Guys today my beloved Eunos 1993 S Special went up in ball of flames! A fuel pipe in the engine bay ruptured at 65mph on a dual carriage way sending fuel all over engine. The car was destroyed by fire in less than 4 minutes. The fire brigade told me that I am the second Eunos to meet the same fate in Tyne and Wear this year. Please check you fuel lines into the injector rail. I am very lucky to walk away from this, I dont want others suffering the same fate. Please double check all fuel lines, my car is well maintained and I never saw this coming. Pictures of what is left of my little car will follow!
Not wishing to rub salt in the wounds but any chance of a pic from the point of origin of the problem for all the dullards like me that don’t know where you mean please?
Of course as soon as I get a copy of the photographs from the fire service on monday I will post copies so you know exactly which ones failed. Its not rubbing salt into wounds dont worry. I more concerned about people getting hurt, my car is insured so will get replaced.
It went bang then flames all over the place! Needed fresh pair when I got out ha ha! yes lets hope insurance sorts it out quickly, will get another as soon as. Thanks for you kind words.
Blimey, mine is a 1992 with about 140,000Km on the clock. Come Monday thats something I am going to look at and probably change as preventative maintenance.
Pleased to know you are ok, when all is said and done a car is easily replaced, you aren’t. Best of luck with the insurance people. Please let us all know how you get on with them and getting yourself a new car.
When I get the photos from the fire brigade I will post them for you all. From what I can gather the rupture was in or around the area of the inlet manifold. Thats all the info the fire brigade gave other than it was ruptured fuel pipe that caused the fireball. Car just been serviced and fuel pipes or hoses not been tampered with. Will update you with info as I have it. Oh mine was MK1 1.6 S Special FI if your wondering. Both my son and I are fine and yes cars can be replaced thank you for good wishes. Please just give your vehicles a good VISUAL check only to look for cracks or snags.
Thanks
PS IF YOU DON’T WANT A CAR LIKE MINE- PLEASE DO NOT START CHANGING OR REMOVING FUEL LINES, THE FUEL LINES ARE PRESSURISED AND SERIOUS HARM CAN OCCUR!
This is a new one. I’ve checked miataforum, which I consider the largest technical repository of MX5 faults (Miatas, MX5s and Roadsters should be identical as far as fuel lines etc go). There doesn’t seem to be any reports of fires due to leaking fuel lines.
Heres a description of the fuel lines in the engine bay:
Obviously, we ned to see the technical report from the Fire Brigade; is it worth getting someone from Mazda UK to look at the car.
Because this is so an unusual occurence, I can only conclude that:
This was an unlucky, one-off occurence
This is an age-related failure. This does seem unlikely though. Yours is not the oldest MX5 around by any means.
This is a problem peculiar to Roadster imports. Roadsters use identical fuel system parts to UK cars, and very similar materials to most Japanese cars. Therefore, possibly a deteriotation in seals during shipping. This not only a concern to owners, Mazda, but also VOSA, who regulate the importation of non-EU cars.
I contacted mazda uk earlier on today, same feeling as yourself would be good for them to take a look just to ensure its a one off and i’ve been unlucky. As you may be aware they only operate Mon-Fri so left a message. I have owned several MX5 and Eunos Roadsters and I agree first time I have ever heard of this. The fire brigade do have photographs of the rupture and will email me the report once completed. I will send you a copy once I have it if you like.
As you can see the heat was so intense that it melted the bonnet and crankshaft cover. I am hoping it is a one off as we all know MX5/Eunos are pretty bullet proof. Had checked the oil and water this morning and no smell of fuel. Vehicle is garaged and no leakage anywhere. Looks like a sudden failure as big bang, loss of power and brakes. (obviously engine had stopped) Then the fireball.
Its a good idea to be vigilant until its proven its a one off.
Oh my god! How dangerous is that. My mx 5 had no fuel filter so I had one fitted. the lines had been tampered with too. I think I will get mine checked too. This scares me a lot. I have my daughter ride in mine and mine has done over £140,000km so far. Its a 1993 Eunos. [:O]
Something about the just serviced remark that concerns me. By pipe do they mean the rubber hose or the hard pipes running from the tank do you know? Wondering if the hard pipes have been lent on.
The rubber hoses are made to pretty high standards on fuel injection car due to the high pressures involved, not like the crappy things that used to feed carbs, they would perish leak all the time.
Another thing that concerns me is that as soon as the engine stopped running the fuel pump should have cut out and looking at that damage It’s hard to believe that was caused by residual fuel in the system (a few cup fulls at most). Has the wiring been messed with? piggy back etc?
Wondering if this is just the bizarre one in a million result of a series of unrelated faults. Never heard of a hose failing let alone setting alight.
Just a quick update to the saga, I have recieved calls from watch crew manager of fire brigade and police this morning. The ruptured fuel line was the rubber line that runs off the metal pipe at the rear of the engine and this is deemed to be the cause of the fire. There is no evidence of damage to the metal fuel lines to the rear of the engine bay.
The police and the fire brigade believe that the fuel line started leaking a short time before the line finally failed. I had driven around 40 miles on dual carrageway prior to the failure so engine was very hot and they attribute this heat as the source of ignition. (triangle of fire) They also have stated that they recieved a number of 999 calls from other motorists advising of flames showing under the car (but no smoke?) before my 999 call. Strange thing is I noticed people looking but not one person guestured for me to pull over, I had a child in the car too!! The location given by these reports show that we had travelled a further 4 miles without knowing the vehicle was on fire. (this is backed up with evidence of debris on the road) The first indication of a problem was the loss of power when engine failed resulting in loss of braking effectiveness and power steering.
The fire brigade have confirmed that no fuel was being supplied to engine bay (ecu had shut it off) but the amount of fuel already in there meant the car was well alight resulting in the total loss.
I am awaiting pictures of this failed fuel line and have asked the insurance once the engineer has inspected the car i I can have the damaged fuel line, Im sure Mazda UK would like to inspect and test it and see if they can determine what caused the failure. My personal view is I have been unlucky and its a one in a million failure however I just cant answer if the failure is down to a human or mechanical element. Lets just say i’m gutted! Could have been much worse though.
