on fire. From what I can remember, I think the battery posts arced on the back seat base, because I still have the mental image of him jumping up and down on it to put out the flames. :o I don't think anything else was damaged.

I've never had a fire in a VW, although I have encountered several fuel hoses pissing fuel all over the place. I've been very lucky!!

A friend before I knew him had his beetle go up due to a fuel fire on the F3 just south of the Mt Colah turn off. Needless to say, when the fire brigade arrived they asked if the petrol tank had blown. It hadn't. He say's he's never seen Fire Fighters run so fast away from a car!

When I went around Australia I had enough gear to fix any problem on my 4Runner. Needless to say, I didn't use any of the parts I took for my car, but fixed radiator problems and filled petrol tanks for plenty of other people on the road.

Better safe, than sorry.

Squiz.....