I have a 69 Cougar with a 428. I just got the car and took it for a short ride around the block tonight with my 5 year old son. He was so excited. I couldn’t get it to idle and had to keep my foot on the gas to keep it running. Ran good when it would take fuel right. Car just never seemed to take fuel right at times seemed to not be running on all 8 cylinders at times as well like it was flooding itself to death and I thought I smelled raw gas.
Brought it back to the house and turned it off. Came time to move it into the garage. I cranked it over and soon after started to smell plastic burning and saw smoke. I opened the hood and it was on fire. I quickly got a fire extinguisher and was able to put it out.
I’ve had a lot of cars with carburetors over the years but never had this happen. It melted the accelerator cable housing, burned the paint off the bottom of the air cleaner and ruined the air cleaner decal. It also melted the housings of the wires that run down the drivers side of the engine. The wires seem to still be in tact, but the plastic looming is melted off. Are these available? How difficult is it to replace?
The intake valleys were sitting full of fuel. I think when I went to start it the coil spark ignited the fuel in these valleys on a hot engine.
I’m new to these cars so I’m not sure why this happened or what I’m in for to fix it. I’m mechanically inclined and with some guidance I can fix most things.
I had to use a powder typical home fire extinguisher to put it out so there is powder everywhere. Big mess but really had no choice in the moment. Never had to do this so I don’t know if doing this would cause damage to the engine or just a mess? The air cleaner was on so no powder went down the carburetor. Please advise.
Well take a breath and think this could have been worse. My best guess for the harness is probably going to be a used one, get a hold of West coast classic cougar and see what they have. Best of luck. https://secure.cougarpartscatalog.com/
The original wiring harness did not use any plastic looming. The wiring is just wrapped in tape. If you do need to replace the under hood wiring harness section that is not too bad a job. It connects to the underdash section at the firewall with a large green connector. You would need to go under the dash and remove one bolt that is in the middle of the fuse block to remove the green connector. Pull the fuse block away from the firewall and you will see a tab on each side of the green connector that you need to release to remove the green connector. Also based on your user name your car is an XR-7. If that is correct and you do decide to replace the under hood wiring the replacement needs to be from a 1969 XR-7.
The new ethanol laced fuel tends to dissolve rubber fuel lines. I bet that is what happened to you. You are very lucky you did not lose the whole car. This is the reason (well one of them) that I use nothing but race gas in my Cougars. If you can find non - ethanol gasoline in your area it is worth it.
I think the wiring he is referring to that got burned might be his engine gauge feed harness. Sits along the top edge of the rocker cover on the driver’s side. Here’s a repro from CougarsUnlimited on ebay:
Not sure if that application is correct for you as they are different by year, XR7 v standard, and engine. Someone here will probably be able to help you with fit.
It’s going to take some work to clean it up. But water would have been worse ans it would have spread the fire. A dry extinguisher would have been best, but be happy you had what you did. I would let it sit out side for a day, then carefully wash off the powder, Remove any standing gas and work from there. If you have insurance you might think about calling your agent about making a claim.
Here are some up close pics of the aftermath. Maybe it will help y’all help me with the repair process. Please let me know how bad it looks and what I’m in for and what my next steps should be. Which harness or harnesses do I need to fix it? Doesn’t look exactly like the one posted above. Several different wires there. Thanks in advance.
As Steve stated in post # 5 that is the guage feed harness for the coil, oil pressure sender and water temperature sender. It connects at the back of the block and is relatively easy to replace.
Where a mask when you clean up the powder, you do not want to breath in too much of that.
It also looks like the ignition coil ( plug ) wire from the coil to the top of the distributor is gone ? The outline of the boot on the yellow top of the coil is clearly visible - was it removed after the fire ? Also looks like the remains of the wire ( the outer rubber-plastic covering is gone ) are just below the coil ? Other things to look into :
(1) how are the rest of the spark plug wires ( especially those on the LHS near the fire ) ?
(2) any plastic components ( clips, etc ) on the carburetor
(3) carburetor gaskets or spacers
(4) the anti-stall dashpot looks affected ( maybe just the powder residue )
(5) the bottom of the ignition coil may have been affected ( paint or the yellow plastic on the underside )
(6) the distributor ( cap and the rubber gasket on the shaft, where it runs through the intake )
All of this is not insurmountable - you are very lucky, as other writers have said, it could have been a LOT worse.
As to an insurance claim, all depends on your deductible. Also Insurance Companies are strange ( actually it’s the wording in the policy details ) when it comes to the components damaged by a fire and the actual source of the fire. Best of Luck.
I disconnected the coil wire after the fire. You can see it lying on top of the valve cover. Spark plug wires look fine but I haven’t started cleaning yet. Only plastic part I saw directly affected was the plug wire holder on the passenger side you can see it in the second pic. Yes the coating burned off that’s what was smelling but all the wires look to still be in tact. Believe it’s powder residue on the bottom of the dashpot I was able to wipe some off. I’ll check further as I clean. The carburetor I’m pretty sure is the root cause. I’ll have to take all that stuff off to properly repaint the intake. I’ll rebuild the carb at the same time. It also charred the underside of the air cleaner base. I’ll have to strip and refinish. Hopefully won’t have to involve insurance. As long as the engine itself is ok I should be good to clean, replace, rebuild and refinish. Wish me luck.
Make sure you get all that powder off asap. It tends to eat away at finishes and wiring coatings. Other then it should be an easy fix, could have been a whole lot worse thats for sure! Oh and get that carb rebuilt too if that was your route cause of the flooding. Obviously make sure you have updated rubber fuel lines to handle the ethanol fuel like was mentioned above.
I think this is an important example of having a fire extinguisher handy at all times especially on these old cars when anything can happen. I have a couple in my garage but Im planning on finding a place to mount one in the car itself. Get the non powder halon types to carry around. They will make less of a mess to clean up once you get the fire out.
Halon or carbon dioxide extinguisher are best they leave no residue like the monoammonium phosphate powder in a dry chemical extinguisher which can become corrosive and very hard to clean up.
Not sure what type of fire extinguisher it was. It’s a dry yellow powder so I’m guessing monoammonium phosphate. Anyone have any suggestions on the best way to clean it all up? I had to leave it dirty overnight and today cause I have to work. Is that ok?? I’m kinda freaking out since I can’t do it right now.
So once you get it cleaned up and the wires replaced - here’s what I’ve learned over the years as an owner of several old Fords.
For some reason or another all of these old carburetors leak profusely after the car has sat for more than a week or two. I think this new gas evaporates out of the carb, and the gaskets, etc. shrink. (???) Maybe the float gets stuck on the bottom of the bowl (???) I dunno - and I’m no expert. But I have three cars with old Holleys, my brother has two, and they ALL do it. Gas ends up pouring out and filling up the manifold valleys. My BOSS 302 had the same misfortune as your Cougar. Years ago when a car would sit for a few months and it would happen, we’d rebuild the @#$^#%% carb. Next time - same result.
Finally I just started firing up the car for a few seconds the day before I wanted to drive it. It’ll run like crap - and will spew gas if you let it run - so don’t. Just shut it off and come back the next day to a happily running car.
Void where prohibited, your results may vary, but this has worked like magic for me for about the last 10 years.
I’m sure happy for you that you had that fire extinguisher nearby!!!
Gary:
I would check to make sure that the needle valve on the float is sticking. That would cause the overflow of gasoline some times you can fix that by tapping on the side of the carb.
We identified the one wiring harness that I need for the gauge feed but what are the other wires? The red wire I’m holding in the photo looks like a wire for a pertronix. What is the other harness that seems to have tape around it and goes inside the car? Dashpot cleaned up nicely. Think the rest of it will too. Think it needed a good cleaning and detailing under the hood anyway despite the fire mishap. I used simple green (pH around 9) and just sprayed everything down and I’ll let it dry out then I’ll wipe it up when I get a free moment. Hopefully that will neutralize any corrosive effect the ammonium phosphate may have. I’ll use electronics cleaner on any electrical contacts that may have been affected.
So I finally got everything cleaned up I think and hope. I’ve got a new gauge feed harness on the way. The other harness has to do with the pertronix and looks like some kind of 3 wire electric choke feed combination of some type. I think I managed to salvage that one and got the gauge feed wiring bandaged up until the new one shows up.
Today I got the courage to crank it. It fired right up without catching on fire and idled for a few seconds normally until I assume the float bowl filled completely with fuel the it started to idle rougher and started spilling fuel out the little hole on the top front of the carburetor. I’m guessing the float is stuck open. It’s been a while since I’ve had a Holley carb but it seems like I remember that I could do float work without having to remove the carburetor from the car. Is this true? If so what do I need to do to get this float unstuck?
It may have a small piece of debris stuck in the need/seat you can pull just the needle/seat assembly or remove the bowl without removing the carb from the manifold it will be full of fuel though.
It is true that you can remove the float bowl without disturbing the carburetor. Likely you just need to remove the float bowl and clean the needle / seat assembly with some carb cleaner spray.
I’m kinda freaking out since I can’t do it right now.
