Just a short story with a couple of reminders. Since fall is well uppon us I decided to take advantage of a nice october day with the predicted high in the mid 80's, very nice for october in Minneapolis. I decided Drive one of my vintage vehicles (non KF) to church and then enjoy the afternoon.
Needing to top off with fuel a quick U turn (4 lane controlled intersection) apparently overstreesed a brand new power steering hose spraying fluid on the exhaust manifold causing a small but smokey fire. A quick blast with my fire extinguiser easily put out the flames but left a powery mess all over about 1/2 of the engine compartment.
Actual damage cause by the fire was minimal - spark plug wires and power steering hose. The main mess was caused by the fire extinguisher itself. Apparenly the chemical is rather caustic and can cause corrosion on natural metal finishes. My mechanic and the insurance adjuster are recomending pulling the engine with a redetail of the engine and the engine compartment.
Lessons learned
Carry at least one fire extinguiser, and check to be sure it is still adequatly charged. Keep up on the values on your insurance policies, be sure you are adequately covered in the case of a complete loss.
