[Hobbes]

Well, there it is. After 7 years and 130K of proud ownership, my GTA SW has finally burnt to a crisp.

No warning, just a whiff of burning "something" about 10 seconds before it erupted in flames on the front drivers' side (RHD). Switched off ignition, jumped out of the car, and watched her burn for 5 minutes until the fire services arrived. I have never felt more helpless or depressed.
Insurance has declared it a total loss. Cause of the fire is unknown. There were no engine or ECU mods except for a Zetec BMC airbox which was fitted quite a while ago.

Anyway, that was a month ago and I am (almost) over it. I have some brand new roof bars (they mount left to right on top of the OEM roof bars) bought from Peter in Denmark and a new pair of OEM front suspension links plus misc new rubber boot covers (I think outer CV joint) that I would like to give away to an alfisti. I am in Hong Kong so either local pick up or you pay for post.

Oh, also have a brand new coolant cap (blue).

Please PM me if interested.

 

[Guest]

That must have felt terrible...just watching it all happen. Sorry mate.

 

[LJ_GQV]

such a shame.will you get another GTA?

 

[Anjenha]

oh no How awful to have to witness, and not be able to do anything.

 

[AYAT]

Really sorry, they must be even rarer in hong kong, hope u replace it with something that will give as much joy. Wonder what caused it heated seat or something?. Good luck anyways

 

[alfadavies]

Sad times, they are really nice motors.

 

[Laptop_Matt]

Thats an aweful sight,

you may now join my alfa fire club

 

[gbernard]

What happened what caught on fire and how ?

 

[Guest]

Bad news, but glad you are ok. Terrible sight.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[GhostyDog]

, thats awful, but glad you got that whiff of smoke and had opportunity to get out, could easily have been a lot worse.

 

[Hobbes]

What happened what caught on fire and how ?

I'm guessing it was a fuel or oil line? What is on the front right hand side of the motor that could catch fire? I'd been driving very conservatively for 30mins, stopped at a traffic light (noticed burning smell, like hot brake pads), and pulled away not 50m and she just started burning and the flames kept getting bigger and bigger...

I have a photo of the engine taken about 4-5 months ago when I had the covers painted red. Does anything look out of place? She was regularly serviced and kept in really good condition.

Thanks for all the words of sympathy.... I think I will be off Alfas for a while, until the 4C comes along of course.

 

[LJ_GQV]

That engine bay looks amazing aswell i've seen a couple of threads now where GTA's have just caught fire. I think the last 1 was a 147 in Australia, something to do with the ecu iirc.

At least you were out & about when this happened though, could've been a lot worse if it was parked on your drive or in a garage

 

[Joss]

Mate what a shame. You could break it for parts

 

[Captain Slow]

The oil cooler is that direction.

 

[JR Racing]

Think I'm going to invest in a fire extinguisher after seeing this.

 

[Guest]

Yup, I would hazard a guess at the oil cooler pipes failing due to corrosion. They dont have oil flowing through them all the time, just when the oil is hot which it would have been in traffic as the op describes.

 

[Stu GTV]

Terrible loss.......at least you have 7 years of happy memories and you avoided injury.......

 

[dpat]

but at least you got out ok. Good luck with the new car search :thumbs:

 

[yetyGT]

Well I bough mine almost a year ago from another country. Although it has a full history there were no recalls marked in the Alfa system. When I first came to my dealer he immediately ordered three. One of them was to check and fix the fuel lines on top.

It happens that connector (marked green) pops out and spills fuel on the hot engine. In my case they have fixed it by attaching steel claps before and after the plastic holder (marked red). Gotcha even has a special plastic slider on the connector itself. I'm looking to get one as well.

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

 

[Slicer]

Omg, so sorry to hear you lost your GTA that way

I have a 6L fire extinguisher waiting to be mounted in my GTA, after this thread i will fit it quickly.... With that big V6 engine, 6L is a minimum size that may help.