Cars spontaneously combusting all over the place

[OwlHoot]

Yesterday morning the A14 near Cambridge was rammed for hours on account of a car fire under a roundabout.

Luckily I missed that one, but the same evening was stuck for two hours motionless on the M11 due to another car fire.

What is it with all these fires? Probably people turning their heating up full blast and overloading the cigarette lighter socket charging a load of e-thingummies and i-bollox.

[escapeUK]

What is it with all these fires? Probably people turning their heating up full blast and overloading the cigarette lighter socket charging a load of e-thingummies and i-bollox.

Im guessing you dont realise that the heating in cars is from the excess heat generated from the engine?

[OwlHoot]

Im guessing you dont realise that the heating in cars is from the excess heat generated from the engine?

Ah, that might explain why the heating in my old 1.6 litre Rover was much better than the carpy heating in my Jag (if the Jag engine runs cooler).

[Mich the Tester]

Big* engine.

Gets warm slower than a little engine.

My 3 litre Grandad had barely warmed up after a 30 min drive to work, whereas the Fiat Seicento is warming up nicely after about 5 mins.

*Or in the case of a Jag, very big.

Big diesels take even longer to warm up as I am discovering having bought a 2.7D Jaguar and wearing a woolly hat in the car for the first 20 minutes or so; bloody good job it has heated seats; at least my bum and my balls are warm.

[doodab]

I believe my Audi has some sort of preheater / rapid heat up system that uses the exhaust as it gets toasty in a few minutes and well before the engine is up to full temp.

Although with the amount of fuel it guzzles i'd guess there is plenty of excess heat

[BrilloPad]

Yesterday morning the A14 near Cambridge was rammed for hours on account of a car fire under a roundabout.

Luckily I missed that one, but the same evening was stuck for two hours motionless on the M11 due to another car fire.

What is it with all these fires? Probably people turning their heating up full blast and overloading the cigarette lighter socket charging a load of e-thingummies and i-bollox.

You need a lesson in stats from someone who knows (i.e. not assguru). If you take random events you do get sequences. Total 20 coins and 25% chance of getting 5 heads or 5 tails.

Hence the expression "runs of luck come in threes".

I remember reading about the woman head of a film studios. In first few years loads of blockbusters. 3 bad films and she was out. But in the 2 years after she left (when the films she choose would come out) the films were all blockbusters. Those who sacked her made a big mistake.

[teclo]

It could be that cold start stuff people spray into the engine to get it to go when it's cold. I've heard its pretty flammable. I was recently told a story of a female friend unable to start her car, sprayed half a can of the stuff into the engine bay and it caused a fire when the engine started :/

[Lockhouse]

We nearly had a fire on one of the classic cars we used to have when doing a wedding - fuel was dripping from the carb overflow straight onto the manifold. One of the bridesmaids said at the time "Your car smells of petrol..."

[teclo]

A biker mate of mine bought some cans of "Start you bastard" from Australia

[Mich the Tester]

A biker mate of mine bought some cans of "Start you bastard" from Australia

This stuff;

Start Ya Bastard Instant Engine Starter- Nulon Australia

You've got to love the Aussies when they come out with stuff like that. Brilliant.