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Engine Fires

Dibbons

Dibbons

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The Pontiac Fiero (1984-1988 model years) was known for it's mid-engine fires. The reason behind the fires seems very odd to me, some blame it on a broken connecting rod (the old sump only held 3 quarts).

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-d978_ds450714

Fiero.jpeg
 
The Fiero had the potential to be a slick little car if GM had just stuck in a well built engine with some decent power.
 
Richard Cranium said:
The Fiero had the potential to be a slick little car if GM had just stuck in a well built engine with some decent power.
Click to expand...
The "Iron Duke" ones sucked donkey balls - had a friend at work who bought one new.
As anemic as the Vegas were out of the box....
When they offered the V6 later on though, those in GT trim were actually a lot of fun to drive.
Unfortunately, the reputation of the car pretty much had doomed it by then.
 
Richard Cranium said:
The Fiero had the potential to be a slick little car if GM had just stuck in a well built engine with some decent power.
Click to expand...
The only engine GM had in the 80s that was any good was the turbo buick. They put it to good use, everything else was junk
 
Well they had all the letters there when they named it, but got them in the wrong order.
 
My parents had a 1980 Pontiac Phoenix 4-cylinder "iron duke" that still had a carb, not the later efi version of the engine.
With power steering and A/C on, going around a corner at idle would stall the engine :(
Lucky the speed limits were 55 mph maximum. It couldn't run 75 mph unless it was down hill.

Parents then bought a '86 Olds Cutlass Ciera with the efi version of the iron duke. it ran way better, and got like 35-40 mpg, but still not a good car.
I did have to replace head gaskets in a few of those engines. The stretch to yield head bolts would break and then the head gasket would blow out.
 
I spent 20 years on a VFD. My experience there taught me to ALWAYS have a fire extinguisher in my car. If you have a vehicle fire, you car will usually be a write-off by the time the first fire truck rolls up. It would also be a good idea to have tools to disconnect your battery.
 
My fire incidents:

'63 Grand Prix back seat bottom (plastic) caught fire when a muffler split and heated the floorboard. The amount of thick gray smoke emitted was unbelievable. Fire Department put it out with water spray. Entire interior needed replacement and was done in diamond tuck for $150.00 (labor and materials) in Tijuana, Mexico circa 1975.

'65 Valiant 273 auto had an under-hood minor leak at the metal fuel pump fitting which was cross-threaded and somehow caught fire. I removed my Levi denim jacket and wrapped it around the flame. When the jacket caught fire, I threw it to the side on the ground and stomped the flame out.

This courageous act on my part snuffed out the fuel pump fitting fire. The Plymouth patch on the shoulder of the jacket (red heart with a tail) was partially charred but Mom was able to save it and sew onto another jacket.

Pontiac Grand Prix.jpg 65 valiant tan color.png
 
yella71 said:
The only engine GM had in the 80s that was any good was the turbo buick. They put it to good use, everything else was junk
Click to expand...
The turbo engine used the Buick V6 that was offered in normally aspirated versions.
The design goes back to the early 60s and then the tooling was sold to Kaiser-Jeep. AMC bought K-J and in the 70s Buick bought back the tooling and installed it on the foundations from which they had been removed.
My nephew had a V6 Fiero and it spun mains in two different engines. Seems the engine was installed with one bank higher than the other but the oil pan and pickup weren't changed to accommodate. Under acceleration it suffered from oil starvation.
The Fiero started out to be a sporty car but division wars reduced it to a commuter car. It used the X body FWD front sespension and axles in back and Chevette front suspension in front.
 
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