P38 on FIRE!!!!

I'll cut a long story short. I have a RR p38 4.6HSE. I had to brake HARD (from 70-0) after some idiot cut me up on a dual carridgeway. ABS kicked in and manged to miss the other car. When I came to a halt, I noticed a wisp of smoke. I assumed this was from the tyres/brakes (2 and half tons coming to halt that quick has to generate a fair bit of heat), and trundled on the couple of miles to the rail station where I was heading. Everything seemed ok. Parked up. Noticed the smoke again. Should have cooled by then I thought. So I popped the bonnet, and quickly realised that a one foot square area of the soundproofing on the underside of the bonnet was on fire. I put it out with a 2 ltr bottle of Coke I had in the car. great extinguisher in an emergency!.
The bit that was on fire was directly above the gearbox dipstick, which normally has a clip that holds it in place. I noticed that the clip had come undone. I'm guessing that as the car lurched forward a bit of hot oil splashed up and set the lining on fire. Also noticed the middle section (with the RR logo) of the V8 block had left an inprint on the bonnet lining too.

Has anyone else had this or something similar happen to them? Did I diagnose the cause properly? This was about a month ago and no problems since.

I'm so pleased I popped the lid to check it out. Not to be rude to her, but if that had been my wife driving she would probably not have checked it out and would have returned to a charred shell. Actually maybe a whole row of charred shells, as it had full tanks of unleaded and lpg.

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7sQvBkcJdY"]YouTube- Julie Driscoll - This Wheel's On Fire (1968)[/nomedia]

Sounds unlikely, but is it possible that rear engine mounts are shot so under heavy braking the block moved up to touch under sice of bonnet?? Maybe worth a look.

the atf wouldnt have started a fire.The engine temp might have, was it running hot?

P38= problems of every kind!

My immediate thought was the same as gtland. You'd better get all your mounts checked as soon as, the lump shouldn't move that far, even if you roll it. You've got another problem.

I did look at the engine mounts at the time, and although I'm no expert, nothing looked amis. Are engine mounts a common issue on RR P38s? It was not running hot, at least the guage was right in the middle. Perhaps to complete the picture a little, its possible the soundproofing may have been sagging down. when I was busy spraying it with Coke to put it out. I pulled it to get some spray behind it and make sure the whole area had a good soaking. I don't recall it taking much effort, but what remains of it fits pretty flush, so it could be that.

I would have a look at the mounts again, but alas today I've had the dreaded EAS hard fault and its on its bumps. Damn money pit!

Quite a few on here would have said "Let it burn !!!!"

Irishrover said:

Quite a few on here would have said "Let it burn !!!!"

Click to expand...

I am one of them